Located in Utah Valley, Utah County, Springville is about midway
between the north and south borders of the county to the east of
Utah Lake at approximately 4,500 feet in elevation, at the foot of
the Wasatch Range.
One of the most important features of the Springville location
is Hobble Creek, a stream draining the modest watershed of Hobble
Creek Canyon. Springs from both forks of the canyon feed the creek
above what is now the Hobble Creek Golf Course, but irrigation
keeps Hobble Creek from flowing perennially. These springs and
others north of town give Springville its name, although it was
first called Hobble Creek.
Native Americans of the Ute tribe occupied land in the
well-watered valley. They hunted and fished, but left no written
record of their lifeways. The first such record of these people is
in journal entries of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition, which
left Santa Fe for Monterey in July 1776. The Spanish fathers
leading the expedition were delighted to find many Utes living
around Lake Timpanogotsis (Utah), and felt the Indians, including
those living on Hobble Creek, might be subject to their missionary
efforts.
Aaron Johnson led settlers to Springville in 1850. Mormon
settlers displaced Native Americans and relegated them to an
"Indian Farm," located on poor ground, unfit for farming, at the
mouth of the Spanish Fork River near the Utah Lake. Mormon settlers
developed subsistence farming for fewer families than was hoped,
due to lack of water. Some Springville farmers turned to hauling
freight from California twice a year. Following the Civil War in
1865, other farmers turned to raising cattle and sheep. Completion
of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 made rail shipment of
stock to market possible, so stockmen used more intensive grazing
practices. The railroad also helped make mining products
profitable, and many mines started to be developed. Beginning in
1878, Springville merchant Milan Packard built a railroad to bring
coal from Scofield to Utah Valley. The Rio Grande Railroad bought
out the line in 1882.
Like the Native Americans before them, Springville stockmen
lived in the valley during the winter and grazed their animals in
the mountains in summer. Valley precipitation is generally low, six
to twelve inches per year. Above 6,000 feet elevation,
precipitation in the mountains is 20 inches to 30 inches annually.
Most of the water comes in the form of winter snow. Stockmen
over-used grazing resources. The stock consumed most of the grass
from the hillsides, leaving surfaces unprotected from summer
cloudbursts and spring runoff. The resulting floods and mud flows
nearly caused abandonment of some rural communities.
The results of land abuse prompted community leaders to call for
federal help for their problems. In 1902 Albert Potter from the
U.S. Department of Agriculture surveyed the mountains. His report,
coupled with pleas from community leaders, brought in the recently
created U.S. Forest Service to manage area forest resources,
including grasslands above Springville.
During the stockraisers' struggle with grassland use, area
farmers were looking for ways to find more water for irrigation.
They also invited the federal government in by applying the
recently passed Newlands Act (1902). The new law loaned federal
money to local groups to develop water projects in arid or
semi-arid regions of the country. The Strawberry Project was the
result of farmers in Utah Valley trying to use the Strawberry River
to irrigate their land. Springville's "Union Bench" was a
beneficiary of the project, and led to formation of Mapleton City
out of Springville benchland. Springville farmers grew sugar beets
as a cash crop. Local companies built a system of factories to
process sugar that sold nationwide. Fruit farms expanded at the
demand of national canning companies like Del Monte.
Following World War I, L.F. Rains established a steel plant
north of Springville to take advantage of his coal interests in
Carbon County. He formed the Columbia Steel Corporation at Ironton
in 1922 to make pig iron. He negotiated with J.W. McWane to use
iron to make cast-iron pipe in facilities adjacent to the Ironton
plant. He also invited Republic Creosoting Company to establish a
plant to use coal tar, a by-product of the coking operation at
Ironton. This industrial complex employed Springville men.
In 1921 the U.S. government passed a law to assist states with
highway construction. Several companies from Springville organized
to take advantage of the opportunity. Springville families
including the Clydes, Strongs, Sumsions, Reynolds, Whitings,
Thorns, and Mendenhalls benefited until the Great Depression
eliminated federal money. In 1936 construction of roads and other
public works was part of the recovery plan and Springville
contractors again were active participants. Springville was said to
have had more contractors than any other town of its size in
America.
During World War II, Springville's young men and women served in
military efforts, and its contractors built many defense
installations. Following the war, Springville developed water from
springs in Bartholomew Canyon and installed two new electric
generators to improve the power supply.
During the 1960s, the Utah Department of Transportation was busy
with construction of the Interstate freeway system. These roads
took traffic out of the towns and increased the speed and safety of
automobile travel. The new freeways also made possible travel for
work from Springville to many places in the county and beyond.
Springville became a bedroom community for industries such as
Geneva Steel, for Brigham Young University, and for an array of
businesses in Salt Lake City.
Springville is noted around the state for its art museum, and it
also has a business district. However, removing traffic from the
city also removed it from the Springville business district. The
net result has been a reduction of retail business activity in
Springville. Nevertheless, Springville's population has grown
steadily since the 1920s, reaching 13,950 in 1990.
Springville's largest employers include Stouffer Foods
Corporation, with over 500 employees, and Valtek, which has more
than 400 employees. There are five elementary schools and one
junior high school, one middle school, and one high school in
Springville. Most of the community are LDS and attend twenty-nine
wards in four stakes. The Presbyterian Church has been active in
the community since its establishment in 1880.