Social Hall (Salt Lake City)

The Social Hall was a historic theater and multi-use building in Salt Lake City, Utah, opened on New Year's Day 1853, and the structure has often been called the first theater built west of the Missouri River. Besides serving as a playhouse, it functioned as a meeting and lecture hall, hosted sessions of the Utah Territorial Legislative Assembly, was the first home of the Salt Lake Stake Academy, and later hosted the first gymnasium in the region. Fairs, political gatherings, reunions and art exhibitions were also commonly held there.