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last update: October 18th, 2007
The Great DivideA UTAH STORIES INVESTIGATION: 
For its first twenty years of existence (1847-1865), Salt Lake City was viewed by the rest of the United States as a remote outpost. The Salt Lake Valley at this time was a part of Mexican territory and nearly exclusively a Mormon community. Mormons Pioneers had hopes of building a new Zion called Deseret, complete with their own currency and written language. The Pioneer's early existence relied on hard work and self-sufficiency from all ties with the outside world. What would later become the Z.C.M.I. department store, was originally established as a distribution center for the crops and products the Pioneers produced. Mormon Pioneers maintained a unique form of communism, whereby products and wealth were shared and distributed. The practice began within ward-houses. Z.C.M.I. (Zions Cooperative Mercantile Incoporated) was establised by Brygham Young to organize the exchange of goods and services. Z.C.M.I offered new converts from Europe free food after first arriving over the long treck across the Grate Planes. In 1868, however, the Mormons self-sufficient lifestyle would completely change. Federal soldiers stationed in Park City discovered silver, announced it to the rest of the world, and a Salt Lake City became a part of the silver and gold rush that defined the era. Within a few years Salt Lake had a entirely new element of "whores and hoodlums." Like water and oil, neither Mormon nor prospector would have very little inter-mingleling. This was the begriming of what would forever be known as "The Great Divide."
The "Mormon half" of Salt Lake City became centered around the North-end of Main Street near Temple Square & Z.C.M.I. The "Gentile half" was located on South-end near the City and County building and the Exchange Place district. For years prospectors would avoid the North-end of Main Street and the Mormons would only patronize stores owned by fellow L.D.S members (Z.C.M.I and the Eagle Emporium). Auerbach's became the exception to this rule. Owned by Fred and Hubert Auerbach, of Jewish religion and descent, both non-Mormon and Mormon shoppers alike patronized Auerbach's beautiful store on Broadway (300 South).
Despite Herbert Auerbach's extensive education and world traveling, he decided to stay settled in Salt Lake City and maintain his family business. Hubert's father and uncle had established Auerbach's department store after originally providing one of the first banks in the Salt Lake valley in the 1850s. Eventually, the Aurbach's determined a better use of their capitol was to fill the niche for merchandise as more prospectors were entering the valley in the 1860s. They quickly became the second largest retail store to Z.C.M.I
As Salt Lake City began to grow and develop the great divide remained present, yet less prominent. More Mormon businesses were established on the Southern side of Main Street and more non-Mormon businesses were established on Richard's Street in and around the Temple. Brigham Street, named after the founder, prophet and Utah's first Governor, Brigham Young, began to fill with giant ornate victorian-period mansions, built by the wealth from the successful the silver and gold mining prospectors. Names such as Newhouse, Walker, Kearns, Bamburger and Judge were just a few of the new, prominent, wealthy families who had realized success in mining. Buildings and mainsions still stand today and line Utah's nationally recognized beautiful street (now called South Temple) Other businesses began realizing success in many other trades as well. Utah Woolen Mills, had been a direct-to-consumer, wool product catalog business since 1906. Utah Woolen Mills established their first retail store on Richard's street in the 1920s. (click here to watch interview with current owner Bart Stringham) Below is a photograph of the North-end of Main Street anchored by the Z.C.M.I department store on the left-hand-side).
Everyone who lived in Salt lake City in the 1940s and 50s remembers the vibrant city full of life and bussel. At this time, the city was so safe children would ride a trolly to the city unaccompanied by parents and watch a movie at the Orphum theater for a nickel. The Paris Company, Keith O'brien and Auerbach's had become living institutions, connected to the city's history and growth. The Owl and Lambs Restaurant were filled to capacity every lunch hour as business men would sit at their counters and eat. Tom Warner who worked in L. Lorenz knife store at the time says, " I remember when you couldn't hardly get your lunch in because there were so many people on the street." (click here to watch interview) John Speros, who started working in his father's restaurant when he was ten remembers, when people came downtown it was a real occasion, "People would get dressed up, they would wear coats and ties, women would wear their hats dress up, wear their best cloths and they would come downtown to go shopping." (click here to watch interview) So how is it that in just twenty years Main Street could be transformed from what was described by Warner and Speros as a truly idealic downtown to what is pictured below: A city void of life, activity and anything but vibrancy. In 25 years nearly every long-time local merchant would go out of business and only the smaller owners with great determination would remain.
This is where the policy decisions and history become more subjective. Compare Doug Dansy with Allan Barnett and you couldn't find two men with such different opinions. Salt Lake City Historian and author, Alan Barnett believes that the malls "sucked the local character and culture out of Main Street." and eventually ruined the Main Street's vitality. Doug Dansy, who has worked in the Salt lake city Planning office for the past 24 years, couldn't see things more differently. He believes that the malls sustained Main Street's economic vitality in downtown and they were a necessary ingredient for downtown to compete with suburban shopping centers. The ultimate decision to build the malls to accommodate vehicular traffic and create an indoor retail center, demonstrated in the above photo, indeed moved life and vitality of Main Street inside of the malls and as Tony Weller says, made it so that "anyone who wasn't in either one of those two malls would eventually wither up and die."
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