History of Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, where it has stayed ever since. The city's name was officially changed to "Salt Lake City" at the same time. In 1857, when the Mormon practice of polygamy came to national awareness, President James Buchanan responded to public outcry by sending an army of 2500 soldiers, called the Utah Expedition, to investigate the LDS Church and install a non-LDS governor to replace Brigham Young. In response, Brigham Young imposed martial law, sending the Utah militia to harass the soldiers, a conflict called the Utah War. Young eventually surrendered to federal control when the new territorial governor, Alfred
Downtown Salt Lake City crowd, many of the Main Street businesses were saloons, earning the street the nickname "Whiskey Street". For many years, there existed a political and cultural divide in Salt Lake City. Mormons would mostly shop and congregate around the Salt Lake Temple, the Gardens at Temple Square and ZCMI on the north-end of Main Street, and those who were not members of the church, who were mostly prospectors in the early days, would stay south of the predominantly Mormon area. Originally, the business district extended along the west side of Main between South Temple and 100 South. By the 1880s, the