Japantown | |
|---|---|
| Nickname: Little Tokyo | |
| Country |  United States |
| State | Utah |
| City-county | Salt Lake City |
Japantown, also known as Little Tokyo, is a neighbourhood in Salt Lake City, Utah. While currently consisting of one street, it was previously one of the largest Japantowns in the United States. [1]
The current Japantown consists of one street, Japantown Street, which runs from Second to Third West on 100 South. [2]
As part of Japanese immigrations to the United States in the late nineteenth century, Japanese came to work on the railroads, in agriculture and in mines. [2] [4] In 1902, Edward Daigoro Hashimoto, a former railroad worker, launched the E.D. Hashimoto Company in what would become known as Japantown. [4] The company was a labour agency and also provided Japanese items, including food and clothing, to the Japanese population. [2] There were over 2000 people in Japantown by 1910, [4] initially with a high male:female ratio. [5]
By 1918, the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple had been built. [4] The Japanese Church of Christ was built in 1924. [6] These two buildings form most of the surviving Japantown. However, in the 1920s, Japantown contained two Japanese-language newspapers (including the Utah Nippo, 1914-1991 [5] [7] ), a Japanese language school, dance studios, restaurants and stores, covering an area of several blocks. [2]
World War II brought considerable changes. Japanese American internment was introduced in 1942, including the Topaz War Relocation Center near Delta, Utah. When Topaz was shut in late 1945 and even before then, some of those who had been moved to Topaz moved on to Japantown, [2] tripling its population. [4]
In 1969, as part of a failed bid for the 1972 Olympic Winter Games, [1] [8] most of Japantown were destroyed to build the Salt Palace arena. [6] [8] Business owners were forced to sell up under eminent domain rules. [1] Only a small amount of Japantown survived. [2] [1]
In the early 2000s, the Japanese Community Preservation Committee was founded by several people, including Jani Iwamoto, now a Utah state senator, and started advocating for the area. [2]
The Obon Festival is held at the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple on the second Saturday in July. [9]
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which had a population of 1,257,936 at the 2020 census. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,746,164, making it the 22nd largest in the nation. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, it is the 117th most populous city in the United States. It is also the central core of the larger of only two major urban areas located within the Great Basin.
Federal Heights is a neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is generally considered as the residential area to the east of Virginia Street and to the north of South Temple Street in Salt Lake City. It abuts the Wasatch Mountains to the north, and the University of Utah to the south and east. Federal Heights is one of the more affluent neighborhoods in Salt Lake City, with many of the homes in the area dating to the early 20th century.
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple completed by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. The temple was closed in December 2019 for a general remodelling and seismic renovations, which were initially estimated to take approximately four years. Subsequent updates extended the estimated completion to 2026, for a total renovation timeline lasting an anticipated six or seven years.
Temple Square is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately adjacent to Temple Square. Contained within Temple Square are the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Salt Lake Assembly Hall, the Seagull Monument, and two visitors' centers. The square was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1964, recognizing the Mormon achievement in the settlement of Utah.
The Salt Lake City Union Pacific Depot is a building on the western edge of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Built in 1908–09, it dates back to the more prosperous era in the history of American railroad travel. As Salt Lake Union Pacific Railroad Station, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Salt Lake City, Utah has many historic and notable sites within its immediate borders. Although the entire Salt Lake City metropolitan area is often referred to as "Salt Lake City", this article is concerned only with the buildings and sites within the official city limits of Salt Lake City.
Originally, the Salt Lake Valley was inhabited by the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute Native American tribes. At the time of the founding of Salt Lake City the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone, who had their seasonal camps along streams within the valley and in adjacent valleys. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the Great Salt Lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water". The land was treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone was ever recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States. Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Spanish Franciscan missionary is considered the first European explorer in the area in 1776, but only came as far north as Utah valley (Provo), some 60 miles south of the Salt Lake City area. The first US visitor to see the Salt Lake area was Jim Bridger in 1824. U.S. Army officer John C. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845. The Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley a year before the Mormon pioneers. 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. This same path would be used by the vanguard company of Mormon pioneers, and for many years after that by those following them to Salt Lake.
Downtown is the oldest district in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The grid from which the entire city is laid out originates at Temple Square, the location of the Salt Lake Temple.
Margaret "Deedee" McMullen Corradini was an American businesswoman and politician who served as the 32nd mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, from 1992 to 2000. Corradini was the first woman to serve as mayor of Salt Lake City.
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building, originally called the Hotel Utah, is a social center located on the corner of Main Street and South Temple in Salt Lake City. It is named in honor of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. It houses several restaurants and also functions as a venue for events. Several levels of the building also serve as administrative offices for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints departments such as FamilySearch. On January 3, 1978, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Hotel Utah.
Charles Roscoe Savage was a British-born landscape and portrait photographer most notable for his images of the American West. Savage converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his youth while living in England. He served a mission in Switzerland and eventually moved to the United States. In America he became interested in photography and began taking portraits for hire in the East. He traveled to Salt Lake City with his family and opened up his Art Bazar where he sold many of his photographs. Savage concentrated his photographic efforts primarily on family portraits, landscapes, and documentary views. He is best known for his 1869 photographs of the linking of the First transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah.
Ensign College is a private college in Salt Lake City, Utah. The college is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and operates under its Church Educational System. It also includes an Institute of Religion and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
The Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub, also called Salt Lake Central station by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA), is a multi-modal transportation hub in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States served by the Blue Line of UTA's TRAX light rail system that operates in Salt Lake County and by the FrontRunner, UTA's commuter rail train that operates along the Wasatch Front with service from Ogden in central Weber County through Davis County, Salt Lake City, and Salt Lake County to Provo in central Utah County. Service at the intermodal hub is also provided by Amtrak, and Greyhound Lines, as well as UTA local bus service.
The Church Administration Building (CAB) is an administrative office building in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States serving as the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States. Completed in 1917, the building is adjacent to Temple Square, between the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the Lion House, on South Temple Drive. It differs from the Church Office Building in that it is much smaller and furnishes offices for the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It also houses offices for other general authorities and their personal staff.
The Provo Tabernacle was a tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 to 2010 in downtown Provo, Utah, United States. It was a historic icon of Provo and had been home to many religious and cultural events. All but the outer walls of the building were destroyed by fire in December 2010. The LDS Church preserved the remaining outer walls and built a new foundation and interior as part of the Provo City Center Temple, completed in 2016.
The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were held in and around Salt Lake City, United States from February 8 to 24, 2002, and the Paralympics from March 7 to 16, 2002. The sporting events were held in ten competitive venues, while non-competitive events, such as the opening ceremony, were held in six other venues. Three venues were also created for training purposes. All Olympic venues were scattered throughout Northern Utah and the Wasatch Front.
Main Street is the most important commercial street in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States though it also extends south into the cities of South Salt Lake, Millcreek, and Murray. Its commercial importance is almost totally derived from the few blocks of the street which are immediately south of Temple Square that have attracted banks, major retailers, and heavy foot traffic throughout Salt Lake City's history; the long southern extension of Main Street south of about 500 and 600 South, in contrast, is always in the shadow of State Street, which is more designed for the long-distance automobile traffic that is common away from downtown.
Settlement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Salt Lake Valley and surrounding area through “the planning and founding of more than 500 communities in the American West, is regarded by many planning historians as one of the most significant accomplishments in the history of American city development”. The Saints moved from settlement to settlement, until they made a permanent home in the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains. In 1847, they trekked en masse across the great plains of the United States until they reached what is now northern Utah. Led by Brigham Young, they used their experience of settling to establish themselves there. The church organized and directed the efforts. Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the LDS Church, and many other settlements in the area became very successful. The techniques of the farm village, plats, and the grid, were all important components for the initial establishment, and later development, of the uninhabited area. The presence of the Saints in the valley was useful in the concluding efforts of the Transcontinental Railroad, where Promontory, Utah served as the connecting point of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines. Often labeled “the Crossroads of the West,” this area became an important hub for people traveling west, particularly for the California Gold Rush. Initially an agrarian community, industrialization progressed rapidly through mining, manufacturing, and the establishment of railroads.
The history of Japanese-Americans and members of the Japanese diaspora community, known as Nikkei (日系), in the greater Portland, Oregon area dates back to the early 19th century. Large scale immigration began in the 1890s with the growth of the logging and railroad industries in the Pacific Northwest, after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 limited migration of new cheap labor from China and those other areas controlled by the Qing dynasty.
Washington Square, or Washington Square Park, is a public park in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The park surrounds the Salt Lake City and County Building, which houses Salt Lake City's government.