History of Salt Lake City
Originally, the Salt Lake Valley was inhabited by the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute Native American tribes.
This group had spent weeks traversing difficult terrain and brush, cutting a road through the Wasatch Mountains, coming through Emigration canyon into the Salt Lake Valley on August 12, 1846.
[7] Salt Lake City was originally settled by Latter-day Saint Pioneers to be the New Zion according to church President and leader Brigham Young.
After a very difficult winter and a miraculous crop retrieval, in which Pioneers reported to have been saved from cricket infestation by seagulls (see Miracle of the Gulls), the "Desert Blossomed as the Rose" in the Salt Lake Valley.
Under Young's leadership Pioneers worked out a system of communal crop sharing within the various ward houses established throughout the Salt Lake Valley.
[citation needed] Originally, Fillmore, Utah was the territorial capital, but in 1856 it was moved to Salt Lake City, where it has stayed ever since.
[9][10] In 1857, when the Mormon practice of polygamy came to national awareness, President James Buchanan responded to public outcry by sending an army of 2500 soldiers, called the Utah Expedition, to investigate the LDS Church and install a non-LDS governor to replace Brigham Young.
Young eventually surrendered to federal control when the new territorial governor, Alfred Cumming, arrived in Salt Lake City on April 12, 1858.
In order to secure the road to California during the Civil War, more troops arrived under the command of Colonel Patrick Edward Connor in 1862.
[11][12] In 1883, Sam Joe Harvey, another Black man, was lynched for allegedly shooting a police officer, and his body was dragged down State Street.
[13] In 1868 Brigham Young founded the Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) as a way to ward off dependency on outside goods and arguably to hinder ex-LDS retailers.
Although ZCMI is sometimes credited with being the nation's first department store, a decade earlier New York City's "Marble Palace" and Macy's vied for that title.
Mayor Daniel H. Wells, a member of the LDS Church First Presidency, declared martial law from the balcony of the Old Salt Lake City Hall.
Although boosted by federal New Deal programs as well as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the economy did not fully recover until World War II.
After suffering through the depression Salt Lake's economy was boosted during World War II due to the influx of defense industries to the Wasatch Front.
Demands for raw materials increased Utah's mining industry, and several military installations such as Fort Douglas and Hill Air Force Base were added.
Salt Lake began its bid for the Winter Olympics as early as the 1930s, when the Utah Ski Club tried to bring the games to the valley.
Scrambling to satisfy residents, Rocky Anderson offered a plan for "time and place" restrictions on speech as suggested by the court.
In its place, Anderson offered to waive the easement in exchange for west side property from the LDS Church to build a community and a commitment of donations for it.
Controversy erupted when in the first week the pairs figure skating competition resulted in the French judge's scores being thrown out and the Canadian team of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier being awarded a second gold medal.
Athletes in short-track speed skating and cross-country skiing were disqualified for various reasons as well (including doping), leading Russia and South Korea to file protests and threaten to withdraw from competition.
The 2002 games ended with a dazzling closing ceremony, including bands such as Bon Jovi and KISS (who shared the stage with figure skater Katarina Witt).
Salt Lake City still somewhat struggles with its identity, trying to strike a balance between capitol of a major religion and modern secular metropolis.
In the early 2010s, the LDS Church purchased the Crossroads and ZCMI malls and rebuilt them into the City Creek Center, which is connected by walkways, and with new high density residential and commercial buildings nearby.
Light rail extensions to the Trax system are ongoing to provide service to the western and southern parts of the valley, as well as to Salt Lake City International Airport.
