Salt Lake City is the capital and largest city in Utah, with around 1.2 million people in the metro area. Utah lies in the West of the United States and is famously known for its mountains, Mormons, and magnificent national parks, like Zion, Arches, and Canyonlands.
Sure, that’s Utah, but what about Salt Lake? What is Salt Lake City known for? What is Salt Lake City famous for, if anything? Well, it’s definitely famous for mountains and Mormons, but also for quite a few more interesting and unexpected reasons.
Salt Lake City is famous as the headquarters of the Mormon church. Salt Lake City is also famous for the Greatest Snow on Earth, the Sundance Festival, and the Great Salt Lake. Salt Lake City is known for fry sauce, jello, Temple Square, and the Crossroads of the West.
At first glance, Salt Lake City may seem to be Mormons and temples and, well, not much else, but I promise—there is so much more!
Of course, if you really want to know what Salt Lake City is famous for, it’s best to go see it for yourself. But until you can make that happen, this little list is a good substitute. Here are a few more spoilers to tickle your fancy: Salt Lake is known for funeral potatoes, the Olympics, the NBA, seagulls, and cosmetic surgery.
I know you’re hooked! Read on for 19 things Salt Lake City, the Crossroads of the West, is known and famous for.
Table of Contents
1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Salt Lake City is probably most famous as being the headquarters of the Mormon church, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).
Brigham Young, the second leader of the church, famously proclaimed “this is the place” upon arrival to the Salt Lake Valley. Young founded Salt Lake City and went a long way towards populating it with his 56 wives and 57 children.
In Salt Lake City, you’ll find the LDS offices, the towering Mormon Temple, and other monuments to the Mormon faith, like Temple Square. Although Salt Lake City is considered the most diverse city in Utah, around 50% of the population is a practicing Mormon.
2. The Great Salt Lake
Salt Lake City lies on the shores of, you guessed it, the Great Salt Lake. In fact, it was originally known as Great Salt Lake City for a time.
The Great Salt Lake is the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere and is so large, it impacts the weather in the surrounding area.
It’s also so salty that people can easily float (kind of like in the Dead Sea). The lake’s area changes often but is currently shrinking, and the eventual drying up of the lake could result in a bowl of toxic dust, poisoning the area around it.
3. The Jell-O Belt
There’s the Rust Belt, the Bible Belt, and the… Jell-O Belt?
Yep, you heard me! Utah consumes more Jell-O than anywhere else in the U.S. (and potentially in the world, but that hasn’t been conclusively proven yet). The area also known as the Mormon corridor is the Jell-O Belt since the Mormons love their Jell-O so much.
The best way to sample Jell-O in the Jell-O Belt? Snag an invite to a church potluck or a homemade holiday.
4. Greatest Snow on Earth
The mountain range near Salt Lake City produces such excellent snow for skiing and snowboarding that it gained the nickname “Greatest Snow on Earth.”
Not only does this area produce some of the most snow in the world—the 15 different ski resorts each produce, on average, 500 inches of snow a year— it also produces unique snow, due to its low moisture content.
You are almost guaranteed deep powder in one of the amazing ski hills on the slopes of the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City—all within an hour of a major airport (SLC International).
5. Seagull Monument
I bet you never thought we’d go from talking about the Greatest Snow on Earth to seagulls, but that’s Salt Lake City for ya!
The Seagull Monument, in Temple Square (more on that later!), is dedicated to a near-mythical event that occurred shortly after the Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, in 1848.
Crickets were destroying the first crops planted by the settlers. After the pioneers fell to the ground in desperate prayer, droves of seagulls arrived and decimated the crickets, which saved their crops. This was such a miraculous event for the Mormons, that they eventually made a monument to these helpful birds.
6. Fry sauce
Salt Lake City is famous for being the homeland of fry sauce, Utah’s favorite condiment.
Invented in the 1940s at a food cart in Salt Lake City, fry sauce is a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise. It can be that simple, although many different places all over the world have put their own twist on it.
However you like it, there’s no denying that it’s a staple of the American West comfort food and is the ultimate dipping sauce—and not just for French fries!
7. Funeral potatoes
From Jell-O casserole to potato casserole! Those Utahns love their casseroles.
Funeral potatoes are a warm, cheesy dish made with hash browns and topped with a cornflake topping. It’s essentially the ultimate casserole that is particularly popular at post-funeral luncheons. Hence the name, funeral potatoes.
8. Second-highest number of cosmetic surgeons
It may surprise you to know that the second-highest number of cosmetic surgeons (per capita) can be found in Salt Lake City.
It seems a little counter-intuitive, as this is one of the most religious states in the country. But plastic surgery is so pervasive that, especially among women, there is a whole aesthetic called the “Utah look.”
9. Family History Library
The Family History Library (FHL) in downtown Salt Lake is the largest genealogical library in the world.
Although the FHL is run by an arm of the Mormon church, it’s free and open to the public. The FHL can help you research your own family history, translate documents, or even learn how to discover more via classes.
10. North Shore Monster
Move over, Nessie! The Loch Ness Monster isn’t the only legendary lake monster in town anymore.
The Great Salt Lake has its very own monster of legend, known as the North Shore Monster. First spotted in the mid-1800s, the North Shore Monster is said to have the body of a giant alligator and the head of a horse.
Sightings of the North Shore Monster seem to occur only at dusk, and have another thing in common: each sighting describes a “fearsome bellow” emitted by said monster. Spooky!
11. First department store in the United States
Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) is often referred to as “America’s First Department Store.” Founded in 1868 in Salt Lake City by the same Brigham Young that founded the actual city, ZCMI now is a Macy’s, although the historical facade remains.
12. USPS Remote Encoding Facility
Do you ever wonder what happens to those letters where you forgot the zip code or put in the wrong street name?
Chances are, they’ve been sent to Salt Lake City. Although the USPS Remote Encoding Facility sort of sounds like it could be in a spy movie, it actually serves as the last resort for unreadable mail.
The workers here have a pretty good track record and are usually able to send the letters on to their proper destination—including the ones addressed to “Santa.”
13. 2002 Winter Olympics
Salt Lake City got on the map for many when it hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. New venues were built within SLC for the Olympics, and many surrounding ski hills and resorts were used, such as Park City, Deer Valley, Snowbasin, and Soldier Hollow.
Unlike many other Olympic host cities, Salt Lake has been able to continue using its extensive Olympic facilities, and rumor has it, they hope to host another Winter Olympics someday.
14. Utah Jazz
Salt Lake City is known as the home of Utah’s own National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Jazz.
The Utah Jazz actually started out in New Orleans, which is where they got the moniker. Since they’ve been in Utah since 1979, though, they’re officially a Salt Lake City institution now.
15. Fastest Ice on Earth
In addition to the Greatest Snow on Earth, Salt Lake City is famous for the Fastest Ice on Earth. The Olympic Oval, built for the 2002 Winter Olympics, has the distinction of breaking every speed skating record in the world (except one).
Due to the high altitude, the air resistance is thinner. Less air resistance means you can skate even faster. That, plus the design of the building, and voila! You have the Fastest Ice on Earth. (Although Calgary also claims this, my sources say that SLC is TRULY the fastest).
16. Sundance Film Festival
The largest independent film festival in the United States takes place right outside Salt Lake in Park City. Every January, the Sundance Film Festival attracts filmmakers from all over the world.
And not just filmmakers, either! Amateur film buffs, fans, and people who just want to see 40,000 people descend on picturesque little Park City are all welcome to come and catch the films.
17. Temple Square
Temple Square is a religious complex owned by the Latter-day Saints (LDS Church or the Mormon Church). The 10-acre plot where Brigham Young once said “Here we will build a temple to our God,” lies in the middle of Salt Lake City.
It includes the Salt Lake Temple, the Salt Lake Tabernacle, North and South Visitor Centers, Salt Lake Assembly Hall, and the Seagull Monument, as well as extensive gardens and other offices of the LDS Church.
Although certain parts of Temple Square are only visible to Mormons, such as the Salt Lake Temple, Temple Square gets millions of visitors every year. The Salt Lake Tabernacle, with its Tabernacle Choir, is particularly famous.
18. Gayest city in the country
Even though Salt Lake City is known as a liberal bubble in a conservative state, it’s pretty hard to believe that it recently earned the nickname “Gayest City in America.”
But it’s true! Nearly 5% of SLC’s population identifies as LGBTQ, which puts it even higher than Los Angeles. SLC recently even had an openly gay mayor, who went on to serve in Utah’s House of Representatives. How’s that for a liberal bubble?
19. The Crossroads of the West
Salt Lake City gained the nickname “The Crossroads of the West,” after the first Transcontinental Railroad was completed nearby. The Transcontinental Railroad opened the West to faster development and cut the travel time between the coasts from months to less than a week.
As a result, Salt Lake became a boomtown and was considered a gateway to the rest of the West. Nowadays, you can see the location of the “Last Spike” or the “Golden Spike” at the Golden Spike National Historic Park.
Conclusion
Salt Lake City is known for its Mormon culture, sure, but this little city of the West holds so much more. Go there for beautiful religious architecture, historical monuments of the American West, a look into your family history, or catch a Utah Jazz game.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to try fry sauce, a float in the Great Salt Lake, a foray into the Greatest Snow on Earth, or a film at the star-studded Sundance Fest.
Did you know all of these facts about Utah? Which ones did you find the most surprising? Tell all in the comments below!
