160 Business View Magazine - October 2016
The Salt Palace Convention Center
Unique in the industry
The Utah Territory became a part of the United States
in 1850, but it wasn’t until 1896 that Utah officially
became the nation’s 45th state. And Utahns wanted
to show it off. In Salt Lake City, in 1899, the proud
citizens there built a great hall out of salt blocks from
the Great Salt Lake and brine-soaked timbers. They
called it: “Utah’s Wonderful Salt Palace! - The Grand-
est Amusement Enterprise Ever Attempted.” The edi-
fice sat amid beautiful ponds, gardens, and arbors
wrung from the desert sands, and, in the evenings the
building was all lit up with new-fangled, electric lights.
“The facility was a pretty spectacular one,” says Dan
Hayes, General Manager of today’s Salt Palace Conven-
tion Center – the third venue in the city to employ the
Salt Palace moniker. “The salt crystallized on the wood
and it sparkled at night when it was lit.” Inside the hall,
which was capable of holding thousands, there were
