In July of 1871, Rev. Sheldon Jackson visited Salt Lake City and recommended to the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church that a church be organized. On October 1, 1871, Rev. Josiah Welch came to Salt Lake City, and on the next Sunday preached in Faust's Hall, over Mulloy and Paul's Livery Stable, to twelve people. Brigham Young had closed to the "Gentiles" (non-Mormons) every hall and public place in the city so this unsavory stable was the only place available. On November 12, 1871, the First Presbyterian Church was organized with twelve members.
Throughout tumultuous times, the church continued to grow in membership. Following statehood in 1896, the congregation began consideration of a new church home on the corner of C Street and South Temple. Mr. Walter Ware, prominent Salt Lake architect, designed the building in the English-Scottish gothic revival style, modeling it after the Carlisle Cathedral in England. Alexander Carpenter, a member of the church, was the builder. Red sandstone from Red Butte Canyon above Fort Douglas was cut and hauled to the C Street site by wagon. The cost for the building and lot was $175,000. When the cornerstone was laid on June 4, 1903, the membership then exceeded 500 and more than 700 were enrolled in the Sunday School.