We are Real Salt Lake

Early Days

The territories that make-up Utah today were first home to Shoshonean speaking tribes. These tribes, made up predominantly by the Ute, Paiutes and Shoshones, encountered great difficulties in cultivating the scarcities of the Utah landscape, with the climate of the land being fairly arid and the resources there insufficient to sustain them. This toil of the initial inhabitants, and their eventual harmony with its nature, is emblematic both of Utah history and its future peoples.

Pioneer Days

In 1847 Mormon settlers arrived. Despite the arid and difficult terrain, the settlers viewed the land as a gift from God. Early efforts involved great difficulties, yet their devotion to communalism and industrious nature allowed the settlers to achieve – like the Shoshonean tribes – an eventual harmony with the land, cementing it as their home. This achievement is reflected upon the territory being named a state in 1896, the state taking the beehive as its symbol and naming the industrious honeybee as its state insect. The honeybee symbolizes the pioneer industry and cooperative work of the settlers, paramount for their survival.

The Progressive Era

The twentieth century in Utah was marked by several different periods of increased diversity through immigration. The Progressive Era brought many diverse cultures to the state, as people immigrated to work in the increasing coal and copper mines located there. A large outside population was also brought to the state during WWII, as soldiers trained on various military installations in the northern areas of Utah, and with many southern workers migrating to the state in pursuance of vacant wartime jobs. The Immigration Act of 1965 and a displaced population of Southeast Asian refugees provided the third impetus for diversification. The result of all the ensuing increased diversity, which continued in other forms of immigration throughout the century, brought a gradual but distinct change to the culture of Utah.

The Present

This quick historical summation does not do justice to the efforts of generations who built the state, though it does convey the defining characteristic of Utah. To those who call the state home - regardless of race, culture or religion – there is a distinct pulse of combative willingness to champion and defend the State against those quick to dismiss it. This pride is born and fostered through a connection that the outside world again does not understand or appreciate. These notions spurned on a new initiative in the twenty-first century, one congruent with the determined pride embodied by all who lived in the state. The result was an outpouring of culture in many forms, all defiant of the limits and labels typecast by others. Utahns created art, literature, music and strove for excellence in sport. All in an effort to advocate the capacities of its people and the caliber of its shared culture. Without the history of the state, the exertion of the original settlers of the land, and their demonstrations of industry and community, Real Salt Lake and any aspect of the Club would not exist. In whatever degree or age the Club occupies, it will forever be a product of the cultural endeavors of those who came before it and built the state into what it is.