Washington County Logo

WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY     (Washington County, Utah)


WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH

Washington County is currently made up of 1,553,037 acres (2,426.62 square miles) in the southwest corner of Utah. About 25,000 acres are privately owned and about 66,000 acres are designated as wilderness areas. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) controls about 635,000 acres in Washington County.


LOCATION

Washington County Map     Washington County is located in the very southwest corner of Utah.

    Boundary Changes


HISTORY

The Anasazi Indians inhabited this area from 200 B.C. to around 1300 A.D.

Paiute Indians arrived around 1100 to 1200 A.D. and continued until today.

The Dominguez-Escalante exploration group passed through the area in 1776. This was the first contact between Europeans and Paiutes.

In 1826, Jedediah Smith and his party passed through what is now Washington County. Smith and his men followed the Virgin River through the Virgin River Narrows and on to California. In subsequent years, other explorers, trappers, and traders followed Smith's route to California, including John C. Fremont, who mapped the area in 1844.

In 1849, Brigham Young sent Parley P. Pratt and fifty men to explore the Virgin River Basin and to evaluate colonization possibilities. Elder Pratt was impressed and he encouraged future settlement. Within several years, Latter-day Saint Indian missionaries and farmers began settling the area.

The county was formed on March 3, 1852 by an act of the territorial legislature. It was named for George Washington. Harmony, one of the only settlements in the area at that time, was appointed as the first county seat. The first boundaries of Washington County stretched nearly 600 miles - the entire width of the territory. As the territory was settled the county boundaries changed several times and the county seat was later changed to St. George. The county achieved its present shape and size in 1892.

By the mid-1850s, the reality of civil war hung over the United States. Brigham Young asked the Indian Missionaries in southern Utah to see if cotton could be grown in there. When they reported in the affirmative, President Young immediately made plans to colonize the Virgin River Basin. In 1857, the Samuel Adair and Robert Covington Companies were called to settle southern Utah and to grow cotton. Nearly 40 families, mostly with cotton growing experience, arrived in Washington Utah in April of 1857. The region was dubbed "Dixie".

The town of Washington was made the seat of Washington County in 1859 by act of the Territorial Legislature. But on January 14, 1863, St. George was designated as the county seat and has remained so ever since.


PHOTOS

TBD


STATISTICS

Population      

    1860
    1870
    1880
    1890
    1900
    1910
    1920
    1930
    1940
    1950
    1960
    1970
    1980
    1990
    1998
    2000
    2001
    2002
    2003
    2004
    2005
    2006
    2010
    2020
    2035
    2050


691
3,064
4,235
4,009
4,612
5,123
6,764
7,420
9,289
9,836
10,271
13,669
26,065
48,560
79,831 or 73,161
91,244 or 86,222 or 90,354
94,609 or 95,590
99,609 or 93,388
104,508
110,476
119,188
126,312
130,529
177,570 (projected in 2010)
400,000 (projected in 2007)
500,000 (projected in 2007)

Note: The population was reportedly 138,115 on 4/1/2010 and 160,359 on 7/1/2010.

Certified Local Governments (CLGs) in Washington County
    Enterprise
    Hurricane
    Leeds
    Rockville
    Santa Clara
    St. George
    Washington City


WEBSITES

Official Washington County website
Wikipedia article about Washington County
A history of Washington County
A history of Washington County
A history of Washington County
A history of Washington County
A history of Washington County
A history of Washington County
I Love History entry for Washington County
List of DUP Histories of Geographic Locations in Washington County
List of historic sites in Washington County
List of historic markers in Washington County
List of historic documents from Washington County
National Association of Counties information on Washington County
Washington County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
Washington County Census Statistics
Citymelt.com Complete Analysis for Washington County
KindredTrails genealogy references for Washington County
ePodunk profile of Washington County


REFERENCES

A History of Washington County From Isolation to Destination
Book by Douglas D Alder and Karl F Brooks
Utah Centenial County History Series
Published by the Zion National History Association
http://www.zionpark.org
See the information page.

History of Washington County
Book by Anne Miller Eckman; Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 2002
For her DUP Lesson for April 2002, click here

I Was Called to Dixie
Book by Andrew Karl Larson
Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1961
Library Call Number 979.248
See the information page.

Under Dixie Sun: A History Of Washington County
Book by the Washington County Chapter, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers
Available for sale at the DUP Museum
Library call number 979.2
See the information page.

"What Is Dixie?"
By Dr. Douglas D. Alder
A talk about the founding and early roots of Utah's Dixie given January 29, 2010 as part of the St. George Tabernacle Lecture Series.
This audio recording was made by Carl Rich of http://www.dixietoday.com.