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Show United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018, NPS Form National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. 8 Page 1 Spring City Historic District (Addition Documentation), Spring City, Sanpete County, UT Narrative Statement of Significance Summary Paragraphs The Spring City Historic District located in Spring City, Sanpete County, Utah, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on October 22, 1980 (NRIS #80003957). This amendment provides additional documentation to define the period of significance to a beginning date of 1859 and to extend the period of significance to an ending date of 1972. This amended nomination also updates the NRHP eligibility of each primary resource within the district, delineates historic contextual periods, and refines the boundaries to better support the significance and integrity of the district. The Spring City Historic District (Additional Documentation) is significant at the local level under Criterion A for the district’s association with broad patterns of history in the areas of Exploration/Settlement, Agriculture, and Community Planning & Development. The historic district is also significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture for embodying the distinctive characteristics of rural Sanpete County architecture throughout the historic period of significance. Under Criterion A, the original district nomination prepared in 1980 focused on two areas: Exploration/Settlement and Agriculture with a period of significance between 1851 and 1915. The Spring City Historic District as documented in 1980 was an excellent example of the patterns of Mormon town planning during the settlement period and well as the agricultural practices that distinguished rural village living in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The beginning date of the period of significance has been revised to 1859 for three reasons: 1) it is the year of the first town plat that is still visible on the landscape; 2) the 1859 plat was based on the principles of Mormon town planning as described in both the original and this amended nomination; and 3) the survey plat has informed the architectural development of all subsequent periods. Spring City was the first historic district in Utah to encompass an entire town. The additional documentation provided in this amendment confirms the district’s continuing historic integrity of location, setting, design, and feeling, which has not changed substantially since 1980. Spring City is still a quintessentially rural village. The town’s layout, architecture, agricultural outbuildings, streetscapes, and landscapes, continue to contribute to the overall historic characteristics described in the original nomination. This amendment defines two contextual periods for the timeframe covered in the 1980 nomination: the Settlement Period (1859-1869) and the Incorporation and Growth Period (1870-1911). The period of significance for this amended nomination extends the ending date to 1972 (fifty years ago), which recognizes historic resources that have achieved significance since 1915. 1972 is also the year Spring City was included in a book on Utah ghost towns 38 after suffering a two-decade period of population decline and virtually no construction. These ghost-town-like conditions preserved the historic character of the community and attracted the attention of architectural historians, including the authors of the 1980 nomination who described Spring City as the “best example of Mormon village development” in the Sanpete Valley. The Spring City Historic District (Additional Documentation) includes Community Planning & Development as an additional area of significance under Criterion A. Prior to the incorporation of Spring City in 1870, the settlement was only sparsely developed with scattered residences. The majority of public and commercial buildings in town were built during the Incorporation and Growth Period (1870-1911), including 30 of the 33 buildings identified as significant in the original historic nomination. A third contextual period, the Civic Improvement and Specialized Agriculture Period (1912-1956), defines a significant historic period not included in the original nomination. During this period of population stability, the architectural development Spring City decreased and a number of civic improvement projects Stephen L. Carr, The Historical Guide to Utah’s Ghost Towns. Salt Lake City, Utah: Western Epics, 1972. Revised and enlarged edition, 1987. 38 |
