BOUNTIFUL - Growing up in a place, people can often take it for granted, but wandering around a beautiful city like Bountiful can really spark curiosity. How long has that building been there? Why does that street have the name it does? What amazing things have happened right here in Bountiful?

With as long as Bountiful has been around, there’s been plenty of time for stories to accumulate, but just how old is the city? Actually, Bountiful holds the title of the second organized settlement after the pioneers arrived in July of 1847, with the first settlers arriving in September of that same year. 

The leader of that group was Maine native Perrigrine Sessions. Sessions and a man named Daniel Spencer traveled with their families and almost 200 others across the plains in 1847, becoming some of the first settlers of European descent to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley.

This was all the more impressive given the fact that Sessions’ company had arrived on September 25 and Perregrine and his family settled the area just two days later on September 27. For the entire winter, he and his family were the only occupants of the area in a dugout located around what would later be 250 North and 280 West.

Over the next few years, Bountiful grew as many other settlements in the Great Basin did: little by little, more and more people trickled in, bringing more houses, businesses, education and more. In 1855, Bountiful gained its name officially and then, in 1892, became an official city.

The city derives its name from two sources: first, from the name of another city in The Book of Mormon and second, the literal meaning. The area in which Sessions settled, even before the installation of irrigation and other farming techniques, was fertile and in the early years, proved to be a booming agricultural enterprise. 

Residents wishing to see some of this history in person can visit Bountiful’s Historic district, where they can see beautiful mid-to-late 19th-century homes and the stunning Bountiful Tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Greek revival-style building has been meticulously maintained and the center spire even served as a sundial at one point. 

Bountiful’s proximity to Salt Lake City granted it many opportunities that further cities and settlements might not have had and that connection to such a vital hub of activity has helped shape the city into the prosperous center of activity that it is today. 

More information about the history of Bountiful can be found at https://www.bountifulutah.gov/Bountiful-City-History.