Trolley Square Neon Trolley - Salt Lake City, UT
N 40° 45.378 W 111° 52.368
12T E 426326 N 4512070
This neon trolley is on the pedestrian overpass over 600 South on the south side of Trolley Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Waymark Code: WMDHET
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 01/17/2012
Views: 5
This depiction of an historic trolley is done in multi-colored neon. It is attached to the pedestrian overpass over 600 South. Trolley Square is a festival style shopping center that has been a major tourist destination in Salt Lake City.
Before it was Trolley Square, the ten acres were originally designated as the 10th Ward by Brigham Young in 1847. It served as the fairgrounds until 1908 when E.H. Harriman, president of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads, purchased the Utah Light and Railway Company and built its central storage and maintenance facility for light rail trolleys on the grounds. Harrington invested $3.5 million into the company and developed it into one of the most successful light rail systems in America, with over 144 cars by 1914. The trolley lines ran through and around Salt Lake City to Holladay, Sugar House, Bountiful and Centerville, totaling 146 miles of track. The iconic water tower was built in case of fire and has a capacity of 50,000 gallons.
By 1945, the trolleys were gone, Trolley Square was painted yellow and converted into storage for the city's buses. It fell into disrepair and was threatened with demolition in 1969, when it was rescued by developer Wallace A. Wright, Jr. Inspired by Ghirardelli Square, an old chocolate factory in San Francisco which was refinished as a shopping mall in the early 1960s, Wright remodeled and restored the old trolley barns into a shopping center and festival market. This re-adaptation of an old structure for a new purpose was an early example of a trend which grew in popularity throughout the last three decades.
The first store to open in 1971 was the Trolley Gas Station at the corner of 500 South and 700 East. Unusual for a large shopping mall, Trolley Square opened without a major department store, and still lacks a major retail anchor to this day. In 1973, the State of Utah officially recognized Trolley Square as a Historic Site. In 1986, Trolley was sold to the Simon Property Group, America's largest real-estate development company, and underwent a major renovation to add a food court and atrium. Unfortunately, many of the original decorations including the stained-glass dome were removed during this renovation. Trolley was again renovated from 1995-98 when the Pottery Barn and Hard Rock Café were added. Trolley was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Currently, Trolley Square is the second-most popular tourist destination in Utah, with thirty percent of its 3 million annual customers from out- of-state.
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