Town #60: HOLDEN est. 1855

Holden is a small farming community north of Fillmore in Millard county. It was also called Cedar Springs and Buttermilk Fork at one time. Holden was named for Elijah Holden, a member of the Mormon Battalion, who froze to death in a nearby canyon. John had some ancestors who settled here early on. One was a sea captain. I have always wondered how a man who had always made his living on the sea liked living in a desert.

Town #59: TOOELE, est. 1853

Here we are in front of our hometown welcome sign. Tooele was settled by farmers, but when the smelter was built up the canyon in the early 1900s, many eastern European immigrants moved into town. The immigrants created a second downtown area near the railroad. A third group of people moved into town during World War II when an army depot opened south of town, and in the last 15 years a new influx came as young families moved to Tooele because of affordable housing. Tooele is an unique mix.

No one seems to know exactly where the name Tooele came from, and few people outside of the county seem to know how to say it. Personally, I don't feel obligated to speak to any telemarketer who can't pronounce Tooele. " No, I don't live in Tul."

Town #58: STOCKTON est. 1862

Stockton sits on the west side of the Oquirrh Mountains. It was originally called Camp Relief by the California Volunteers under the leadership of General Connor who camped here to keep an eye on the Mormons. They soon renamed it Stockton after Stockton, California from which they had come. They did mining in the nearby canyon which is now called Soldier Canyon. You can still see the kilns that the soldiers built to smelt the ore that they found.

Town #57: FAIRFIELD est. 1855

Fairfield is several miles south of Cedar Fort. It was the home of Johnson's Army after the Utah war in 1857. While the army was in residence, it was known as Frogtown. The name was changed to Fairfield in 1861, which I believe was a great improvement. The army left with the beginning of the Civil War. Now it is the home of the Camp Floyd state park. They have pony express reenactments there every year.


They must be anticipating great growth sometime in the future because their town sign was miles away from any building. We could barely see the little town in the distance, but we could get up close and personal with the bones at the foot of the sign.

p.s. Harmony we finally found the Pleasant Grove sign a day ago. Thanks for your help!

Town #56: CEDAR FORT est. 1852

Cedar Fort lies west of Lehi. I couldn't find very much information about Cedar Fort except that it was named for the local cedar trees. I also know that you have to keep your eye out for deer around this small community.

Town #55: LEHI est. 1850

Lehi is the northernmost town in Utah County and the 6th oldest town in Utah. In its earliest days it was called Sulphur Springs, Dry Creek and Evansville. The settlers finally settled on the name of Lehi, named after the Book of Mormon prophet. Lehi's biggest industry for several decades was sugar beets. One of my favorite restaurants, Porter's Place, is in Lehi. They play turn of the century piano music there. Lehi also has some of the worst traffic in Utah.

Town #54: LINDON est. 1861

The town of Lindon is located north of Orem. It was originally called Stringtown and was an outgrowth of Pleasant Grove just to the north. When the town applied for a post office, the town name was changed to Lindon. It was named after the linden tree where the mail used to be dropped off.

When we found this sign, we were not the only ones getting our pictures taken by it. Two college age girls were also there, so we helped each other out with the photos. It was nice to have both John and I in the picture for once.

We tried to find the town sign for Pleasant Grove that day, but we couldn't find it. If you happen to read this, Harmony, we could use some help.

Town #53: OREM est. 1919

Orem, west of Provo, was originally known as the "Provo bench". It was incorporated in 1919, in order to secure water rights for the farms that dotted the area. Orem was named after Walter Orem who owned the interurban railroad between Salt Lake City and Provo at the time. Orem is now more urban than rural now, and it is the home of Utah Valley University. I found their sign to be slightly more interesting than Provo's. At least it was more substantial.

Town #52: PROVO est. 1849

North of Mapleton is the city of Provo. Provo was the first city settled outside of the Salt Lake valley. It was named after the trapper, Etienne Provost. My grandfather was born and raised here. Provo is the home of Brigham Young University. I enjoyed going to school here, but their town sign is really boring. They should use all that university talent to come up with a better town sign.

Town #51: MAPLETON est. 1870

This is from that same warm spring day last year. Mapleton is northeast from Spanish Fork. It was an outgrowth from Springville to the northwest. This was the sign on the very edge of town.


In the middle of Mapleton, we found this bigger, fancier sign. All the kids wanted to get in this picture. I never know if they are going to participate or not.

Town #50: SPANISH FORK est. 1852

I'm sorry that I haven't posted any pictures for months. I am now nearly a year behind again. I think I intimidated myself by starting out with trying to write a little bit of history for each town. I think that I will have to cut back on that for now just so that I can catch up. I kept wanting to do a post, and then the thought of all the time it would take to look up something on the town and then write about it would stop me from doing anything. So from now on, the posts will probably have less history and be more pictures and personal observation.
It was a nice spring day last year that this picture was taken. ( I'm ready for some of those days again!) We saw several Utah County towns on this day. This was the first after a trip to the local antique store. That is a great old sign.