Anderson Tower: A short-lived tourist attraction in Salt Lake City

MENTION the Anderson Tower and few Salt Lake City residents will have any idea what you are talking about. That’s because this lofty granite landmark has been gone for near a century (so almost no person alive will recall having ever viewed it) and it only existed for 48 total years anyway.

Today, all that remains of the tower is a monument, near its original location, at about 303 “C” Street.

This tower was built by Robert R. Anderson of Salt Lake City in 1886 of granite, from the same Little Cottonwood Canyon area where the outside building materials for the Salt Lake Temple came from.

(Some rumors maintained that the tower was built or at least commissioned by Brigham Young, but he died in 1877 and was not involved with it.)

The 3-story tower was either 56 feet or 63 feet high (depending on what source you believe).  It was about 25 feet in diameter and was said to be 312 feet higher than the intersection of Main Street and South Temple Street.

Anderson pattered his tower after similar structures he had seen in Scotland. The tower had an observation area on the third story, as well as a telescope.

When the tower first opened, he charged admission to go up to the top. The interest just wasn’t great enough and the tower soon closed and was somewhat neglected.

In May of 1908, Anderson tried to revive interest in the tower. So, he offered free admission to it. The Inter-Mountain Republican newspaper stated on May 18, 1908 that some 3,000 people visited the tower in a single day, after its re-opening.

The Deseret Evening News of May 16 1908 stated that the tower was a landmark, now open again. It proclaimed it was “one of the show places of the city.”

At least one newspaper ad for the tower contained totally sensationalized details. An advertisement in the Desert Evening News of Aug. 6, 1907 stated: “Anderson Tower was erected in early days for protection against the Indians.”

The tower remained open all day Sundays and from 2-5 p.m. weekdays for some time, but again interest in it wore off. Plus, vandalism was a continuing problem.

“Tower Heights” was a related nearby residential development in 1908, with homes costing more than $10,000 envisioned there.

Finally, the tower site was sold to Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Telegram of October 15, 1930 stated that $7,200 purchased the property. The agreement was that it would be utilized as a city park and that nothing there would ever obstruct the view of City Creek Canyon and Memory Grove below. The tower was torn down about two years later, in 1932.

Today, that agreement is still honored. Just a granite monument, made from a piece of the tower remains.

A steep stairway to the west leads down into Memory Grove and technically the tower property is an eastward extension of the park.

(-Other references used, the Salt Lake Tribune of May 10, 1908; the Salt Lake Tribune of March 17, 1908; the Salt Lake Herald of May 17, 1908; the Utah Division of State History listing for Anderson Tower.)