(car clicking) (car horn honking) (bell ringing) (ragtime music) - [Mike] It's a street unlike any in the American West.

A boulevard of grand proportions.

The home of governors, senators, mining magnets, religious leaders and merchants.

- South Temple has always been the show place.

- South Temple is the grand boulevard, the grand avenue of Salt Lake.

- For a time (orchestral music) anyone who was anyone located their home along its wide tree lined length.

A straight shot east from Temple Square to Fort Douglas.

From 1880 to the 1930s, the vast majority of Utah's wealth resided here in the most opulent neighborhood the region had ever seen.

- It is a prominent street.

- It is one of the beautiful neighborhoods.

- [Joseph] And so as you go up the street it was a very popular thing to be right on South Temple so that you would be recognized as being a very prominent part of the city.

- [Mike] It was a street shaped by capitalism, yet envisioned in a religious model A magnificent example of the ebb and flow of economics and the impact of a society always on the move.

(motor whirring) While many homes still stand today, many more are gone forever, consumed by the very forces that built them.

Those that remain tell the story of a society and a neighborhood of unrivaled wealth and architectural splendor.

This is the story of Brigham Street, Salt Lake City's grand boulevard.

- [Announcer] Brigham Street is made possible in part by the Cleone Peterson Eccles Endowment Fund, the R. Harold Burton Foundation, Walker and Sue Wallace, the C. Comstock Clayton Foundation, the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, and the contributing members of KUED.

Thank you.

- [Anna] I drew my first breath near the boundary line of Brigham Street and by its side have passed through the sweet and sad experiences of a lifetime.

(bell ringing) From my window, I have seen infants taken in baby carriages for an airing up and down the street.

Before dawn come milkmen.

Later paper carriers, laborers, clerks, teachers, school children, also men and women of comparative leisure.

It is a wonderful daily panorama.

I must tell you that the man for whom the street South Temple has been nicknamed, Brigham Young, predicted to my father in the early 1850s that it would eventually be the fine residence street of the city.

Anna Kay Hardy, 1915.

- [Mike] Almost from the time it was born, Brigham Street was a prime location for housing the region's elite.

Brigham Young, for whom the street obtained its nickname, established a multipurpose multi-building compound along its northern edge.

As lots were given out at the community's first settling, many church leaders received parcels of land near Young's residence, including several along Brigham Street, or South Temple, as it was officially called.

- Brigham Young was a classicist.

(orchestral music) He served a Proselyting mission in Great Britain and it is very clear from the documents that we have of the time that he spent in Westminster Abbey, in St. Paul's Cathedral.

He spent days in those buildings studying them, looking at them.

I'm sure he was impacted by the city itself.

I think that that background, his experience in Great Britain, is absolutely evident in creating the preeminent boulevard of a city.

- [Mike] Brigham Young's lot was located at the intersection of State Street and South Temple.

The entrance to it, framed by the Eagle Gate, also formed the entrance to City Creek Canyon.

The property contained farmland, gardens, two large homes, several smaller homes, a bishop's storehouse and a school.

The larger of the two homes, called the Lion House, housed many of Young's wives and children.

Its 20 gables outlined the many bedrooms on the third floor while the basement housed a large pantry and eating area.

Guarding the front portico a solitary lion sculpture gave the house its distinctive name.

(orchestral music) The Beehive House was the official residence of the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Its name was symbolized by a cupula crowned with a beehive.

A symbol of industry and hard work.

It was here, and in the adjoining office between the two homes, that much of the decisions and policies that shaped early Utah were made.

But Brigham Young wasn't all business.

Across the street, he oversaw the construction of a second empire mansion that would be used to entertain visiting dignitaries.

It would also be the residence of one of his wives, Amelia Folsom, who would serve as the home's hostess.

The structure, known alternately as Amelia's Palace, or the Gardo House, stood as the showpiece of Brigham Street.

- Brigham really did love all of these wonderful arts.

He wanted it to be beautiful.

No hardwoods.

They had the ability to paint the wood with these beautiful wood grains and make it visually beautiful.

A reporter was backing him into the wall over the very expensive chandelier in the entry of his home.

And by the way, how much did that light fixture cost you?

And Brigham reportedly said, "Hmm, I don't know.

I made it."

- The idea of Brigham Street I think really hearkens back to the founding father of who built there first, and that's Brigham Young.

He said, "This will be a prominent place to live "and therefore I will build my house here," and others followed suit.

And so as you march further east, more and more of the prominent names in Utah built on South Temple.

(horn blaring) - [Mike] By the 1880s, Brigham Young's plans for a localized self-sufficient mercantilist and agricultural economy had given way to the enormous wealth that literally poured out of Utah's mines.

It made giants out of ordinary people and created a new class of elites, one that would take up residence on Salt Lake's grand boulevard and forever transform the city.

(birds singing) A Nebraska farm boy who was born in Canada to Irish immigrant parents, Thomas Kearns had combined an insatiable drive for self-improvement with a powerful work ethic.

In a few short years he rose to become one of the most powerful mining bosses in the American West.

But getting there was no easy accomplishment.

(country music) (horse whinnying) - Kearns was a young guy trying to make ends meet.

Nebraska was a tough place.

So where does he go?

Somewhat from the firing pan to the fire.

He heads out to Tombstone, Arizona.

He probably learned a lot there.

He tried mining there a bit, it didn't work out, but he decides he and two other guys are gonna be teamsters and take a couple loads from Tombstone up to Salt Lake City and a group of men, they get into a discussion with him, they said, "There's this town, you should look into it.

"There's some big strikes going on.

"It's a little town called Park City."

That was the turning point.

He headed to Park City and came in with nothing.

The lore is that he walked in with 10 cents in his pocket and walked out a millionaire.

- [Mike] Though he was 20 years younger, Kearn's unique style and hard work caught the eye of two prominent mining bosses in Park City, John Judge and David Keith.

They took him under their wing.

- Keith gave him a job and gave him a job as a mucker.

A mucker isn't very romantic.

It's basically the guy that just takes all the sludge that's come out of the mine and puts into a cart or off to the side, what they call dumps.

But he worked his way, hard worker, smart guy, he worked his way up to a shift boss and then a contractor.

- [Mike] Kearn's boss, David Keith, was another adventurer seeking the latest excitement in the vast and promising ore fields of the American West.

Soon he found Kearn's work so agreeable that the two of them, with John Judge, began overtaking several smaller operations, combining them into one of the largest and most profitable mines in Park City called the Silver King.

(horn blaring) - [Reader] The Silver King, which Mr. Keith, Thomas Kearns, and many others became interested in, proved to be a bonanza from which millions of wealth had been extracted.

Keith removed to Salt Lake City where he has since made his abode.

He erected one of the most beautiful and imposing homes in the state.

Being situated in the choicest residence portion of the city, Evie Foland.

- [Mike] Friends and business partners, Keith and Kearns each constructed homes a block away from each other at 529 and 603 East Brigham Street.

While Kearns served (hammer hammering) as a US senator in Washington, his wife oversaw the construction of a three story chateau esque castle completed in 1902.

During that time, (orchestral music) David Keith built a smaller, but no less lavish, neoclassical mansion whose carriage house alone, complete with living quarters for the servants, a bowling alley, was unrivaled in size and scope.

Inside the home itself, (orchestral music) a soaring octagonal atrium drew in warm sunshine through a white and gold skylight.

Elegant Tiffany chandeliers and lamps and window after window of cut stained glass added their own magnificent display of color and light.

Architect Carl M. Neuhausen, meanwhile, was overseeing the final touches on the the Kearns home.

Rising three stories, it literally dripped in ornamentation, creating an exquisitely imposing facade.

Bronze and steel sculptures and a nearly overwhelming variety of textures graced the interior.

From the mahogany beams above to the filigree moldings, master paintings and frescoes, and hand chipped mosaic marble tile floors, each of the 32 rooms possessed a luster of its own.

(orchestral music continues) - You have to remember, his business partner was Dave Keith.

So he probably wants to, I hate to say improve on that, but maybe do something, go a little bit further.

But also you have to remember in those days, your home would've been a place that did a couple of things.

Obviously you raised your family, that was a place you came back to, but that's where you did so much of your entertaining and as Tom Kearns then starts to get more involved in politics, I believe he thought it was important to have one of those showy places.

(orchestral music continues) - [Mike] A year later in a grand christening, the home played host to President Theodore Roosevelt.

Decorated in brilliant American flags and set with a lavishly presented dinner.

It was proof that the residents of the Thomas Kearns family had risen to be the crown jewel of Brigham Street.

By the turn of the century, ("The Entertainer") Brigham Street was the most desirable address in Utah and the Grand Avenue was moving into its prime with scores of architecturally brilliant homes, each showing off the success and status of their occupants.

For the frequent Sunday strollers, it was a site to behold.

- I think it would've been just an absolute wonderful experience to stroll down South Temple.

It's a promenade, it's a place to walk, it's a place to stroll and I think that that is what South Temple is to Salt Lake.

It is one of the beautiful neighborhoods.

- [Mike] Crossing State Street heading east, homes of Frank W. Jennings, George P. Holman, Philo T. Farnsworth and Arthur L. Thomas rose in a varied and vibrant display of wood, brick, and stone.

Moving east were still more homes, each a symbol of its occupant's prosperity.

John Daly's elegant Victorian house at 319 East was finished in 1891.

A successful miner and financier, Daly was also one of the chief contributors to the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

At 505 East, the stately neoclassical home of Thomas Weir lent a unique elegance to the neighborhood.

Carl A. Sheed was a renowned singer and talented administrator.

His English Tudor home at 1127 East reminisced of a picturesque architectural style and was complete with an acoustically tuned music room on the second floor.

James David Wood was a man of many interests.

When he settled at 307 East Brigham Street, it was in a chateau esque home created by Carl M. Neuhausen, architect of the Kearns Mansion.

Francis Joseph Hagenbarth was president of one of the world's largest cattle companies.

His four square home at 206 East was an eclectic mix of Italianate and Victorian stick style influences.

The finest example of English Tudor architecture along Brigham Street was the home of Morris R Evans at 701 East.

A miner by trade, (crowd cheering) he also became known as the father of baseball at Salt Lake City, bringing a team to town that played in the Pacific Coast League.

At 1177 East, the neoclassical home of William W. Armstrong brought colonial revival elements to the neighborhood.

Armstrong, a banker by trade, served in many capacities in state government.

An equally imposing sight, Louis Terry's colonial revival home rose elegantly behind brick walls and wrought iron gates.

Its interior featured red tile floors, cherry wood paneling, an elevator, beamed ceilings and brocade wall coverings.

The Terry home stood as an eastern crown to a street lined with architectural jewels.

Wealth was not the only element that defined Brigham Street.

Its residents built up fraternal organizations and ladies societies and they also supported an array of causes.

One by one (motor whirring) clubhouses materialized along the street, including the famous Alta Club, University Club, Town Club, Ladies Literary Society, and Elks Lodge.

Moving farther east, the Masons constructed an Egyptian revival temple.

Through these and other organizations, the elite of Brigham Street took part in the kind of civic engagement that swept the nation during the early part of the 20th century, a practice that has all but disappeared from many corners of America today.

- People think decisions are made in City Hall and I disagree.

I think decisions are made by people that want to see our city grow a certain way and so I think a lot of those ideas are born from a place like this and they're not born when you're by yourself, you need others around you.

- [Mike] Beyond the secular, religion also influenced the streetscape.

From 1847 on, the street hosted the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with structures ranging from the domed Salt Lake Tabernacle to the gothic inspired Assembly Hall, to the architecturally eclectic Salt Lake Temple.

By the turn of the 20th century other religions had gained significant footing in the state, erecting monuments to their faiths on Brigham Street as well.

(choir singing) The red sandstone Presbyterian Church on the corner of C Street had the characteristics of a medieval fortress.

At 1050 East, a small chapel had already been built by the Catholic church as a sanctuary for patients at Holy Cross Hospital.

Finished in 1875, it was one of the first Catholic places of worship in the territory.

- The Holy Cross Chapel is the only building remaining from the original Holy Cross Hospital.

It's actually the oldest Catholic building remaining in the city and the interior of it is small but very beautifully detailed.

It has stained glass windows, all kinds of ornamental plaster work and painting.

So the interior is a special place.

It's very lovely.

- [Mike] The hospital itself was a monument to the efforts and service of Reverend Lawrence Scanlan, who arrived in Salt Lake City in 1873 when there were only a few Catholics in Salt Lake City and Ogden.

He had left his post (bell chiming) in well-established San Francisco to serve a fledgling membership in the territory of Utah.

For more than 40 years he worked closely with the community, established lifetime relationships, and channeled the benevolence of many residents along Brigham Street as they sought ways to give back.

- The bishop is to oversee the church of God, to be the the shepherd looking after the flock.

(choir singing) One of the things that I really admire about Bishop Scanlan is that he really got out to where the people were.

He would go to the mines, he would go to the encampments, he would go wherever the people of God were to say Mass, to lend a listening ear, to be supportive.

He was there with the people.

- [Mike] By 1909, Scanlan's efforts had brought about impressive growth and unity into the diocese of Salt Lake City.

It was crowned at the completion of Brigham Street's largest and most ornate church, The Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene.

Completed in 1909, the Romanesque exterior edifice on the corner of B Street featured three large rose windows and two towers, one of which housed the belfry.

(bell chiming) The structure forever changed what people saw and heard as they passed along the street.

It was a monumental undertaking financed over many years (choir singing) and in part from large donations from many of the elite along Brigham Street.

- There were only like 5,000 Catholics here when the cathedral opened but they really wanted that cathedral on that corner, on that site to be a symbol of their presence here.

Most people are awed when they walk into the cathedral to see the beauty of all the color.

A lot of cathedrals are built with just stone and here the interior design architect wanted to embellish the cathedral, some people say, with the great colors of the Southwest and so you'll see all these beautiful colors in the cathedral combined with the windows when you get the east and west sun coming in that make it a visual and physical experience and it's one of the most beautiful cathedrals here in the Western United States.

- All of us want to leave something for posterity.

Some try to build big buildings, others leave a fortune and do good things with it.

Bishop Scanlan will be remembered for his faith and his love, and those are intangibles, but they're very, very real.

Bishop Scanlan left a legacy of faith and a legacy of love for his people that continues to this day and that's his legacy.

That's his South Temple mansion is the edifice of our faith.

- [Mike] Bishop Scanlan's life of service, devotion and charity underscored the vulnerability of individuals and their need for help along life's sometimes troublesome roads and though the wealth of Brigham Street residents seemed to cast about them an air of invincibility, for many of them the pathway to financial success began in the most dire of circumstances.

Walter C. Linn, John Daly, David Keith, Peter Franklin, and Daniel C. Jackling were all orphaned in their early teenage years.

Passed around relatives and left to fend for themselves, they started at the bottom of everything with only one direction to go, up.

In spite of a turbulent youth, Daniel Cowan Jackling had at least one guiding principal that kept him pointing in the same direction.

He wanted a good education.

(train hissing) At the age of 24, (ragtime music) he graduated with a bachelor of science from the Missouri School of Mines.

He worked his way up in the mining industry and by 1903 his distinctive energy and ingenious methods landed him the position of general manager of the Utah Copper Company.

Ore in Bingham Canyon was plentiful, but low grade.

Jackling believed that if he could excavate ore at a high enough volume he could successfully refine it using a methodology new to the industry.

It was a bold and expensive proposition.

For his business partner, Enos Wall, the risk was too high.

After unsuccessfully trying to dissuade Jackling, Wall left Utah Copper and continued to fight him from the sidelines as a shareholder.

But Jackling's hard work and perseverance paid off so handsomely that even Wall had to admit he was wrong.

In the first 30 years, Utah Copper enriched its shareholders by more than $250 million in dividends.

It became known as the richest hole on earth.

Jackling purchased a home at 731 East Brigham Street but he found the society there to be too pretentious for him.

A few years later he relocated to a custom suite in the new Hotel Utah.

In the meantime, Enos Wall fit in beautifully with the high rolling society of Brigham Street.

He retained architect Richard Kletting, best known for his masterpiece, the Utah State Capitol, to transform a two and a half story Italianate home at 411 East into a three story French villa complete with a third story ballroom, an Otis elevator, built-in vacuum cleaner, a steam heating system and guest bedrooms that ringed the second floor and opened up onto balconies with commanding views of the street below.

Though men like Enos Wall, (serene music) David Keith, Thomas Kearns and others were by far the biggest movers and shakers along Brigham Street, many women would prove themselves skilled in finance, management, and business, some doing so in the face of immense personal challenges.

They built hugely successful businesses and masterfully managed the wealth that came to them.

Of them all, Jennie Judge Kearns, wife of Senator Thomas Kearns, was the matriarch.

Her business savvy was equaled only by her kindness and she put both to use.

Completed well before her own palatial home on Brigham Street, the St Anne's Orphanage was erected thanks to funding from Mrs. Kearns.

It housed up to 70 children (children playing) in its Victorian eclectic walls.

She visited regularly and supplied decorated trees and presents for the children at Christmas.

After her husband's death she executed the estate running the family's business interests and even donating her Brigham Street mansion to the State of Utah to be used as the official governor's residence.

- Not enough is said about Jennie Judge in this town.

This woman was head of one of the most powerful corporations, the Kearns Corporation, at the time.

She was the president.

I recently saw her will, it was 900 pages, so that gives you an idea of, this was not an unsophisticated person.

(serene music continues) - [Mike] One of Brigham Street's most beloved women, Mary Harney Judge, came into her own after the untimely death of her husband, John Judge.

When he died, (factory whirring) Mary invested the family's mining dividends into a claim in Nevada where she had connections.

It was a risk and it paid off.

She built her own house (serene music) at 737 East Brigham Street, a Queen Anne style with a spacious wraparound porch.

The large home would serve as a base for Mary and her daughters for many years.

Engaged in charitable causes, she found many ways to reach out.

She built a 300 bed miners hospital in memory of her husband.

(birds singing) Later she generously contributed to the construction of the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

- She was quite the businesswoman and then was able to handle the business and stand toe-to-toe with anybody and you see their names on the windows of the cathedral.

Both the east and west transom windows are given by Mary Judge, in honor or memory of her husband, John Judge.

- [Mike] Susanna Egeria Bransford had also loved and lost a husband, Albion B Emery, whose investments in Park City mining stock began reaping dividends after his death.

Heir to his fortune, and in possession of a mine for investments in mining, she quickly turned a fortune into a staggering personal wealth of over $100 million, a figure by today's standard of living, estimated to be over $2.2 billion.

(upbeat piano music) It is no wonder her successful forays in Park City silver mining earned her the name, Silver Queen.

In 1901, the queen had remarried and her new husband presented her with a little gift, a French second empire mansion, already well known as the Gardo House.

Susie, as her friends called her, had been introduced to her new husband, Colonel Edwin F. Holmes by Thomas Kearns.

After their marriage, the spoils of their globetrotting lifestyle began appearing in the decor and furnishings of their Salt Lake City home.

So vast was her art collection that an additional building, a gallery, was built just to the west, opening in a blaze of colorful light, music and dancing.

Hosting sometimes more than 300 guests a week, the Holmes not only found themselves at the pinnacle of Salt Lake society, they were also well positioned on the society map of the world.

By 1910, the couple began preferring the warmer climate of Southern California where they had another home near Pasadena.

In an unexpected move, Susanna lent the entire house to the American Red Cross for the duration of World War I.

The Mansion proper was used for offices and a training space while the art gallery was converted into the Department of Surgical Dressings.

When Colonel Holmes died Susanna resumed her globetrotting lifestyle.

Susanna Bransford Holmes left behind significant contributions to the city.

(bell ringing) The Bransford or Emery Holmes Apartments, located across the street from the Alta Club, was a five story apartment building.

(serene music) Along the entire stretch of Brigham Street similar structures rose in tandem with their single family counterparts.

Almost the perfect bookend at 1300 East, the second renaissance Mayflower apartment building gave its residents stunning views of the valley.

At 839 East, the Maryland Apartments rose four stories, a monument to its creator, German born, Bernard Mecklenburg.

- The Maryland I just think is one of the great buildings of South Temple.

It really is true, the detailing and things, the windows are all the old antique glass, I mean there's a wave to the windows.

The hardwood floors, the beautiful oak floors, the grand ceilings, and the glass French doors that move between each of the spaces.

Just the quality that is here that I don't know that you'll ever find in newer buildings.

- [Mike] For decades trolleys, first pulled by livestock, (bell ringing) later powered with electricity, plied the road in both directions.

The road was paved, sidewalks, gutters, and curbs built, electric lines and street lighting installed.

Brigham Street had officially entered its prime.

- [Reader] "The United States soldiers stationed "at Camp Douglas used Brigham Street "on their promenades back and forth "from the fort to the heart of the city.

"Presidents of our dear America, Ulysses S. Grant, "Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, "and many other distinguished statesmen "have honored Brigham Street with their presence.

"President William H. Taft bowed in reverence "to the throng of school children dressed in red, "white, and blue to represent a living flag."

Anna Kay Hardy.

- A grand street like South Temple is where the parades of the city take place.

It's where the Hearst when one of the great leaders dies, this is where it goes.

It is where people line the streets.

It's where military, when they came back, march down the street.

It is an important space.

And these are the places where people live their lives every day.

These are where the events of our lives take place.

(bell ringing) - [Mike] While the rich and powerful found a grand stage along Brigham Street, much of the credit for the development of the street itself belonged to the many civil servants who also lived there.

Governor George Dern was one of the most popular governors in Utah history and was later made Secretary of War under Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

His Brigham Street home at 715 East served as the official governor's residence.

John C Dooley was one of the first four non-Mormons on the Salt Lake City Council.

Daniel H. Wells, William Jennings, James Sharp, James Glendinning, and Ezra Thompson all served as mayors of Salt Lake City.

Thompson's unique home rose sentry-like on the corner of Sixth East.

It was during his three terms, (motor whirring) beginning in the year 1900, that the city was beautified with street paving, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks.

And though he can be recognized for this coming of age achievement, the credit truly lay with one of Salt Lake City's most colorful and remarkable citizen servants.

Patrick J. Moran, (ragtime music) called P.J.

by his friends and associates, had established himself as the most well-known and respected civil engineer and contractor in Utah.

His name appeared on nearly every sidewalk in Salt Lake City.

(motor whirring) His projects spanned road, sidewalk, gutter construction and paving, steam heating plants, ventilation systems, and aqueducts that brought water from the mountains to the thirsty valleys below.

Ironically, as elaborate as Moran's civic works were, his living situation on Brigham Street was very simple.

He had a two-story brick home at 1106 East, but it wasn't there that he lived.

A few years after its construction the home was abandoned for a much smaller neighbor, a cottage that was preferred by Moran's ailing wife.

Moran was also an engaged community figure in his time.

In 1916, he led a fundraising effort, including the dime donations of local school children, to purchase an elephant for Utah's fledgling zoo at Liberty Park.

(elephant trumpeting) When the children's donations fell $2,000 short, Moran made up the difference using his own money.

Princess Alice, the elephant, (ragtime music continues) had found a new home and in Wasatch school Pet Day she paraded up Sixth East and along Brigham Street to the school.

Crowds of delighted children greeted their special guest.

Princess Alice would go on to thrill Utahans young and old for decades to come.

(elephant trumpeting) (motor whirring) Big business soon followed the state's mineral boom as more and more industries located themselves in the heart of Utah's unfolding economic center.

Bankers, merchants, attorneys, and livestock ranchers all took up residence along Brigham Street.

Emanuel Khan and the Kone Brothers, successful merchants, built Bodenberg and Khan, one of the first stores along Main Street.

They had architect, Henry Monheim, design and build three homes along Brigham Street, the most ornate being the Victorian Kahn mansion on the corner of 700 East.

Perhaps the most successful of all early Utah businessmen were the Walker brothers and Samuel Newhouse.

Matthew Walker arrived in Salt Lake City as part of a wagon train in 1852, having lost much of his family, including his father and all three sisters.

Over the next four decades, (motor whirring) Matthew and his brother's work in farming, merchandising, and eventually banking paid off handsomely and the Walker name found its place among the city's elite.

Active in the community (orchestral music) and charities, Matthew is also one of Salt Lake City's biggest patrons of the arts, even building his own opera house downtown.

But it would be his home at 610 East Brigham Street that would forever seal his name as a lover of the arts and music.

Completed in 1905, his Spanish renaissance home featured a massive inner chamber, a grand hall that spanned 50 feet wide.

Its dark oak and silk lined walls framed a huge 1500 pipe organ.

Overhead, an exquisite chandelier and stained glass skylight allowed both daylight and electric light to stream downward mingling with the music of the masters played by visiting artists.

Few children could boast such a residence as daughter Frances Glenn, who was barely six years old when she moved in in 1905.

- Like many of the buildings on South Temple, there's an ambiance to them where you step in and you say, "This is amazing," because you see the amazing craftsmanship, the soaring heights that some of these things were built with and all at once it comes flooding into you and you not only become awestruck by some of those things, and that they're still around, but you feel like, intrinsically, they're a part of you in some way because they're part of your community.

- [Mike] But for all the splendor of the Walker wealth, it paled in comparison to the vast resources of Samuel Newhouse, who could rightfully claim title as one of the richest men on Earth.

(motor whirring) (ragtime music) Short, energetic, and endlessly enterprising, Samuel Newhouse seemed to spin gold at every turn.

He had an ability to convince investors as far away as Europe to buy into his operations in Utah.

Reinvesting his mounting wealth into real estate and other ventures, Newhouse won again and again.

Eventually he oversaw the construction of the elegant Newhouse and Boston buildings in the heart of Salt Lake City's budding financial district.

He donated land upon which the Salt Lake Stock Exchange and the Commercial Club were erected, and he constructed a grand hotel known by his name and featuring a banquet room modeled precisely after the Louis XV room at Versailles.

- I see some of the personalities that were here, like the Walker Brothers and Mr. Newhouse and the Kearns family, the effect they had on how downtown was built, the Walker building, the Kearns building.

You don't see very many buildings today built with a person's name on there.

Samuel Newhouse took many risks, put his money where his mouth was, built a large part of our city.

- [Mike] But Newhouse's real estate investments were not limited only to Salt Lake City.

- [Reader] "Newhouse owns valuable properties "in nearly every mining state in the country.

"Occasionally he goes to New York, London, "or some other center of finance, "and floats a new enterprise "which has taken shape in his fertile brain.

"On one of these trips, he came to the conclusion "that the celebrated Flatiron (bell ringing) "in the heart of the business district of New York "would make a profitable investment for a few idle millions.

"Accordingly, New York real estate men "were surprised one morning to learn "that the Flatiron belonged to the young Newhouse.

"A few months later the property was sold "at an advance that was remarkable even for New York."

Evie Foland.

- [Mike] He purchased palatial homes on Long Island, in London and in France, but it was in a handsome colonial home at 165 East Brigham Street that Samuel Newhouse would make his biggest local splash.

Complete with white Italian marble, plush Persian rugs, copper railings and trim, and colonial elements in every corner, the home was full of treasures.

A concealed electric button when pressed revealed a steep staircase that descended into Newhouse's wine cellar where he kept part of his collection of rare wines.

The space held 1300 bottles.

Not a seeker of any spotlight, Newhouse nevertheless engaged himself deeply in the communities where he lived.

He was a regular at The University and Alta Clubs and gave generously to friends, family, and a multitude of causes.

(serene music) - These people came from nothing and they saw their friends die in mining accidents, so they knew that they felt a great responsibility.

This was up and down the street.

It wasn't a competition to see who could give more or do this or build.

I think it was out of their hearts.

They felt compelled.

It was a responsibility to be part of this community and their fortunes came out of this state.

(birds singing) - The people who lived here were really in the community.

They understood how important it was to pay people a fair wage.

Tom Kearns, I'm sure, knew those people, he had done that work.

And I suspect that Matthew Walker could have gone behind and counted money there at the the teller's window and I suspect that many of these other people could have gone in, rolled up their sleeves and made their equipment and made some of their machinery and all of those different things work.

While these people had this immense wealth, they were part of the community.

- [Mike] Brigham Street sprang up in the heady days of the mineral and railroad booms and reached its full maturity in the 20th century.

For a brief time, the city and this neighborhood of neighborhoods coexisted and thrived alongside each other, but the very forces that created the neighborhood soon began to pull it apart.

(crow cawing) (serene piano music) Brigham Street found itself too close to the city whose prosperity it had nurtured.

Demand for commercial space skyrocketed.

The venerable mansions of Brigham Street were growing frail and seemed archaic compared to the gleaming brick and glass structures being pushed out into an ever expanding circle.

The homes closest to downtown found themselves in the cross hairs first.

One by one homes were sold until dozens of Brigham Street's most beautiful mansions were gone.

(serene music continues) The Gardo House, Samuel Newhouse, Henry G. McMillan, Windsor V. Rice, James E Hogle, George Dern, James David Wood, John E Dooley.

Many surviving homes were becoming boarding houses.

The family of the late Mary Harney Judge, not wanting her home to suffer that fate when they moved, had it demolished.

(horn honking) (traffic noises) - Well demolition is a permanent solution.

Once you lose something, other than photographs and histories, it's forever gone.

So you lose the continuity of memory from the past to the present when these buildings are removed.

- To my knowledge, South Temple has lost 20 to 30 of the great mansions from the Brigham Street era.

This was during a period of urban renewal in the 1960s that was really a paradigm shift in thinking where historic buildings were expendable, where they said, "These don't have value anymore "and we need to clear large swaths of land "to make room for these new buildings "and new development to come in."

That was a period that really galvanized the public, as well as national media, to rally behind historic buildings and really South Temple was the place that people started to rally around to say, "We have to stop this demolition because it is so important "and we can't lose more of these mansions "than we already have."

- [Mike] Saved from near death, the Devereaux House at 334 West Brigham Street was almost undistinguishable during the middle of the 20th century as it languished in a crumbling industrial district.

- My best recollection growing up was that this whole block was occupied by a mining equipment company who dealt, basically, in used mining and industrial equipment.

They had knocked the walls out and driven dump trucks in the ballroom to service 'em.

They used it for a service truck bay and the floor joists were all broken back there from being overloaded.

So the place was just in horrible shape.

- They were using it for very industrial purposes when really it was meant to be this elegant grand mansion for the first millionaire in Utah.

And to have it come to this industrial purpose on a huge vacant lot was really not the ending that people saw for this place.

(serene music) - [Mike] The Devereaux House was constructed as an English cottage in 1857 by William Staines.

Later, William Jennings greatly expanded the footprint and turned it into a second empire mansion.

The home was uniquely positioned near the railroad and this made an attractive place for receiving visiting dignitaries.

Brigham Young frequently greeted American and European leaders here as they visited Salt Lake City.

Following the death of Jennings in 1886, the home was sold and over time its proximity to the railroad began to be more of a liability than an asset.

- Before the railroad comes in, the Devereaux mansion is the loveliest home on South Temple and the station is built right there just west of the Devereaux.

(train bell clanging) So the owner of the mansion at that time just simply abandoned it and built a new house on East South Temple.

- [Mike] Years of neglect took a heavy toll on the home.

Finally, the city voted to restore it, but their plans were delayed by a fire that swept through in August, 1979.

(fire crackling) - The roof structure was totally ruined.

The stairway was burnt so badly that you couldn't dare walk up it.

And there was really a serious discussion on whether or not the state ought to spend the money to renovate this or not.

Just 'cause it's condemned doesn't mean it has to be torn down.

If anybody ever asked me if that building's worth saving, I'm gonna tell 'em it is 'cause in my mind it is.

I don't care what kind of condition it's in, it's still worth saving.

(piano music) - [Mike] The city continued with the restoration and in 1982, a home on the brink of destruction had been restored to life, a window to the past.

Its preservation added fuel to an expanding movement across the state.

More and more people were finding a link to their heritage through the structures of the past.

- As you go down the street and see all those buildings they all have their own stories.

I was raised in the era of magazines and newspapers and photographs on walls, and when that shutter clicks, (shutter clicking) that moment in time cannot be repeated.

(shutter clicking) Whoa, that blows me away because I got pictures of this building, people on the porch (shutter clicking) or cars in front of it.

That's so emphatic to me because I know the house, I know the area and I love it.

I like the story it's telling and I like the reality of that image that can't be repeated.

(piano music continues) - When I look at the old black and white pictures, there was a time when everything in our lives was beautiful.

I don't know that I want to go back and live in the 1800s or the 1900s, but in a certain sense we've lost the beauty of daily life, the quality of life that they had.

We have a very high standard of living but what is our quality of life?

I think that really boils down to the beauty of every day and I think it's at the heart of what makes South Temple absolutely beautiful.

(upbeat piano music) - Beauty is a subjective matter and I think people gravitate to it.

I think people come here to admire the design, the craftsmanship, the materiality, the history.

It's deep, it's rich.

So you can almost tell the history of the state of Utah by telling the history of South Temple.

Really, you can go up and down the street and talk about many of the key individuals who touched Utah history from the beginning to the present time and there's not another street like it.

- It represents our history, our past.

It represents hard work.

It represents a time when you could make something out of nothing and it shows Salt Lake is a great cultural area.

- What we have is an amazing collection, an array of Utah history, that really reflect this past era that you can't help but wonder how people lived and how they made their successes happen.

South Temple is one of America's greatest streets because it embodies something that you can't see anywhere else.

It is truly unique.

- [Mike] Today, the heady days of Brigham Street's past quietly speak from the few structures that remain.

Some carriage steps and sandstone curbing hearken back to a slower time.

Iron lattice light poles line the street beneath many original trees.

Farther east, longer stretches of the original house scape remain.

But approaching the city's center, only the very biggest homes emerge between modern buildings, a startling sight to one who is unfamiliar with the history of this street.

Those left tell stories of pioneers, of religion, of politics, great wealth, high society, civic engagement, and charity, stories that formed a rich cultural heritage along one of America's grand boulevards, Brigham Street.

- When you live in a place (motor whirring) or when you visit a place, the cultural heritage of that place is what makes it interesting.

It can be found in its people, the stories, the history, but the architecture is a very important part of it because it's the evidence left behind.

If you have roots in your community it changes you.

You're standing on someone's shoulders.

If you can see the evidence of what they created, it changes you.

It makes you put your goals out there higher, loftier, and see yourself as able to do those things.

After all, your father, your grandfather, your great-grandmother, they did it.

You can do it.

(ragtime music) - [Announcer] Brigham Street is made possible in part by the Cleone Peterson Eccles Endowment Fund, the R. Harold Burton Foundation, Walker and Sue Wallace, the C. Comstock Clayton Foundation, the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, and the contributing members of KUED.

Thank you.

(orchestral music)