Spanish Fork

History

Spanish Fork was settled in 1851 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of the Mormon Pioneers' settlement of Utah Territory. Its name derives from a visit to the area by two Franciscan friars from Spain, Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and Francisco Atanasio Domínguez in 1776, who followed the stream down Spanish Fork canyon with the objective of opening a new trail from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Spanish missions in California, along a route later followed by fur trappers. They described the area inhabited by Native Americans as having "spreading meadows, where there is sufficient irrigable land for two good settlements.... Over and above these finest of advantages, it has plenty of firewood and timber in the adjacent sierra which surrounds it—many sheltered spots, waters, and pasturages, for raising cattle and sheep and horses." In 1851, some settlers led by William Pace set up scattered farms in the Spanish Fork bottom lands and called the area the Upper Settlement. However, a larger group congregated at what became known as the Lower Settlement just over a mile northwest of the present center of Spanish Fork along the Spanish Fork river. In December 1851, Stephen Markham, who was severely wounded outside Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois while attempting to defend Joseph Smith and other church leaders from a mob in 1844, became the president of the first church congregation (branch) at the Lower Settlement. A fort and a school were built at the Palmyra site in 1852. The city also lent its name to the 1865 Treaty of Spanish Fork, where the Utes were forced by an Executive Order of President Abraham Lincoln to relocate to the Uintah Basin.

Geography

Spanish Fork has a dry-summer continental climate (Köppen: Dsa) with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  13,574
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  10,894
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,795
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  8,382
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  8,283
• American Coot

  Fulica americana Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  8,133
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  7,951
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,782

Largest nearby schools

• Maple Mountain High
  High · SPANISH FORK · 1,740 students · 26.8:1 ratio
• American Leadership Academy
  Other · SPANISH FORK · 1,629 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• Springville High
  High · SPRINGVILLE · 1,612 students · 22.7:1 ratio
• Salem Hills High
  High · SALEM · 1,561 students · 24.4:1 ratio
• Payson High
  High · PAYSON · 1,554 students · 22.9:1 ratio
• Spanish Fork High
  High · SPANISH FORK · 1,519 students · 24.9:1 ratio
• Freedom Preparatory Academy
  Other · PROVO · 1,321 students · 18.1:1 ratio
• Mapleton Junior High
  Middle · MAPLETON · 1,213 students · 25.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.69 — 2026-09-27
  15 km E of Kenilworth, Utah
• M 2.86 — 2026-08-07
  6 km NNW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
• M 2.81 — 2026-02-22
  7 km SW of Clear Creek, Utah
• M 3.52 — 2026-02-14
  4 km NNW of West Valley City, Utah
• M 3.5 — 2026-02-05
  6 km WNW of Lehi, Utah
• M 2.75 — 2025-10-08
  6 km WNW of Independence, Utah