Payson, Utah | |
---|---|
City | |
Peteetneet Museum in Payson
|
|
Location in Utah County and the state of Utah |
|
Coordinates: 40°2′20″N 111°43′59″W / 40.03889°N 111.73306°WCoordinates: 40°2′20″N 111°43′59″W / 40.03889°N 111.73306°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Utah |
County | Utah |
Founded | 1850 |
Incorporated | January 21, 1853 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Rick Moore |
Area | |
• Total | 8.7 sq mi (22.5 km2) |
• Land | 8.6 sq mi (22.4 km2) |
• Water | 0.008 sq mi (0.02 km2) |
Elevation | 4,700 ft (1,418 m) |
Population (2012) | |
• Total | 18,938 |
• Density | 2,200/sq mi (840/km2) |
Time zone | Mountain (UTC-7) |
• Summer (DST) | Mountain (UTC-6) |
ZIP code | 84651 |
Area code(s) | 385, 801 |
FIPS code | 49-58730 |
GNIS feature ID | 1444252 |
Website | http://www.paysonutah.org |
Payson is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,294 at the 2010 census. The current mayor is Rick Moore, who in the 2009 election was the first write-in candidate to defeat an incumbent mayor in the state of Utah.
The Latter-day Saints first settled in Payson in 1850. It was originally named Peteetneet Creek, after Chief Peteetneet, a Timpanogos Indian chief who lived near Payson's current location. It was later renamed Payson by Brigham Young.
The Payson Tabernacle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated by Wilford Woodruff in 1872.
In 1873 a high school was established in Payson, the first such institution in Utah south of Salt Lake City. It closed in 1876 due to the rise of Brigham Young Academy. An opera house was built in Payson in 1883. In the late 1800s, a factory making horse collars operated in Payson.
When the Strawberry Valley Reclamation Project was completed in 1912, the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company decided to place a sugar beet processing factory in the area. The plant was completed in October 1913. By 1915, the biggest year for the factory, 5,014 acres (20.29 km2) were planted, yielding 36,915 tons of sugar beets, which were processed into 7,722 tons of sugar. Due to low yields, the plant was closed in 1926 and dismantled in 1940; harvests were processed in the Utah-Idaho Sugar factories in Lehi and Spanish Fork.