Coalville, Utah
Coalville, Utah
Main page
2268749

Coalville, Utah

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
2268749

Coalville, Utah

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Coalville, Utah

Coalville is a city in and the county seat of Summit County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The population was 1,486 as of the 2020 census. Interstate 80 passes through the town, as well as the Weber River, which flows into Echo Reservoir, just north of Coalville.

Coalville originally began as a settlement known as Chalk Creek. In 1856 Brigham Young, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), awarded hundreds of acres of farmland to trailblazer and trusted bodyguard "Return" Jackson Redden. Redden first visited the valley around 1846 while scouting trail ahead of the advance of Mormon pioneers. The first recorded settlement was Redden's ranch, spanning from 100 N. Main Street to beyond the Coalville City Cemetery where he is buried. In 1854, the territorial government in Utah offered a $1000 reward to anyone who could find coal within 40 miles of Salt Lake City. Four years later, Redden and associate Thomas Rhodes found a coal vein in the Chalk Creek area, and coal mining began in earnest. Hundreds of tons of coal were shipped to Salt Lake City, and soon a narrow gauge railroad was built. The settlement was then renamed Coalville, as a result of this early success.

Coalville was officially founded by William Henderson Smith, an early Mormon freighter. He noticed that wheat, spilled by other wagons moving through the area, would grow to maturity without being tended. In 1859, he signed Coalville into official township.

Early life in Coalville was difficult, and during winters, the settlers dealt with a constant scarcity of food. When food ran out, they would travel to Salt Lake City for supplies. The local Indian tribes were also hostile for a time, and the settlers built a fort on the advice of Brigham Young. In 1867, Coalville was incorporated.

By 1880, success in the coal industry led to the extension of the railroad into Park City. Then known as the Summit County Railway, the railroad continued to transport coal and was also used for Park City's silver mines.

Unlike most Mormon settlements in Utah and the intermountain west, Coalville city streets are not aligned to the true north. Main Street in Coalville is offset such that it runs slightly north-northwest, and Center street runs slightly east-northeast. Both the Thomas L. Allen House and the Summit Stake Tabernacle in Coalville are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.3 square miles (8.5 km2), of which 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km2) (12.27%) is water.

Coalville has a high-altitude, warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) that borders a subarctic climate (Dfc), characterized by extreme diurnal temperature ranges that range from extremely cold winter nights to hot afternoons in the summer. However, the high altitude and low humidity mean that mornings in the summer remain very cool, and frosts have occasionally occurred—even in July. Precipitation is moderate throughout the year, though with a minimum in summer, and snow accumulation is generally heavy due to the very cold nights between November and March, with a median of 60.1 inches (1.53 m) for the year.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.