REVERING COMMUNITY'S HERITAGE AS UTAH OBSERVES PIONEER DAY

The old log cabin that, today, sits on the Payson City Center grounds, locted at 439 West Utah Avenue, Payson, Utah.  Photo  by Denise Windley

As cities to the north entice folks to Pioneer Day celebrations this week, The Payson Chronicle would like to pause and revere the local community’s pioneer heritage.

“Mormon pioneers, who colonized the area in October, 1850, said they found sage and sunflowers as far as the eye could see,” wrote Payson historian, the late Madoline C. Dixon in her book, ‘Peteetneet Town -- A History of Payson, Utah.’ “They would have found willow trees, boxelders and cottonwoods growing wherever there was water to sustain them. This water was a vital factor in selection of the site for a settlement.”

Payson was incorporated as a city on January 21, 1853, according to Ms. Dixon, by the Territorial Legislature of Utah. “The settlement then included Spring Lake Villa to the south and Summit (Santaquin) to the southwest.” The city’s original boundaries were scaled down thirty years later.