American Fork (Utah)
| American fork | |||
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 American Fork City Hall |
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| Location in Utah | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| Foundation : | 1850 | ||
| State : | United States | ||
| State : | Utah | ||
| County : | Utah County | ||
| Coordinates : | 40 ° 23 ′ N , 111 ° 48 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Mountain ( UTC − 7 / −6 ) | ||
| Residents : | 21,371 (as of 2005) | ||
| Population density : | 1,095.9 inhabitants per km 2 | ||
| Area : | 19.5 km 2 (approx. 8 mi 2 ) of which 19.5 km 2 (approx. 8 mi 2 ) is land |
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| Height : | 1404 m | ||
| Postal code : | 84003 | ||
| Area code : | +1 801 | ||
| FIPS : | 49-01310 | ||
| GNIS ID : | 1438194 | ||
| Website : | www.afcity.org | ||
| Mayor : | James H. Hadfield | ||
American Fork is a city in the US state of Utah , in Utah County with 21,371 inhabitants (2005) on an area of 19 square kilometers. It is located at an altitude of 1,404 meters on the north shore of Utah Lake and at the base of the Wasatch Mountains . This makes it one of the settlement axis beneath the Wasatch Range from Salt Lake City to Provo , and counts as a suburb to the Provo-Orem - Metropolitan Area ( Provo-Orem metropolitan area ).
It was named after the American Fork River , which flows from the Wasatch Range in the American Fork Canyon through the town to flow into Utah Lake.
history
The oldest archaeological traces in the region belong to the Fremont culture . In historical times, the region west of the Wasatch Mountains belonged to the range of the Ute Indians . The Dominguez Escalante expedition of two Franciscan Fathers in 1775 were the first whites to come to Utah Lake, and fur hunters and traders from the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were the first whites to stay in the area for an extended period in the 1820s. The first settlers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), who arrived in 1850 and built a partially preserved fort to protect their farms in the 1850s .
The initially informal settlement was registered as Lake City as a local authority in 1853 . The Church's envoy, Leonard E. Harrington, who was also the local Bishop of the Church and head of the post office, was elected as mayor for the first 29 years of the city. The settlement was also called McArthursville after a local farmer who dug irrigation ditches until its name was changed back to the American Fork used before the city was founded in 1860 . In 1868, the community assembly decided that the town's elementary school should be tax-funded and free to students, making American Fork the first Utah community to abolish tuition fees.
The place initially lived from cattle breeding with dairy cattle and sheep in the original wide meadow valleys on the shores of Utah Lake, the further influx of settlers was oriented towards agriculture and built irrigation channels parallel to the mountain range in the higher elevations. Industry did not settle until World War II, when the Columbia Steel Company built a steelworks on the lakeshore just outside the city limits in then unincorporated Utah County, now Vineyard , that used the coal and iron ore deposits of the region. The operation brought workers from the eastern United States to the region. The steelworks closed in 2001 after the operation had not been economically successful since the 1980s. The systems were sold to China in 2004 and transported away.
situation
| Population development | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Residents | ± in% | |
| 1870 | 1115 | - | |
| 1880 | 1825 | 63.7% | |
| 1890 | 1942 | 6.4% | |
| 1900 | 2732 | 40.7% | |
| 1910 | 3220 | 17.9% | |
| 1920 | 3290 | 2.2% | |
| 1930 | 3641 | 10.7% | |
| 1940 | 3906 | 7.3% | |
| 1950 | 5126 | 31.2% | |
| 1960 | 6373 | 24.3% | |
| 1970 | 7713 | 21% | |
| 1980 | 13,606 | 76.4% | |
| 1990 | 15,696 | 15.4% | |
| 2000 | 21,941 | 39.8% | |
| 2010 | 26,262 | 19.7% | |
| 2018 estimate | 32,519 | 23.8% | |
| US Decennial Census | |||
A suburb of the Wasatch Front's economic centers since the 1970s, American Fork quadrupled its population between 1970 and 2010. Due to its past as a steel town with only one dominant employer, American Fork is economically rather weak, the median income of around 50,000 dollars / household is below the value of the surrounding settlements of 56,000 dollars / household for Utah County. The level of education is above average, as in the rest of Utah, but also lower than the county's average, with 29.6% of the population with a college degree in the city versus 34.7% in Utah County. The city offers regional central functions with a large and well-equipped hospital belonging to the Intermountain Healthcare Group and the headquarters of the Alpine School District . The city center has a high proportion of green with parks and sports grounds, the boat harbor on Utah Lake and access to the Wasatch Mountains via the American Fork Canyon with the stalactite cave Timpanogos Cave National Monument make the city a starting point for recreation.
American Fork has merged with Lehi in the west and Pleasant Grove in the southeast and the small settlements Cedar Hills in the northeast and Highland in the north. The industrial estate Vineyard is located south of the city on the lake shore.
traffic
American Fork is accessible via Interstate Highway 15 in a north-south direction; the nearest airport is Provo Municipal Airport in Provo. Since December 2012, the FrontRunner - commuter rail connection has provided a regional rail connection to Salt Lake City and Provo / Ogden. Rail freight is offered in American Fork by the Union Pacific Railroad and (through trackage rights on UP lines) by the Utah Railway and BNSF Railway . Only from 1872 to 1878 was a railway company named after the place, the American Fork Railroad , in operation.
sons and daughters of the town
- Reva Beck Bosone (1895–1983), politician
- Wayne C. Booth (1921–2005), Professor of English Literature
- Gary R. Herbert (born 1947), Governor of Utah
Web links
- Official website of the city of American Fork ( English )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the history of the place is based on: Betty G. Spencer: American Fork . In: Utah History Encyclopedia
- ↑ a b City of American Fork: Historic Walking Tour
- ^ Dave Anderton: Judge approves sale of Geneva Steel land . In: Deseret Morning News , November 23, 2005
- ^ Population and Housing Unit Estimates. Retrieved July 24, 2019 .
- ^ Census of Population and Housing. (No longer available online.) Census.gov, archived from the original on April 26, 2015 ; Retrieved June 4, 2015 .
- ↑ a b US Census Bureau: American Fork ( Memento of May 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 40 kB)
- ↑ US Census Bureau: Utah County - Income , as of 2000
- ↑ US Census Bureau: Utah County - Education , as of 2000
- ^ Don Strack: Union Pacific Provo Subdivision. July 8, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018 .