Roy, Utah

Roy was settled in 1873 by William Evans Baker, twenty-five years after Ogden. Most of the surrounding communities had been settled prior to that time. On May 24, 1894, a post office was established. Previously known as Central City, Sandridge, the Basin, and Lakeview - Roy was ultimately named for a local school teacher's child, Roy C. Peebles, who had died.[4] The City of Roy was incorporated on March 10, 1937. Joseph William Jensen was the first mayor of Roy for 6 years, as elected by the commissioners.[5]

Businesses in Roy were limited until the early 1940s. A gas station, a couple of grocery stores, a cafe, and a lumber yard made up the modest business district. However, Roy developed rapidly during World War II. Roy housed many of the workers and personnel from adjacent military installations, including Hill Air Force Base, the Navy Supply Depot (now the Freeport Center), and the Defense Supply Depot.

September 1953 marked a milestone in Roy's history—Roy received a charter to establish the first branch bank in the state of Utah. This branch of the Bank of Utah pioneered the way for other banks to establish branches throughout the state. Norton Parker, son of Mayor Dean Parker, was the first Manager of this new branch bank.

Tremonton, Utah

Although the first settlers came to the Tremonton area in 1888, it remained largely uninhabited until just before 1900, when land agents started promoting the Bear River Valley as a place for Midwestern farmers to relocate. Small groups from Nebraska and Illinois began to arrive in 1898. These settlers were a diverse blend of Protestant faiths, in contrast to their mostly Mormon neighbors.[4] Then an Apostolic Christian Church group came in 1901–1904. The main body was from Tremont, Illinois, joined by a few families from Ohio and Kansas. Mostly of German descent, this group was referred to as the "German colony".[5]

When a townsite was laid out in 1903, the new town was named "Tremont" at the request of the German colony. Within four years, the post office had it renamed "Tremonton" due to confusion with the central Utah town of Fremont.[4] Around 1907 the congregation was caught up in a larger schism of the Apostolic Church. Some moved back to the Midwest, and the German colony came to an end.[5] But the church left a permanent mark in the name of Tremonton, and a nearby cemetery filled with German names.[6]

Tremonton lies in the Bear River Valley in northeastern Box Elder County. The Malad River flows through the city. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.8 square miles (20.2 km2), all of it land.[3] Tremonton is located near the junction of Interstate 15 and Interstate 84. It is bordered on the north by the city of Garland, with which it is closely associated. The town of Elwood is 2 miles (3 km) to the southeast.

Rush Valley, Utah

Rush Valley is a town in Tooele County, Utah, United States, located in the northwest of Rush Valley. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 447 at the 2010 census[3], with an estimate population of 479 in 2016.

This area was first settled beginning in 1856. In 1934, a large area of some 33 square miles (85 km2), comprising the settlements of Clover, St. John, and Vernon, was incorporated into a town called Onaqui. The incorporation was essentially a bureaucratic tactic to secure federal aid for development of municipal infrastructure, including from the Rural Electrification Administration. When the people of Vernon were granted a petition to incorporate separately on February 22, 1972, the remaining town was renamed Rush Valley.

As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 453 people, 149 households, and 123 families residing in the town. The population density was 24.7 people per square mile (9.5/km²). There were 169 housing units at an average density of 9.2 per square mile (3.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.01% White, 0.22% Native American, 0.22% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 0.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.10% of the population.

Vernal, Utah

Vernal, the county seat and largest city in Uintah County is in northeastern Utah, United States, about 175 miles (280 km) east of Salt Lake City and 20 miles (32 km) west of the Colorado border.[5] As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,089. The population has since grown to 10,844 as of the 2014 population estimate.[2]

Vernal, unlike most Utah towns, was not settled by Mormon pioneers. Brigham Young sent a scouting party to the area Uintah Basin in 1861 and received word back the area was good for nothing but nomad purposes, hunting grounds for Indians, and "to hold the world together." That same year, President Abraham Lincoln set the area aside as the Uintah Indian Reservation, with Captain Pardon Dodds appointed Indian agent.[6] Dodds later built the first cabin erected by a white man in the Uintah Basin around 1868. Settlers began to filter in after that, and built cabins in various spots on or near Ashley Creek. In 1879 many came close to perishing during the infamous "Hard Winter" of that same year.

Vernal is in the Uintah Basin, bordered on the north by the Uinta Mountains, one of the relatively few mountain ranges which lie in an east–west rather than the usual north to south direction. The Book Cliffs lie to the south, and Blue Mountain to the east, while Vernal itself lies in Ashley Valley, named in honor of William H. Ashley, an early fur trader who entered this area in 1825 by floating down the Green River in a bull boat made of animal hides.

Salem, Utah

Salem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,423 at the 2010 census.[4] Landmark locations in Salem include the Dream Mine of John Hyrum Koyle and the Salem Pond.

Salem was later named after New Salem, Massachusetts, the birthplace of Lyman Curtis, to honor his contributions to the community.[5] Curtis was known to be good with a gun, and was a bodyguard for the prophet Joseph Smith. He was a member of Zions Camp. He also was in the discovery party of nine riders that first rode on horseback into the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847. He was not officially recognized as one of the nine riders. The other eight have been recognized, though the ninth rider is stated to be unknown. Lyman Curtis also was chosen to develop water irrigation canals into Moapa, Nevada, St. George, Utah, Price, Utah, and Salem, bringing water out of the Spanish Fork Canyon. He built a lumber facility in Salem, and the front door of the lumber business is currently on the cabin in Salem dedicated to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. His son became a medical doctor known as Doc Curtis who delivered babies, and other medical necessities to residents, several of the current older residents of Salem remember well.[6]

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 4,372 people, 1,128 households, and 1,009 families residing in the city. The population density was 825.0 people per square mile (318.5/km²). There were 1,166 housing units at an average density of 220.0 per square mile (84.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.07% White, 0.07% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.27% Pacific Islander, 1.40% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.79% of the population.

Veyo, Utah

The town lies along State Route 18 north of the city of St. George, the county seat of Washington County.[3][4] The elevation of Veyo is 4,485 feet (1,367 m).[1] Although Veyo is unincorporated, it has a post office with the ZIP code of 84782.[5] The population was 483 at the 2010 census. One tradition says the community name is an acronym of virtue, enterprise, youth, and order; another says it combines verdure and youth. There is a town of Veyo in Spain that is also referred to as La Peña, which means "rocky outcrop".[6]

As of the census[2] of 2010, there were 483 people residing in the CDP. There were 193 housing units. The racial makeup of the town was 94.6% White, 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 2.3% from some other race, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.2% of the population.

Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Utah, and county seat of Salt Lake County. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014,[6] the city is the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,153,340 (2014 estimate). Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,423,912 (as of 2014 estimates).[7] It is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin.[8]

The world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is located in Salt Lake City. The city was founded in 1847 by followers of the church, led by Brigham Young, who were seeking to escape persecution that they had experienced while living farther east. The Mormon pioneers, as they would come to be known, at first encountered an arid, inhospitable valley that they then extensively irrigated and cultivated, thereby establishing the foundation to sustain the area's present population. Salt Lake City's street grid system is based on the north-south east-west grid plan developed by early church leaders, with the Salt Lake Temple constructed at the grid's starting point.

Immigration of international members of the church, mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed the Crossroads of the West. It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913. Two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, now intersect in the city. Salt Lake City has developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and the city hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the industrial banking center of the United States.[10]

Virgin, Utah

Virgin is a town in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 596 at the 2010 census. The first settlement at Virgin was made in 1858.[3] It is located along the Virgin River (for which it is named),[4] and not far from Zion National Park. The elevation is 3,606 feet (1,099 m). It lies on the route of State Route 9.

As of the census[1] of 2010, there were 596 people, 202 households, and 139 families residing in the town. The population density was 50.1 people per square mile (19.3/km²). There were 243 housing units at an average density of 20.4 per square mile (7.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 91.8% White, 2.2% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 2.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.4% of the population.

There were 202 households out of which 23.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.9% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.2% were non-families. 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.14.

Payson, Utah

Payson is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,294 at the 2010 census.[3] The current mayor is Rick Moore, who in the 2009 election was the first write-in candidate to defeat an incumbent mayor in the state of Utah.[4]

The Latter-day Saints first settled in Payson in 1850.[5] It was originally named Peteetneet Creek, after Chief Peteetneet, a Timpanogos Indian chief who lived near Payson's current location. It was later renamed Payson by Brigham Young.

In 1873 a high school was established in Payson, the first such institution in Utah south of Salt Lake City. It closed in 1876 due to the rise of Brigham Young Academy.[7] An opera house was built in Payson in 1883.[8] In the late 1800s, a factory making horse collars operated in Payson.[9]

Sandy, Utah

Sandy is a city in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, located in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The population of Sany 87,461 at the 2010 census,[2] making it the sixth-largest city in Utah. The population is currently estimated to be about 96,145 according to the July 1, 2017 United States Census estimates.[3]

Sandy is home to the Shops at South Town shopping mall; the Jordan Commons entertainment, office and dining complex; and the South Towne Exposition Center. It is also the location of the soccer-specific Rio Tinto Stadium, which hosts Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC home games, and opened on October 8, 2008.

The city is currently developing a walkable and transit-oriented city center called The Cairns. A formal master plan was adopted in January 2017 to accommodate regional growth and outlines developments and related guidelines through the next 25 years, while dividing the city center into distinct villages. The plan emphasizes sustainable living, walkability, human-scaled architecture, environmentally-friendly design, and nature-inspired design while managing population growth and its related challenges.[4]