Stories
A Brief History of Our Beginnings
Bountiful has the distinction of being the second city established in the State of Utah. Three days after Perrigrine Sessions arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in September 1847, it was decided that he move some cattle north to find better grazing for the winter. Perrigrine and his family lived in a small dugout during that winter some ten miles north of Great Salt Lake City.
As the community continued to grow, many tradesmen and craftsmen began setting up shops, and a variety of goods were soon being manufactured locally and made available to the new residents. Bountiful was well on its way to becoming a thriving community. It didn’t take long for the “city” folk of Salt Lake to realize that Bountiful was a great place to enjoy the fresh country air of a farming community instead of the city life.
Yes, Bountiful soon became the bedroom community of bustling downtown Salt Lake City. As the city continued to grow, many residents became farmers of fresh vegetables, and fruit orchards began to blossom over-night. Bountiful was becoming the breadbasket to Salt Lake.
Farmers began taking their fresh fruit and produce to a market in Salt Lake and earning a nice income to help them through some tough winters that have become a tradition of Bountiful and Davis County. After WW II, many of the farms and orchards were soon sold to provide for the growing economy of the veterans and their beginning families. Bountiful’s orchards soon became the “City of Beautiful Homes & Gardens” and today is more than ever still the bedroom community of the downtown city life.
Links
Links to Family Sites
Links to Historical Sites
- Centerville Historic Site Committee
- Chesterfield, Bountiful’s Historical Sister City
- Layton City Heritage Museum
- National Register of Historic Places
- Utah History
- Utah History to Go!
- Utah Museums Association
- Utah State Museum Services