Z.C.M.I.

Look up on Main Street at the cast-iron and sheet-metal front of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution, the co-op Mormon merchants formed in 1868 at Brigham Young's urging to keep mining and railroad money from setting local terms. The façade went up in 1876. When the store behind it was torn down in 1973, the front was saved and adapted as an entrance, and it was saved again for City Creek Center. The company did not last as long as its face: sold to the May Company in 1999, then folded into Macy's.

What the plaque says

Z.C.M.I. One of the last remaining fragments of the pioneer era For more than 100 years, this cast iron and sheet metal façade greeted shoppers at Z.C.M.I.'s flagship store. Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution was formed by Mormon merchants in 1868 at the behest of Brigham Young to combat the economic influences of mining and the transcontinental railroad. The enterprise intended to support local manufacturing, control prices, and invest profits back into the community. Its success spawned similar institutions throughout the Intermountain West and eventually inaugurated a major department store chain. Z.C.M.I. was sold in 1999 to the May Company. May Co. was sold in 2005 to Federated Department Stores which owns Macy's. Salt Lake City merchants belonging to Z.C.M.I. first consolidated in one building—with an elaborate façade—at this location in 1876. When the building was torn down in 1973, the façade, which had been remodeled several times, was preserved and adapted as a store entrance, as it has been again in City Creek Center. This structure has been recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey of the United States Department of the Interior for its archives at the Library of Congress

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Salt Lake City — steps away
  Utah's capital and largest city — where the Wasatch Range meets the Great Salt Lake.
• Temple Square — steps away
  The spiritual and architectural heart of Salt Lake City
• Ensign Peak — 1.5 mi
  A short hike to the spot where Brigham Young surveyed the valley
• Liberty Park — 1.8 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882

More markers nearby

• Zions First National Bank — steps away
• Desert News Building — steps away
• Templeton Building — steps away
• Old Folks Day — steps away