Those Places Thursday–Webster Family Road Trip: Utah ~ Vintage Postcards

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to the immigration story of Debs Webster and his family.

For those of you who may be new to my blog, I’ve been sharing the 1952 Immigration Story of my Grandpa Debs Webster and his family through a series of blog posts.  My Grandpa Debs took many photos and purchased lots of postcards along the way.

In last week’s post, I said I would share some cool vintage postcards from Utah that were in my Grandpa Debs’ scrapbook. Well, I’m happy to say it’s finally time to share them!  There are way too many of them to share all at one time.  So, today I’ll just share three vintage postcards with you.

The first vintage postcard shows the beautiful Salt Lake Tabernacle while it was under construction.



Construction of Tabernacle Roof, Salt Lake City
1952 Vintage Postcard
Click to Enlarge

Construction of Tabernacle Roof, Salt Lake City
Back of 1952 Vintage Postcard
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Transcription from Back of Postcard:

THIS CONSTRUCTION began in 1863 and was first used for a conference of the Church in 1867.  The roof, the principal portion of the building, rests upon 44 sandstone buttresses 3 feet thick, 14 to 20 feet high and 9 feet wide.  The arches are of a lattice truss construction, securely fastened, where necessary, with cowhide and wooden pegs.  The Tabernacle is 250 feet long, 150 feet wide, and 80 feet high, and seats approximately 8,000 people.

This remarkable and historic building has been designated as a national historic landmark as well as a national civil engineering landmark.

The world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir has performed in the Tabernacle since it’s earliest days.

The Salt Lake Tabernacle has amazing acoustics.  One of the ways the tour guides demonstrate this is by dropping a pin at the pulpit.  It can be heard by those sitting in the back of the hall, 170 feet away.

Below are a few photos from our family’s vacation to Utah this past summer, as well as a couple photos from our trip to Utah in 2011.

The first photo shows the Salt Lake Tabernacle as it appears today.

Salt Lake Tabernacle

July 2012

And here is a photo from June 2011 showing the inside of the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

Inside the Salt Lake Tabernacle

June 2011

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has a weekly broadcast called Music and the Spoken Word.  This weekly radio and television broadcast started on July 15, 1929. It is the world’s longest running continuous network broadcast.

Music and the Spoken Word is broadcast from the Salt Lake Tabernacle every Sunday morning from January – May and September – November.

During the summer months, June – August, and during the month of December, Music and the Spoken Word is broadcast from the absolutely gorgeous Conference Center.  The broadcast takes place in the Conference Center's 21,000-seat auditorium.

Here's a photo of the Conference Center from our family vacation in July 2012.

Conference Center

July 2012

And here we have a photo showing the inside of the Conference Center (photo from lds.org).  One of the amazing features of this beautiful auditorium is that no matter where you sit, you get an unobstructed view of the front of the auditorium.  There are no pillars to block your view.  This is truly an awe-inspiring engineering achievement.

Inside the Conference Center
Photo from lds.org
Click to Enlarge

My family and I were able to attend the live broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word on July 22, 2012.  The Orchestra at Temple Square accompanied the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for this broadcast.  We were allowed to take photos while they practiced before going "live."

Here’s one of the photos we took:

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

at Conference Center

July 2012

Now it's time for more vintage postcards from Grandpa Debs' scrapbook ~

The second vintage postcard I’m sharing with you shows Main Street in Salt Lake City at night.



Main Street at Night, Salt Lake City
1952 Vintage Postcard
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Main Street at Night, Salt Lake City
Back of 1952 Vintage Postcard
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Here’s the third vintage postcard.  It shows Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Mountains.

Salt Lake City and Wasatch Mountains
from Airplane, Looking East
1952 Vintage Postcard
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Salt Lake City and Wasatch Mountains
from Airplane, Looking East
Back of 1952 Vintage Postcard
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Though the following photographs weren't taken from the same vantage point as the vintage postcard above, I thought they were interesting enough to share with you.

They were taken from the 26th-floor observation deck of the Church Office Building, headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City in June 2011.



View from 26th-Floor Observation Deck

Church Office Building

Utah State Capital in the Distance

June 2011

View from 26th-Floor Observation Deck

Church Office Building

Looking East Toward Wasatch Mountain Range

June 2011

I hope you enjoyed taking this virtual trip to Salt Lake City via photographs and vintage postcards.

Thanks for reading!

Jana


Copyright © Jana Last 2012