History of the Salt Lake Hot Springs Sanitarium Building at 52 West 300 South

Exterior of building. The long 2 story back of the building is hidden behind foreground structures. 1912. From UDSH.

The Salt Lake Hot Springs Sanitarium that was the setting of the 1893 civil rights lawsuit (see previous post) has an interesting history.

The building was located at 52 W 300 South and was built in 1890 as a modern Livery Stable by Mark McKimmins at a cost of $80K (~2.3M today) and designed by Thompson & Wiegel.

McKimmins wanted a building outfitted with new electric inventions and he built one of the largest liveries west of Chicago and named it the Palace Livery. It was built of St Louis pressed brick and Kyune sandstone (same as the SLC City and County building). It was 3 stories tall in the front and the back half was 2 stories and extend an entire half-block deep.

One arched entrance housed a veterinarian surgeon and the other arched entrance led to the stables. Carriages were kept on the ground floor and the 180 horses were on the 2nd floor with a long ramp that allowed the horses to walk to the upper story. Drains were incorporated in each stall and the flooring was coated in waterproof tar to allow for easy cleaning.

There was also a separate room which featured an automatic horse cleaner described as “electrical brushes [that] ply around their backs twice a day, an hour each turn” (Image 2). An elevator allowed hay to be moved from the basement to the 2nd floor. And electric lights and call bells were incorporated throughout the building.

McKimmins was only in this new building for 3 years when his bank, American National Bank- run by brothers James H Bacon (president) and Harvey M Bacon (vice president), foreclosed on him in 1893.

The foreclosure was rather shady, and it was a large part of the 1897 trial of James H Bacon who was convicted of falsifying reports and financial mismanagement. James was convicted, and later pardoned by President McKinley. His brother and VP of the bank, Harvey M Bacon, acquired the building during the foreclosure and converted it into a Sanitarium. Harvey invested an additional $150K into the building (~$4.5M today).

The buildings served as a Sanitarium until 1919 and then it was converted into the Broadway Parking Garage. It was demolished about 1974. Broadway Media now occupies the site.

Sources: SL Herald 1890-02-27; SL Times 1890-10-01; SL Herald 1897-12-10

Possible type of automatic horse cleaning apparatus used in the building: Ellis Pennington Grooming Machine. From The Street Railway Journal v1 Nov 1884-Oct 1885.

Possible type of automatic horse cleaning apparatus used in the building: Clark's Patent Power Grooming Machine. From The Street Railway Journal v1 Nov 1884-Oct 1885.