This intermittent series focuses on individual Utah towns and cities by observing and remarking on their respective urban planning, architecture, history, and culture. Each article is a hodge-podge of observations, criticisms, facts, and anecdotes. We may live in a nation and state, but we seem to be most defined by the first few lines of our addresses—the town or city, neighborhood or street, we call home. In recognition of this, we want to take the “polis”—the neighborhood, the city—more seriously. We hope to make each installment a virtual field trip of sorts. As we describe a walk through a community—highlighting buildings, natural features, and historical happenings—we hope readers come to know, even in a small and mostly inconsequential way, these places a bit better, perhaps even leading a reader to future forays into the urban (or suburban, exurban, or rural) “jungle.”
Orienting Ourselves
Spring City sits in the middle of Sanpete County—a mostly rural county directly south of Utah County, between Juab County to the west, and Emery County to the east. The city is located a little east of U.S. 89 (known as State Street along much of the Wasatch Front), and the primary north-south connector in Utah until the construction of I-15.
Sanpete County encompasses the entirety of the Sanpete Valley, a high desert valley formed by the San Pitch River as it winds beside the Wasatch Plateau. Interestingly, there is some controversy (mostly confined to Wikipedia, fortunately) on the question of whether the name of the river (further Anglicized to Sanpete to describe the county and valley) derived from the name of the original inhabitants of the area or their leader when Mormon pioneers entered the valley. According to linguist William Bright, the name saimpitsi is Ute for “people of the tules” (tules being a specie of freshwater sedge).
The population is currently estimated at 1,080, and the town economy is primarily agricultural, supplemented by low-intensity tourism, and a growing art community.
Founding and History
Spring City was founded by Mormon settlers as the Allred Settlement in 1852. The area was previously inhabited by the indigenous Ute people that were driven from the area (and much of the state).
The Allred brothers were sent from the earlier-established town of Manti to settle the area. However, the following year an outbreak in Ute-Mormon hostilities (known as the Walker War, alternately spelled as Walkara or Wakara) resulted in the immigration of additional settlers from Denmark (by way of Salt Lake) as “reinforcements” and the sacking of the town—leading to a temporary abandonment of the area by Mormon settlers. The Walker War was precipitated by the killing of a Ute man in Springville by a Mormon settler, lasted less than a year, and ended through a personal understanding between Brigham Young and Chief Walker. The Allred Settlement refugees returned in 1859 to re-populate the area as Springtown.
Unfortunately the underlying causes of conflict—differences in how Native Americans and Mormon settlers viewed land (usufruct vs. private property), smallpox outbreaks that ravaged indigenous communities and bred suspicion of the new settlers, and the grazing of livestock that disrupted the indigenous way of life—were left unaddressed at the conclusion of the Walker War. These tensions erupted into open conflict again in the Black Hawk War in 1865, which spelled the end of an uncomfortable (and asymmetrical) “peace” between Mormon settlers and Utes.
The opening salvo in the war occurred when Ute Chief Black Hawk led an expedition to “drive off a cattle herd outside Manti.” The Nauvoo Legion (the territorial militia) was called out, but were forced to retreat from Salina Canyon, where they had pursued Chief Black Hawk and his men. After the failed Treaty of Spanish Fork, skirmishes and massacres continued—until the Utes were finally forced to accept their banishment to a reservation in the Uinta Basin in the late 1860’s.
To fully understand the rise of a pioneer civilization in this quaint valley, it becomes clear that you must also attempt to fathom the overthrow of another. It would appear the tragedies and triumphs are all tangled up together. Though the Utes did survive, it was a nearly-landless and powerless survival in “one of the least habitable regions of Utah.” The overthrow of a civilization is by nature inherently apocalyptic, and this is vividly shown by the arrival of the Ghost Dance in Utah in 1870. Thousands of Utes and Paiutes, ready for the foretold Voice of the West—a Paiute prophet coming to help them make sense of their disastrous present, and yet darker future—gathered near Fountain Green (only 15 miles from Spring City) in 1871 for spiritual renewal, though they were eventually driven back to their reservation by the Nauvoo Legion and kept there by U.S. troops.
After the Black Hawk War, Mormon settlers were free to settle throughout the Sanpete Valley, and continued to build up Springtown (I have been unable to ascertain when, but apparently the name changed from Springtown to Spring City). Spring City reached its population apex around 1890 (of 1,230), before entering a long period of population decline that accelerated during the Great Depression and then began to slowly climb again after the 1980’s.
The Walk
Because I live in Provo, in order to walk, first I had to drive. The short journey was beautiful and peaceful. A fresh layer of snow coated the rolling hills as we cruised down a narrow two-lane road from Spanish Fork Canyon to Spring City. The snow added yet more complexity to the landscape, throwing a dazzling light in your direction, and moving and jumping around—even temporarily disappearing at times.
When we arrived in Spring City our car was virtually compelled to a stop by the magnificent LDS chapel located on Main Street. The structure is imposing and graceful, built in the Gothic Revival style. Gothic Arches feature prominently throughout the structure, while the tower—replete with a steeply pitched roof—, bracketed stone cornices, and the off white Oolite limestone all help to make the structure spectacular. Communities tell stories through structures, and this small city immediately shares its religious fervor—unsurprising given its history. The careful handiwork and craft exhibited throughout the building are a tour de force of studied effort and a testament to the Mormon settler’s religious faith.
After marveling in the shadow of this architectural masterpiece, bathed in the warm tones of the winter afternoon sun, we crossed Main Street and continued east on 200 South. We passed by a variety of quaint and well-preserved pioneer-era structures. There exists quite a variety too. Some of the houses are low-slung and modest stone affairs, while others are slightly more stylized and featured hints of the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural fashion.
Spring City was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1980 (the historic district includes the whole city), but unlike other historic communities I have visited, it feels like a living community—one minute you’re walking past a perfectly preserved century-old house, and the next you’re staring at a trailer home. Perhaps this is due to an absence of city ordinances that proscribe housing styles. Though there are advantages and disadvantages to such a situation, I felt strangely comfortable with this uneasy coexistence of a pristine past with a messier present.
The next building we stopped to admire was breathtaking—and rivals the stone chapel as my favorite building in Spring City. The Victorian Eclectic structure was constructed in 1899 as a public school, and was designed by the first Utah State Architect, Richard C. Watkins. The front archway shows hints of the Romanesque, and the brickwork is absolutely mesmerizing. Confronting the looming structure feels a bit like standing face-to-face with the determination and dreams of the late-19th century version of Spring City. Classes continued in this structure until 1957, when a more modern structure was added behind the building, but the building now houses Spring City’s community center—thanks to a decades-long restoration project.
In the second (and last) part of this article I will detail the conclusion of my walk through Spring City, highlight significant structures and local natural features, discuss the current state of the city, and conclude with some assorted observations and analysis related (sometimes loosely) to Spring City, Utah.