Franklin Avenue
Long ago, this very place was “a riff-raff assemblage
of cowboys, tin-horners, higher-toned gamblers and
the rag tag and bobtail element,” according to the
Salt Lake Herald, this building at 231 South on what was then known
as Franklin Avenue was originally built around
1891 for the short-lived Franklin Avenue Variety
Theatre. The theatre was more famous for the secret
door on the third floor above the stage than any
performance. The door led to an adjoining saloon
and small “wine rooms” where men and women
enjoyed themselves and were waited upon by illegal
liquor dispensers, as reported in the Deseret Weekly.
Franklin was considered a tenderloin district
as were the other mid-block alleys such as
Commercial Street and Plum Alley. At the time,
the newspapers sometimes referred to the street
as “Darktown” as it was one of the only places
African Americans were welcome.
It was known
for tenement housing and brothels, such as the
notorious Hattie Wilson’s place, one of many
attached adobe houses that lined the narrow street.
Madam Wilson and her ladies were known to
“entertain” many of the city councilmen and highranking police officers of the day so they would
look the other way when there was trouble on
Franklin Avenue. Music emanated from many of
the houses in the alley and you could see some of
the city’s power brokers drinking and dancing if you
peered in the windows.
Ultimately the liquor license was revoked at the
Franklin Avenue Theatre, it was written that it was
a “most scandalous condition of affairs … common
to entrap half-intoxicated or wholly unsophisticated
person into ordering refreshments for painted and
half-clad harlots who infest the place.”
By the turn of the century, many of the inhabitants
had moved and original businesses shuttered. In
1906, city leaders paved the street and changed the
name to Edison Street as part of a wider effort to
clean up the area and encourage gentrification.
The colorful history and echoes of the lively past are
still alive at Franklin Avenue. So whether you are an
upstanding member of society or an admitted part
of the rag tag and bobtail element, memories are
waiting to be made!
