When Lawrence J. Scanlan, a 30-year-old priest, arrived in Salt Lake City in 1873 from his native Ireland, there were only 90 Catholics in both Salt Lake and Ogden combined. Consecrated a bishop in 1886, Scanlan purchased the land on South Temple, then known as Brigham Street, for $300,000. Ground was broken for the new cathedral on July 4, 1899, and construction was completed in 1909.