Spring City, Utah
Spring City, Utah, is one of only two sites in the United States where an entire city is a Historic District on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places—the city limits of Spring City and the boundaries of the Spring City Historic District are one and the same.
It is also a well-preserved example of an early Mormon settlement. There are four extant pioneer houses that date to the 1860s, twenty-four from the 1870s, and twenty from the 1880s. One 1905 home once served the community as a bishop’s storehouse. Other historic buildings include a rock Latter-day Saint chapel, stores, an old firehouse, theater, jail, and school.
Elder Orson Hyde, was Spring City’s most famous resident. He was called to the first Quorum of the Twelve in Kirtland, Ohio in 1835. He spent the last years of his life presiding over the Latter-day Saints in Spring City. His grave is found in the cemetery immediately west of town on state highway 117.
Spring City was first known as "Allred Settlement" because the original 1852 settlers were led by James Allred and most of them were his family members. He died in Spring City in January 1876.
The settlement was abandoned in the summer of 1853 due to ongoing conflict with the indigenous Ute people of the area. It was reestablished as "Springtown" in 1859 by William Black, George Black, and Joseph S. Black.
Beginning in 1853, the Allred family and other church leaders began to encourage Danish immigrants to settle in Sanpete County, and, particularly after the community was reestablished in 1859, to join the Allred Settlement. By the mid-1860s locals referred to the north side of town as "Little Copenhagen" or "Little Denmark".
