Historic Spring City

Spring City, a tiny community located in Sanpete County, in central Utah, offers some of Utah's best-preserved examples of pioneer architecture. The town is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Residents are proud of the town's heritage and work to preserve the historic value of their properties.

The town is off the beaten path, yet attracts a fair number of visitors. Today some of the historic homes are used as bed & breakfast inns, art studios and boutiques.

The town was settled in 1852 by Mormon immigrants, but was burned by Native Americans in 1854. It was rebuilt, but abandoned again in 1866 because of continuing troubles with Indians. Peace was established in 1867 and the town began to prosper, attracting a good number of immigrants from Denmark who were skilled craftsmen. By 1890 the town had grown it its peak population of about 1,230.

Spring City's population declined during the following decades, because of transportation issues and the economic growth of other nearby communities. As a result, most of the old homes were left undisturbed-they weren't razed to make room for more, bigger, newer structures.

Alan Roberts, an architect specializing in historic preservation, gave this description: "Spring City's remarkable LDS meetinghouse, or tabernacle, and city hall-both limestone edifices-and its spectacular Victorian elementary school and bishop's storehouse-both of brick-are among its most important public buildings. The unique Greek Revival "endowment house," Schofield store, Orson Hyde house, Behunin, Monson, Johnson, and Ericksen residences-all of fine masonry construction-also are outstanding. In addition, Spring City possesses a good collection of early log, adobe, and frame structures, including several "urban" barns and other agricultural and livestock outbuildings-many of which sit within a few hundred feet of Main Street."