Spanish Fork, Utah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Spanish Fork, Utah | |
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| Coordinates: 40°6′16″N 111°38′24″W / 40.10444°N 111.64°W | |
| Country | United States |
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| State | Utah |
| County | Utah |
| Settled | 1851 |
| Incorporated | January 17, 1855 |
| Named for | Spanish Fork River |
| Area | |
| - Total | 13.2 sq mi (34.3 km2) |
| - Land | 13.2 sq mi (34.3 km2) |
| - Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 4,577 ft (1,395 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - Total | 20,246 |
| - Density | 1,529.3/sq mi (590.5/km2) |
| Time zone | Mountain (MST) (UTC-7) |
| - Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) |
| ZIP code | 84660 |
| Area code(s) | 385, 801 |
| FIPS code | 49-71290[1] |
| GNIS feature ID | 1445945[2] |
Spanish Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 20,246 at the 2000 census.
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[edit] History
Spanish Fork is located about fifty-nine miles south of Salt Lake City, and is built upon three distinct alluvial fans formed by the Spanish Fork River. It received its name from the fact that two Spanish missionaries, Fathers Domínguez and Escalante entered the Utah Valley along the Spanish Fork River in September 1776 on their exploratory journey.
Enoch Reece took up about three hundred ninety-nine acres of land in the Spanish Fork River bottoms area in 1850 and was the first man to locate a home there. He was soon followed by other settlers, including John Holt, John H. Reed, and William Pace.
During the fall of 1854, a fort, called Fort Saint Luke, was built on the present site of Spanish Fork. This was occupied by nineteen families from the settlement of Palmyra, about two and three quarters miles west. The fort was built as protection from the Indians. In 1855 the territorial legislature granted the city of Spanish Fork a charter and boundaries were established. After Palmyra was abandoned in 1856 and its citizens, numbering about three hundred ninety-six, moved to Spanish Fork, the charter was amended to also include that area.
As a result of the United States Army coming into the Salt Lake Valley in 1858, Spanish Fork became the temporary home of about four hundred families who had fled from their homes in northern settlements. Many of the refugees remained in Spanish Fork. The first commercial industry, a sawmill, was established in 1858 and was owned by Archibald Gardner. He also built the first flour mill, which began operation in 1859. The Spanish Fork Foundry, established in 1884, turned out great quantities of iron and brass castings. While the principal industry of Spanish Fork has always been agriculture, the city has also become a primary livestock center. The canning industry was also important; in 1925, the Utah Packing Corporation established a factory and began to contract with local farmers for the growing of peas, beans, and tomatoes.
As the population increased and more land was brought under cultivation, the waters of Spanish Fork River became inadequate to supply irrigation needs. After lengthy negotiations and contracts with the federal government, Spanish Fork secured the delivery of water from the newly completed Strawberry Reservoir. Water was first received through the tunnel on 27 June 1915.
Teleflex Defense Systems is currently Spanish Fork's largest private employer with over 212 employees. Seven other businesses employ one hundred or more workers: Longview Fibre Company, Nature's Sunshine Products, Trojan Corporation, Valley Asphalt, Inc., Shopko, K Mart, and Mountain Country Foods.[citation needed]
Although Spanish Fork has a predominantly Mormon population, the Presbyterian Church established a church and mission day school in 1882. The school functioned until the state school system was inaugurated in the early part of the twentieth century. Today there are three elementary schools, one intermediate, and one high school. A Lutheran church, established by immigrants from Iceland, was built on the east bench of Spanish Fork. There is also the Faith Baptist Church, as well as twenty-six Mormon (LDS) wards in four stakes. The population of Spanish Fork was 11,279 in 1990, well over a one hundred percent increase from the 5,239 residents in 1950. [3]
Spanish Fork was settled by Mormon pioneers in 1851. Its name derives from a visit to the area by two Franciscan friars from Spain, Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and Francisco Atanasio Domínguez in 1776, who followed the stream down Spanish Fork canyon with the objective of opening a new trail from Santa Fe, New Mexico to the Spanish missions in California, along a route later followed by fur trappers. They described the area inhabited by native Americans as having "spreading meadows, where there is sufficient irrigable land for two good settlements. Over and above these finest of advantages, it has plenty of firewood and timber in the adjacent sierra which surrounds its many sheltered spots, waters, and pasturages, for raising cattle and sheep and horses".
In 1851 some settlers led by William Pace set up scattered farms in the Spanish Fork bottom lands and called the area the Upper Settlement.[4] However a larger group congregated at what became known as the Lower Settlement just over a mile north-west of the present center of Spanish Fork along the Spanish Fork River. In December 1851 Stephen Markham became the branch president of the Mormon settlers at this location.[4]
In 1852 Latter-Day Saints founded a settlement called Palmyra west of the historic center of Spanish Fork. George A. Smith supervised the laying out of a townsite, including a temple square in that year.[5] A fort was built at this site. A school was built at Palmyra in 1852.[6] With the on set of the Walker War in 1853 most of the farmers in the region who were not yet in the fort moved in.[7] Some of the people did not like this site and so moved to a site at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon where they built a structure they called "Fort St. Luke".[8] Also in 1854 there was a fort founded about two miles (3 km) south of the center of Spanish Fork that latter was known as the "Old Fort".[4]
In 1856 the Brigham Young advised leaving the Palmyra site because of its swampiness and the high alkali content of the soil. At this time the settlers relocated to Spanish Fork and began to build its current center at that time.[7] John L. Butler became the first bishop of the Spanish Fork Ward at this time.[6]
Between 1855 and 1860, the arrival of pioneers from Iceland made Spanish Fork into the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the United States.[9] The city also lent its name to the 1865 Treaty of Spanish Fork, where the Utes were forced by an Executive Order of President Abraham Lincoln to relocate to the Uintah Basin.
In 1891 the Spanish Fork ward was divided into two wards. By 1930 there were five Spanish Fork Wards plus the Palmyra Ward which had been established at the location of the old settlement in 1901.[10]
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 20,246 people, 5,534 households, and 4,775 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,529.3 people per square mile (590.4/km²). There were 5,808 housing units at an average density of 438.7/sq mi (169.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.30% White, 0.20% African American, 0.56% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.29% Pacific Islander, 2.00% from other races, and 1.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.25% of the population. 32.0% were of English, 10.9% American, 7.0% German and 6.6% Danish ancestry according to Census 2000. 93.9% spoke English and 5.2% Spanish as their first language.
There were 5,534 households out of which 56.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.4% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 13.7% were non-families. 11.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.59 and the average family size was 3.91.
In the city the population was spread out with 39.7% under the age of 18, 12.0% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 12.2% from 45 to 64, and 6.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 102.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $48,705, and the median income for a family was $51,209. Males had a median income of $36,023 versus $23,727 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,127. About 3.8% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.0% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.
Every May, Spanish Fork hosts the annual Indian Festival of Utah, the state's only cultural event devoted to South Asian (East Indian and Pakistani) communities across the Salt Lake metropolitan area.
[edit] Schools
Spanish Fork is served by Nebo School District. Public schools in this district within Spanish Fork include the following: Spanish Fork High School, Spanish Fork Junior High School, Diamond Fork Junior High School (formerly known as Spanish Fork Middle School), Brockbank Elementary, Canyon Elementary, Larsen Elementary, Park Elementary, Rees Elementary, Riverview Elementary, Spanish Oaks Elementary and East Meadows Elementary. There is a private girls school, the New Haven School and a K-12 charter school, the American Leadership Academy. A new high school, Maple Mountain, is under construction.[citation needed]
[edit] Renewable Energy
In October 2008, the Spanish Fork Wind Project was completed. This project, a 9-turbine wind energy project, can produce up to 2.1 megawatts at full production and each of the nine turbines can power up to 1,200 homes.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Elisha Warner, The History of Spanish Fork (1930)
- ^ a b c Jenson. Encyclopedic History. p. 823
- ^ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1941) p. 631-632
- ^ a b Jenson. Encyclopedic History. p. 824
- ^ a b Jenson. Encyclopedic History. p. 631
- ^ Jenson. Encyclopedic History. p. 256-257
- ^ Thorstina Jackson, "Icelandic Communities in America: Cultural Backgrounds and Early Settlements,"681.
- ^ Jenson, Encyclopedic History, pp. 632, 824-25
- ^ Matthew Rich (October 6th, 2008) Spanish Fork wind farm brings alternative energy BYU NewsNet. Retrieved on 2009-04-08.
[edit] External links
- Spanish Fork, Utah is at coordinates 40°06′16″N 111°38′24″W / 40.104546°N 111.639954°WCoordinates: 40°06′16″N 111°38′24″W / 40.104546°N 111.639954°W
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