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Historic place

Alta Club

100 E South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT

Founded in 1883 as a social club that kept Mormons out, it bought two slot machines in 1936 to pay the bills.

📅 1883–present🏛️ OtherStill here
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The story

Eighty-one charter members signed the Alta Club's articles of incorporation on March 3, 1883, 13 years before Utah became a state. It was modeled on the Union Club of San Francisco and aimed to offer the comforts and luxuries of a home. The club met first in the Alta Block, then in 1892 in the Dooly Block, designed by Louis Sullivan. Construction of the current clubhouse began in 1897 and it opened June 1, 1898.

Its early reputation was for excluding Mormons, yet former mayor William Jennings joined in 1885. During Prohibition stories circulated about members getting alcohol and bringing it into the club. In 1933 it waived initiation fees for 90 days to attract members, and in 1936 it bought two slot machines, a controversial move that helped its finances. The first non-widow women members were admitted in 1987.

What's There Now

The Alta Club still operates in the 1898 clubhouse designed by Frederick Albert Hale.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

The club met in a Louis Sullivan-designed building, the Dooly Block, from 1892 until the clubhouse opened.
It bought two slot machines in 1936 to restore its finances.
Its first female president, Ceri Jones, was elected in 2008.

Nearby history

ZCMI Center Mall

15 S Main Street · 224 m away
A Gruen Associates mall on the block bounded by Main, South Temple, State and 100 South; retail closed July 28, 2007.

Salt Lake City Hall (Council Hall)

120 E 100 S · 229 m away
City hall where Utah woman cast the first woman's vote in 1870, then moved stone by stone in 325 numbered slabs.

Joseph Smith Memorial Building

15 E South Temple · 253 m away
Renamed and dedicated in 1993 as an LDS church office building and community center after the hotel closed.

Salt Lake Theatre

75 E 100 S · 292 m away
Brigham Young called himself designer and general dictator of a 1,500-seat theatre that took months to knock down.

Salt Lake Tribune Building (Ezra Thompson Building)

143 S Main St · 426 m away
The Tribune bought this 1924 mining-mayor's tower in 1937 and left in 2005; now it is a university.

Kearns Building

132 S Main Street · 438 m away
Thomas Kearns's white terracotta office tower opened in 1911 and housed what was billed as the most beautiful buffet in

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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_Club