In an attempt to draw suburban shoppers to downtown businesses in 1918, the Salt Lake Commercial Club’s Retail and Wholesale Trades Department designated Wednesdays as "Sale Days." Calling on the patriotism for World War I, an advertisement read, “You want to save every dollar you can, especially at this time, when careful shopping is just as [...]
As immigration dominated the national debate and led some states (including Arizona) to enact strict anti-immigrant laws, Utah's Legislature, citizens, and business community were divided. It was a problem looking for a unifying voice. The Chamber provided one. "We looked at what was actually taking place in immigration. We really felt that there’s a Utah [...]
In May 1915, the Salt Lake Commercial Club supported a movement to “Buy it Now” to help get more money into the economy. May 3 was designated as “Buy it Now Day,” and people were asked to speed up their shopping for significant purchases.
The business community, as the ultimate consumer of Utah's workforce, saw an opportunity to become more engaged in advancing educational excellence and helping solve a challenge that was central to the state's future. In 2009, Utah business leaders got a sobering report on Utah education from a trusted educational advisor. They learned about the lack [...]
When President William Howard Taft came to Salt Lake City in 1911, it was at the Commercial Club where Taft chose to defend the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1911 landmark decisions to dissolve the Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company; both considered in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. While Taft had intended to speak [...]
At a made-for-TV announcement atop the Walker Center roof in May 2016, Chamber and Downtown Alliance officials celebrated a decade of Downtown Rising accomplishments: More than 4,000 housing units were built in and around downtown to support the goal of “dynamic urban living.” Several downtown towers were built, which house growing numbers of workers, including [...]
A true testament to the Chamber's leadership came as the state and nation faced one of the greatest economic downturns in generations. The business community rallied, and Utah managed to handle the effects of the "Great Recession" better than most states. Key to that success were the efforts of the Chamber and a proactive business community. [...]
Although Mormons and Utah had always been a target of incendiary press coverage up until statehood, numerous publications attempted to discredit Mormonism through scurrilous accounts at the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1910- 1911, muckraking magazines took on Mormons and the State of Utah, attempting to expose new polygamist marriages and un-American disloyalty to [...]
For years the Church had been investing in downtown properties; home of its world headquarters, the Salt Lake Temple and associated properties integral to administering a "global faith." In 2002 and 2003, faced with store closings and dropping sales, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders concluded that the health of downtown would [...]
In August 2013, the Chamber's effort from years past began to bear fruit as the Frontlines 2015 Project — 70 miles of new rail service over a seven-year period, finished two years ahead of schedule and $300 million under budget. But again, the fastest growing state in the nation was going to outpace investment and [...]
