If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 146

Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, ca 1909

reverse

In June of 1909 I.C. Lee traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah for the funeral services of his brother, A.C.  This postcard was in the Lee collection of cards and I suspect I.C. purchased it on that trip.  It is unused with the divided back that introduced in 1908, and the domestic postage required is given as one cent.   The card is identified as a C.T. Photograph published by Souvenir Novelty Co., of Salt Lake City, Utah and made in the United States.  The company made several different items that were sold as souvenir/collectibles including postcards, booklets and plates with photo designs on them.  At the upper left on the reverse of the card is a beehive, the symbol of the state of Utah, with the words “Busy all the time, Souvenir Novelty” and “Quality Series.”

The picture on the card shows a mixture of automobiles, two wheel scooters or bicycles, and horse drawn buggies on the wide street.  Today there still are horse drawn carriages in Salt Lake City but they are for tourist or novelty transportation in the city.  In the beginning the streets were planned on a directional grid system with the width enough to let ox teams pulling wagons turn easily.  In recent years the extra wide streets have been narrowed some as inner city shopping malls and wide sidewalks have been built to allow more foot traffic.  However, the streets are still broader than many found in other cities. 

Temple Square is in the center of the city with all the streets numbered and labeled East, West, South and North from the Square.  The famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearses and records from the Tabernacle located in Temple Square.  The choir rehearsals are open to the public and a demonstration of the acoustics is provided to show that a pin dropped in the front can heard without difficulty in the very back rows and in the balcony.  Amazing for a building constructed between 1864 and 1867.

Tabernacle organ

Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 shortly after arrival of the first Mormon pioneers by Brigham Young, Isaac Morely, George Washington Bradley and several other church members.  The arid valley was irrigated and cultivated extensively.  Originally the city was named Great Salt Lake City after the nearby Great Salt Lake but by 1868 the word great had been dropped and it became simply Salt Lake City.

For more information see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_Tabernacle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_City