Deseret News archives Shortly after the Mormon pioneers arrived,
Brigham Young directed that the streets in downtown Salt Lake
City be wide enough for a wagon team to turn around without
"resorting to profanity." Over the years, those streets have
maintained their 132-foot width. But a lot has changed. Many of
the Main Street changes have been documented by Deseret News
photographers and illustrators. Photo researcher Ron Fox has
found many of these photos in the newspaper's archives,
beginning with an illustration from the early 1860s of the
single-story Deseret News offices located, as they are now, on
100 South between Main and State streets. The city's famous grid
system actually dates back to Joseph Smith, founder of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who imagined a
template for the "City of Zion" that might be applied to Mormon
towns everywhere. Starting from scratch in Salt Lake Valley,
Young was able to realize Smith's plan to a degree. Although the
geography of the Avenues area defied t