The capital of Utah, a city founded by Brigham Young in 1847 beside the Great Salt Lake, is Salt Lake City.
Brigham Young led Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. The settlement became the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and grew around a planned street grid. Its name refers to the nearby Great Salt Lake, one of the largest salt lakes in the Western Hemisphere.
Salt Lake City became Utah’s territorial capital in 1856 and remained the capital when Utah entered the Union as the 45th state in 1896. The city is situated between the Wasatch Range and the lake, giving it a distinctive mountain-and-basin setting.
A common mistake is to call the city simply Salt Lake; its official name is Salt Lake City. Provo and Ogden are important Utah cities, but Salt Lake City is the state’s political and cultural center.