In 1910, when partners in the Granite Furniture Co. built their first store in the Sugar House area of southeast Salt Lake City, the neighborhood was poised to grow into a vibrant part of the city. Named for a processing facility built by Mormon pioneers who hoped to make sugar from sugar beets grown in the Salt Lake Valley, the neighborhood also was served by a new rail spur that delivered goods to its growing commercial center. Three large furniture stores made up "furniture row" near the intersection of key arteries.
After falling into neglect and disrepair in the 1980s, Sugar House has seen some growth, becoming an eclectic, pedestrian-friendly and hip section of the city. Now a streetcar line, the first in the state in more than 100 years, is expected to inject the area with new life, and Sugar House is again primed to be a commercial and residential hot spot in the valley.