Saltair Postcards

Sometimes called “The Coney Island of the West”, Utah’s Saltair Pavilion opened on the shore the Great Salt Lake in 1893. The years would prove tumultuous for the pavilion, beginning with a devastating fire in 1925. In 1931 the rebuilt structure (Saltair II) suffered major damage from another blaze, and 1933 saw the water recede so far from the pavilion that a miniature train was hastily constructed to shuttle bathers to and from the lake. Popularity declined over the years, and Saltair was closed in 1958. The ruins of Saltair played a significant part in the 1962 cult horror film Carnival of Souls before being consumed by an arson fire in 1970. A new Saltair, Saltair III, opened in 1981 about a mile from the location of the original. Postcards captured every iteration of the pavilion, and were produced from the undivided back days through the chrome era.