Taylorsville, Utah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Taylorsville is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The population was 57,439 at the 2000 census. Its estimated population in 2005 stood at 58,009. Taylorsville was incorporated from the Taylorsville-Bennion CDP and portions of the Kearns CDP on April 24, 1996.
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[edit] History
Little is known about this area before 1848. Some of this region’s first known inhabitants were Fremont people who used the area to hunt and gather food along the Jordan River. Ute bands wandered through the valley between the marshes of the Great Salt Lake and Utah Valley.
The first Mormon pioneer settlers, Joseph and Susanna Harker, forded the Jordan River and settled along the Jordan River in 1848. They and others settled along the river bottoms, where they dug ditches and cleared land for small farms and pastures. In 1858 the U.S. Army marched through the area on their way to Camp Floyd in Fairfield. A small adobe fort was built in the 1860s on bluffs above the river to protect settlers from Indian attacks that never materialized, and it was soon abandoned. In 1863, the center of the valley was divided into the West Jordan, South Jordan, East Jordan, and North Jordan LDS Wards. South Jordan and West Jordan kept their names and East Jordan became Midvale. North Jordan in time became Taylorsville and Bennion. By 1876, the South Jordan and North Jordan Canals were joined to carry water from the Jordan River. This brought land from South Jordan to Granger under cultivation and, therefore, more families to the area, almost all of them farmers. In 1881 the Utah and Salt Lake Canal was built farther west, allowing irrigation farming to expand.
During World War II, the U.S. Air Force wanted an isolated place to build a training base safe from any attacks by the Japanese and on the main rail routes to the Pacific Coast. The War Department bought about 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land where Kearns is currently located. Camp Kearns, as it came to be known, opened in 1942. Just one year later, Camp Kearns had 40,000 residents and was Utah’s third largest city. It was partially a basic training facility for replacement troops headed for the war against Japan.
Most of the men who trained at Camp Kearns stayed only a few weeks and were glad to get away from it, as living conditions were horrible. Camp Kearns was closed as an active base in 1946, and the buildings and materials auctioned off in 1948. Some of the first homes in Kearns were built from materials left over from the buildings of the base.
Camp Kearns gave an indirect boost to Taylorsville in that a pipeline was constructed to bring water from the east side of Salt Lake to the camp. Once Camp Kearns closed, the presence of clean drinking water and a sewer treatment plant made it possible for people to move to Kearns and live in some of the first large subdivisions built in western Salt Lake County in the 1950s. The population of Salt Lake County began expanding rapidly in the late 1960s, and farmers found that they could sell their land to developers for a lot more than they were making on the farms. Population growth and development began rapidly after this. In 1967, the Salt Lake Community College moved its main campus to Taylorsville, giving additional boost to the local economy and encouraging further growth.
Taylorsville and Bennion continued rapid growth into the early 1990s. Many people began to feel that the Salt Lake County Commission, which governed the area, was allowing too much growth too fast, especially apartment complexes. The residents felt like they were being ignored, resulting in the first drive to incorporate Taylorsville City. This failed by a narrow margin.
By 1995, the rising costs of county services, a feeling that the county wasn’t giving residents their money’s worth (including insufficient law enforcement, the lack of say in how the community was developing, and even more uncontrolled growth) convinced voters to approve the creation of a new city in 1995 from the unincorporated cities of Taylorsville and Bennion. Some Kearns residents were angry when Taylorsville extended its western border to 4000 West, though most residents of the affected area had expressed their desire to be part of Taylorsville. There was some question of what the new city would be called: Midvalley City, Oquirrh City, Centennial, and Taylorsville-Bennion were all discussed. Taylorsville was eventually chosen. Taylorsville’s nickname is “Utah’s Centennial City," since it officially came into existence 100 years after Utah became a state.
Since incorporation, Taylorsville has continued to grow, albeit slowly, since most of the land in the city has been developed. Most of the new growth is taking place near the banks of the Jordan River in the eastern part of town.
[edit] Taylorsville's Population History
- 1980: 17,448 (1)
- 1990: 52,354 (1,2)
- 2000: 57,439
In 2004, St. George surpassed Taylorsville in population, thereby dropping Taylorsville from Utah's ninth-largest city to the tenth.
1: Figures taken prior to incorporation
2: Area reported as Taylorsville-Bennion during the 1990 census.
[edit] Geography
Taylorsville is located at (40.654930, -111.949454)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 27.7 km² (10.7 mi²), all land.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 57,439 people, 18,530 households, and 14,156 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,076.5/km² (5,376.1/mi²). There were 19,159 housing units at an average density of 692.6/km² (1,793.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.55% White, 0.88% African American, 1.03% Native American, 3.04% Asian, 1.57% Pacific Islander, 5.37% from other races, and 2.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.23% of the population.
There were 18,530 households out of which 42.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.6% were non-families. 17.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.52.
In the city the population was spread out with 30.7% under the age of 18, 14.7% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 6.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $47,236, and the median income for a family was $51,553. Males had a median income of $34,947 versus $24,801 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,812. About 4.5% of families and 5.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] See also
- Anime Banzai, Utah's first anime convention and largest fan convention, held at the Salt Lake Community College Redwood campus in Taylorsville
[edit] External links
- Taylorsville official website
- Chamber of Commerce/Tourism website
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
