United States · Utah · Salt Lake City
Central City, Salt Lake City — Area Guide & Where to Stay
A 97-foot water tower rises over Trolley Square in Central City, a core neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, east of downtown.
About Central City
Where to stay in Central City
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Central City runs east from the downtown grid, and the two ends of it suit different stays. The Library Square end sits on the TRAX Red Line, which runs down the median of 400 South, so the Salt Lake City Public Library stands a block off and downtown begins just west. Trolley Square anchors the other end.
Base yourself there for the shopping center built inside the 1908 streetcar barns, with Liberty Park a short walk south past 900 South.
About Central City
What are the main landmarks in Central City?
Central City keeps its landmarks on the numbered grid, starting with Trolley Square at 600 South 700 East, where a 97-foot water tower stands above the old streetcar barns. St. Mark's Cathedral holds the northwest corner on 100 South, its cornerstone laid in 1870 and the building finished only in 1903. Two houses stand on 100 South.
The Royle House and the Simon Bamberger House sit a few doors apart, the second built for the man Utah elected as its fourth governor. Iglesia La Luz del Mundo, a Richardsonian Romanesque church on 300 South, opened in 1898 for the first Christian Science congregation in Utah.
What is the history of Central City?
Central City was settled soon after the Mormon pioneers arrived, the ground just east of Temple Square being close enough to build on early. Before that the Northwestern Shoshone, the Ute, and the Goshute used the Salt Lake Valley as seasonal hunting ground. The streetcar shaped what followed.
Salt Lake City put its main streetcar depot here in 1908, and after the system was dismantled in 1945 the barns sat unused for decades until a shopping center opened inside them in 1972.
Where is Central City?
Central City lies east of Downtown Salt Lake City, between South Temple and 900 South, with The Avenues above it and Liberty Park just past its southern edge.
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Updated September 2026