The story
Railroad magnate E.H. Harriman bought a controlling interest in the Utah Light and Railway Company and planned a model trolley system. He invested $3.5 million in this mission-style car barn complex, built from 1908 to 1910. The largest building was the trolley berth, with a machine shop and blacksmith shop in the middle, a paint and carpenter shop to the north, and a sand house to the east. The water tower was designed to hold 50,000 gallons for fire protection.
The railway stopped operating from the site on August 19, 1945, and the streetcar system was dismantled that year. City buses used the barns until 1970. In June 1972 the buildings reopened as Trolley Square, one of the first large adaptive reuse projects in the country, with relics from around the West set out as accents.
What's There Now
A shopping center with bookshops, restaurants and boutiques.
Everything that was here
- 1908–1945
Trolley Square (Utah Light and Railway car barns)Other
E.H. Harriman spent $3.5 million on streetcar barns here; the last trolley left in 1945 and a mall opened in 1972.
See the map in 1909 →
Did you know?
Nearby history
Bill and Nada's Cafe
Hires Big H
Centre Theatre
Auerbach's Department Store
Quarters Arcade Bar
Newhouse Building
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