In 1876 many of the several departments were consolidated under a single roof. The impressive three-story brick-and-iron facade of ZCMI stretched long down Salt Lake City's Main Street. A wing added in 1880 doubled the square footage of this landmark in Salt Lake's business district.

ZCMI met the twentieth century with the same ideals that had always identified its business. The philosophy -- that individual fortunes and private profits should be subservient to the good of the community -- would continue throughout the company's history. Growth became the new byword. In 1961 ZCMI moved to the suburbs with large modern branch stores at the Cottonwood, Valley Fair and University Malls, as well as in Ogden and Logan. ZCMI's 120-year history has seen the store change from a provincial cooperative to a publicly owned and widely respected shareholder entity. Although ZCMI is a publicly owned company with upwards of 1,400 stockholders, its ties to the Mormon Church are still strong. In 1988 the Mormon Church owned 51 percent of ZCMI's stock.

See: Martha Sontag Bradley, ZCMI: America's First Department Store, (1991).

Martha Sontag Bradley