SALT LAKE CITY'S HISTORIC JAPANTOWN (NIHONMACHI)
SALT LAKE CITY JAPANTOWN HISTORY
December 1871- A group of 107 Japanese officials, led by Deputy Prime Minister Tomomi Iwakura are the first people from Japan to visit Utah.
1880’s-1890’s- The first Japanese arrived in Utah, many came to work on the railroad. These first Japanese in Utah were dubbed as Sanchubu-to Nihonjin (“Intermountain Japanese People”) by the Japanese language newspaper Rocky Mountain Times.
1910- By this time there are around 2,110 Japanese in Utah, and Japantown in Salt Lake City starts to take shape as more Japanese businesses are opened to service the growing community.
1912- The Intermountain Buddhist Church is established.
1918- The Japanese Church of Christ is established
1925- Both the Japanese Church of Christ and the Intermountain Buddhist Church dedicate new buildings that became the center of social, cultural, and spiritual life for the Japantown community.
Japantown would continue to grow preceding World War II and Salt Lake City would become hugely important for the broader Japanese American Community in the war years. The National JACL headquarters were in Utah during the war and the National JACL Credit Union still operates in Salt Lake City to this day.
1943-1947- Utah passed the Anti-Alien Land Law which prohibited Japanese Americans from purchasing land in the state. Which stunted the growth of Japantown during World War II.
Despite the setbacks to the community during the war, Japantown recovered, and remained the heart of the Japanese American community into the 1960’s.
1966- The move to create a new convention space, the Salt Palace, decimated Japantown and only a few structures remained on 100 South by its completion in 1969.
.jpg)
2000, 2005- Significant expansions to the Salt Palace West Side. In response to these expansions, the Japanese Community Preservation Committee (JCPC) was formed to advocate for mitigating some of the negative impacts of the westward expansion with the creation and preservation of a garden as a buffer between the Salt Palace and the Japanese Church of Christ. As a part of this effort, 100 S. was officially named Japantown Street.
2018-2023 - The West Quarter project was proposed in 2018, and to mitigate effects to the churches, the JCPC worked with the city and the developers of the property to create a plan to revitalize the streetscape of Japantown Street.
2024 - Senate Bill (SB) 272 established a Capital City Revitalization Zone extending from the Delta Center to Japantown and introduces a 0.5% citywide sales tax increase, generating $900 million to fund the Smith Entertainment Group’s (SEG) Sports Entertainment Convention and Culture District (SECC). This project will affect Japantown Street and daily operations at the Japanese Church of Christ (JCC) and Salt Lake Buddhist Temple (SLBT).
JA Centennial Committee(1997). Japanese Americans in Utah. JA Centennial Committee.