Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named “Great Salt Lake City”—the word “great” was dropped from the official name in 1868. Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Utah. Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the industrial banking center of the United States.

LDS Population

LDS Members make up 59.34% of the population of Salt Lake City. The state of Utah has 1,936,074 members in 558 stakes, 1 district, 4,481 wards, 334 branches, and 6 missions. There are now 17 temples operating or under construction in Utah.

LDS History

Elder Orson Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve and Erastus Snow were the first Latter-day Saints to enter the Great Basin, arriving in what is now Salt Lake City on 21 July 1847. They were followed by the advance party that included President Brigham Young. On 24 July, Brigham Young and the rest of the group of 148 saints arrived and on 28 July, President Young selected the site where the Salt Lake Temple would be built. Within a month, the city had been surveyed, 80 acres of land had been planted, 29 log houses had been built, nearby valleys had been explored, a bowery and adobe fort had been constructed, and trade shops had been started.