Lehi Portraits of a Utah Town History Historic Saratoga Roller Mills Mormon LDS

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Lehi: Portraits of a Utah Town

by Richard S. Van Wagoner

Published by Lehi City Corp (1990)

This large format (9.25" x 11") thick (469 pages!) book has the complete history of Lehi Utah! From background on the famous Lehi Roller Mills that was staged in the Kevin Bacon film, Footloose (and can easily be seen when driving on I-15),  to the amusement park, Saratoga which used to rival Utah's other amusement park, Lagoon. Vintage photography of the main street in the early 1900s, historic homes in the area, local business that have come and gone and about the pioneers who settled the town in 1850.  TONs of trivia and history in all of it's 469 pages. 

Condition:

EXCELLENT++ 1st Edition Hardcover! NO MARKS! The binding is tight and all 469 pages within are bright white with no writing, underlining, high-lighting, rips, tears, bends, or folds.  The covers look perfect. This book has sat unread on someone's shelf for at least 25 years. You will be happy with this one!  Always handled carefully and packaged securely!   Buy with confidence from a seller who takes the time to show you the details and not use just stock photos. Please check out all my pictures and email with any questions! Thanks for looking!

About the Book from the Foreword:

Settled in the mid-nineteenth century as an agriculture-based Mormon colony, Lehi coped with the changes that are common to all small towns as they come into the twentieth century. Statehood, world wars, a revolution in transportation, the advent of radio and television, industrialization, and suburbanization all changed Lehi, turning it into a commuter town, dependent upon Utah's major metropolitan centers for jobs, shopping, and entertainment. Yet in spite of these changes, Lehi nevertheless retains its small town flavor and many of its western, agrarian values, as well as maintaining its Mormon roots. The story of this unique blend is well documented and entertainingly told in this book.

Lehi is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is named after Lehi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon. The population was 47,407 at the 2010 census, up from 19,028 in 2000. A more recent 2017 estimate reports a population of 62,712. The rapid growth in Lehi is due, in part, to the rapid development of the tech industry region known as Silicon Slopes. The center of population of Utah is located in Lehi.

Lehi is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area.

A group of Mormon pioneers settled the area now known as Lehi in the fall of 1850 at a place called Dry Creek in the northernmost part of Utah Valley. It was renamed Evansville in 1851 after David Evans, a local bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Other historical names include Sulphur Springs and Snow's Springs.

The land was organized into parcels of 40 acres (160,000 m2), and new settlers received a plot of this size until the entire tract was exhausted. There was little water to irrigate the rich soil, so it became necessary to divert a portion of American Fork Creek. Evansville consumed up to one-third of the creek's water, as authorized by the Utah Territorial Legislature.

The settlement grew so rapidly that in early 1852, Bishop David Evans petitioned the Utah Territorial Legislature to incorporate the settlement. Lehi City was incorporated by legislative act on February 5, 1852. It was the sixth city incorporated in Utah. The legislature also approved a request to call the new city Lehi after a Book of Mormon prophet of the same name.

The downtown area has been designated the Lehi Main Street Historic District by the National Park Service and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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