Colorado City

History

Colorado City, formerly known as "Short Creek" (or the Short Creek Community), was founded in 1913 by members of the Council of Friends, a breakaway group from the Salt Lake City–based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The Council of Friends membership desired a remote location where they could practice plural marriage, which had been publicly abandoned by the LDS Church in 1890. On July 26, 1953, Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle sent troops into the settlement to stop polygamy in what became known as the Short Creek raid. The two-year legal battle that followed became a public relations disaster that damaged Pyle's political career and set a hands-off tone toward the town in Arizona for the next 50 years. After the death of Joseph W. Musser, the community split into two groups: the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints stayed in Short Creek, while the Apostolic United Brethren relocated to Bluffdale, Utah. The FLDS changed the name of the community to Colorado City (on the Arizona side of the border) and Hildale (on the Utah side) to eliminate any ties to the Short Creek raids. Jeffs, now a convicted sexual predator, stated he was acting on the orders of God, while the men expelled claimed they were penalized for disagreeing with Jeffs. Observers stated that this was the most severe split to date within the community other than the split between Colorado City and Centennial Park. According to the Utah attorney general's office, this was not the first time Jeffs was accused of expelling men from the community; as many as 400 young men are estimated to have been expelled by Jeffs from 2001 to 2006. Most were removed for failing to follow Jeffs' rules, or for dating women without his permission. Many of these expelled men…

Geography

Colorado City is located in northeastern Mohave County. Its northern border is the Arizona–Utah state line, with the town of Hildale, Utah, to the north. Arizona State Route 389 passes through the center of town, leading east to Fredonia. To the north, Route 389 becomes Utah State Route 59, which leads northwest to Hurricane. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which , or 0.07%, are water. The wettest year has been 1998 with , whilst the driest year has been 1956 with . |date=March 2013 }}

Largest nearby schools

• Masada Charter School
  Other · Colorado City · 508 students
• Cottonwood Elementary
  Elementary · Colorado City · 380 students · 25.3:1 ratio
• El Capitan Public School
  High · Colorado City · 243 students · 20.3:1 ratio