South Salt Lake, Utah

South Salt Lake is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah and a core inner suburb of Salt Lake City proper, and thus part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The population was 26,777 at the 2020 census.

Jesse Fox Jr. developed the area South Salt Lake referred to as Central Park around 1890. Mr. Fox chose the name after visiting New York and seeing Central Park there. He was impressed by the park and its design within an urban environment. Despite South Salt Lake being rural at the time, he decided to name the area Central Park. In 1925 the LDS Central Park Ward was created and named after the development.

In 1936, an attempted annexation by Salt Lake City failed due to concerns over funding and implementation of a sewer system. On August 14, 1936, a resolution creating the Town of Central Park was approved by the Board of County Commissioners - however, this did not last long, as voters then decided to disincorporate the town in 1937. In a close vote, voters then approved incorporation of South Salt Lake.

On September 29, 1938, still in need of a sewer system, South Salt Lake voted to incorporate as the Town of South Salt Lake, with Robert R. Fitts as the first town president. The town was also lacking many other basic amenities at the time that would be easier to implement with incorporation, such as a post office and fire department. In 1939, the Works Progress Administration finally began construction of a sewer system, with a cost of $462,000. The original boundary of South Salt Lake was from 500 East to 300 West and 2100 South to Mill Creek on the south.

On August 1, 1950, the population had increased enough for South Salt Lake to be designated as a third class city. This changed the form of government to a mayor and city council. The town president of the time, Marlow Callahan, became the first mayor of the City of South Salt Lake.

In the 1990s, South Salt Lake annexed portions of an unincorporated portion of Salt Lake County to the south, and nearly doubled in land area and population. On January 4, 2010, Cherie Wood became South Salt Lake's first female mayor.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.9 square miles (18 km²), all land.

The city is bordered by the Jordan River on the west, 500 East and 700 East on the east, 2100 South on the north, and 3900 South on the south. West Valley City lies to the west, Salt Lake City to the north, northeast, and east; and Millcreek to the east, south, and southeast. Because of its location next to the Jordan River and well away from the mountains, it is mostly flat, only ranging in elevation from about 4,330 feet (1,320 m) to 4,380 feet (1,340 m). It has a fairly high water table, with some areas being somewhat swampy before development in the early 1900s. Much city water comes through wells from the aquifer beneath the city. Three tributaries of Mill Creek converge in Fitts Park.