Just west of here was an adobe brick mill that provided bricks for the homes of Owen, William, Daniel, and Lorenzo Matheson who homesteaded the area, as well as for other homes. The ground was not good for cultivation but had an abundance of adobe . . . — — Map (db m256628) HM
In February 1904, local businessmen became convinced that a strong financial institution was needed in Cedar City and the Bank of Southern Utah was created. By
1925, the bank had proven a valuable asset to the community and this building was . . . — — Map (db m240276) HM
The caboose provided the train crew with shelter and working space while they threw switches and inspected for problems such as shifting loads, overheated axle bearings, and dragging equipment. The conductor used the caboose for filling out various . . . — — Map (db m130597) HM
On July 29, 1776, Fathers Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante led an exploration party of ten horsemen from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to establish an overland route to Monterey, California, while spreading the Catholic faith . . . — — Map (db m59514) HM
Born in Wrenbury, England, Henry Lunt immigrated to Utah in 1850. He was the first person named to settle Cedar City and was the president of the company of 36 men and 11 wagons that first arrived here on Tuesday, November 11, 1851, in a blinding . . . — — Map (db m149523) HM
The reconstruction of the historic pioneer cemetery wall was completed in August 1994 as a memorial to the stalwart Mormon pioneers who settled this part of the American West and who originally built and dedicated the wall in the year 1886. It was . . . — — Map (db m75618) HM
During the difficult times of the Great Depression, many communities, including Cedar City, sought federal funds for public buildings in hopes of bringing much needed construction jobs to the area. In March of 1931, after great debate, the Cedar . . . — — Map (db m240273) HM
Built in 1923, the Cedar City Railroad Depot is historically significant for its direct association with the railroad and its impact on Cedar City. In addition to stimulating the local iron ore and livestock industries, the railroad connection to . . . — — Map (db m59566) HM
A tabernacle was erected in 1885 on the adjoining corner of Main and Center Streets and was demolished in the spring of 1932. In 1872 Bishop Christopher J. Arthur suggested that this Tabernacle be built to replace the Social Hall.
Mayhew . . . — — Map (db m59540) HM
Cedar City's Iron Heritage
Cedar City's rich deposits of iron ore were first recorded by Spanish explorers Dominguez & Escalante in 1776. In 1850, Mormon leader Brigham Young sent a group of colonists to mine these deposits to provide needed iron . . . — — Map (db m240279) HM
The first ten head of sheep came to Cedar City in 1862 and soon nearly every family in the community acquired a few to produce wool needed to spin clothing for the family. Soon, the local neighborhoods were overwhelmed with the space needed to . . . — — Map (db m289741) HM
In 1904, this building replaced a smaller rooming house and became known as the Cedar's Hotel. The Cedar's had nine rooms on each floor all sharing a common bathroom.
It was in the lobby of the Cedar's that brothers Gronway and Chauncey . . . — — Map (db m240277) HM
In 1866 Louis R. Chaffin, at the request of Apostle Erastus Snow, placed a gristmill in Cedar City. His son, Henry, ran it until 1868 when Louis returned from "The Muddy." Adjoining land was purchased in 1875. Excavation by Alva Matheson proved the . . . — — Map (db m59538) HM
Cinder Cone
The cinder cone developed from a series of continuous mild volcanic explosions piling the debris on the surface surronding a volcanic vent. There are numerous cinder cones on the Cedar City Ranger District, many visible from . . . — — Map (db m68762)
This monument marks the spot where on Sept. 30, 1852 the first iron was manufactured west of the Mississippi River by the Mormon Iron Missionaries sent by Brigham Young.
This 5½ ton ore body was obtained from the iron deposits used by . . . — — Map (db m1288) HM
Shortly after WWI, the forward-looking citizens of Cedar City recognized that
tourism centered around the new national parks and monuments in the area, would be a powerful economic benefit to their rural community. Visitors certainly had . . . — — Map (db m240280) HM
Ellen (Nellie) Purcell was born November 6, 1846 in Tintwhistle, England. At 9 she, with her parents and sister Margaret (Maggie), 14, began the trek from Iowa to Salt Lake Valley in 1856 with the Edward Martin Handcart Company.
Early snows . . . — — Map (db m59517) HM
Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante with Father Dominguez and eight others, first white men to enter the Great Basin, left Santa Fe July 29, 1776 in attempt to reach Monterey. Abandoning attempt, party passed thru Cedar Valley October 12 on return . . . — — Map (db m241635) HM
Iron ore having been discovered at Iron Springs, Brigham Young called missionaries to Iron County to make iron. A militia of 35 men was organized in Parowan, Nov. 5, 1851, under Captain Henry Lunt. Part of the company left Nov. 10th in 11 wagons and . . . — — Map (db m59546) HM
The first school in the Midvalley area was a one-room building on land just west of here donated by Owen Matheson. In 1916 it was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Students then moved south to William Matheson's adobe brick home, called . . . — — Map (db m256633) HM
In November 1851, thirty-five men from Parowan settled Cedar City. A unique temporary encampment, composed of their wagon boxes and sage brush walls, sheltered them through the first winter. In 1853, a fort 100 rods square was built on this site. . . . — — Map (db m59515) HM
There are five plaques across the base of the statue
In the annals of American higher education, there is no more dramatic founding of a school than that accorded Southern Utah University, nor a more striking example of the extent of the . . . — — Map (db m59516) HM
In 1852 Peter Shirts located a ranch on Sidon Creek, later known as Shirts Creek. He offered John Hamilton half the water to come and settle there. Hamilton came with his family and Peter Fife. When Walker Indian War broke out they moved to Cedar . . . — — Map (db m59513) HM
Hay for livestock in a horse-driven society was as important as gasoline or electricity is today. The oldest technology for stacking hay in Iron County was the hay derrick that allowed farmers to build haystacks in their fields.
Hay derricks, . . . — — Map (db m130599) HM
Born and raised in Cedar City, Helen Foster Snow was a journalist, traveler, thinker, and activist who was present during the revolutionary period leading up to the establishment of the People's Republic of China and became a heroine to the people . . . — — Map (db m59565) HM
The disappearance of a Western Air Services Boeing 95 mail plane during an intense snow storm thrust Cedar City, Utah, into the sharp focus of world attention. It was not because such accidents were uncommon, for air crashes were quite common in . . . — — Map (db m74002) HM
Iron County exists because those who lived here developed the resources necessary for survival in this desert climate. The three legacies passed down by early settlers and their descendants — agriculture, mining, and railroads — are . . . — — Map (db m130593) HM
By Carolyn M. Jones and Cathy M. Maxwell
In 1955, Ivan, Lamar, & Evan Matheson put their dairy herds together and built a cinder block dairy barn near Midvalley Road and Minersville Highway. Ivan worked days as a body and fender repairman. . . . — — Map (db m256622) HM
Beginning in 1931, Midvalley students began attending school in Cedar City. At that time, the school bus only came as far as Fiddlers Canyon about five miles away. Owen Matheson and Millard Halterman took turns taking students to meet the bus in . . . — — Map (db m256631) HM
In the early 1900s, several families homesteaded the areas south and west of here: William P. Hunter, Arthur Bryant, Bengt Nelson Jr., Walter Murie, Millard Halterman, Leonard Haight, George Esplin, Joseph Bauer, Carlos Stevens, Ira and John . . . — — Map (db m256629) HM
This building is a replica of the Old Enoch School and the Second Midvalley School. It was built by Owen and Sarah Matheson's descendants. Another replica of 1850s Deseret schools is found at the Joel Hills Johnson Museum at 1198 West Midvalley . . . — — Map (db m256620) HM
It is believed that the first fired bricks in Utah were made in Cedar City in connection with the attempt of the Deseret Iron Company to manufacture iron in 1852. The blast furnace was located in the vicinity of 400 North 100 East. Fired brick was . . . — — Map (db m1381) HM
Established 1868 by Ebenezer Hanks and others who organized the Great Western Iron Manufacturing Co., a cooperative enterprise. Officers were E. Hanks, President, Homer Duncan, Vice President, Seth M. Blair, Secretary. 800 pounds of iron of good . . . — — Map (db m150259) HM
]Just west of here, Enoch residents banded together in 1891-92 to erect a building which would be used as a schoolhouse, community center, and church. It was about 34 feet long and 16 to 20 feet wide. For years theatrical performances,dances, . . . — — Map (db m255931) HM
On this site, in 1876, the Cedar Co-operative Mercantile and Manufacturing Institution constructed the Cedar Co-op Mill. It was a large, three-story wooden building. The original two sets of four foot grinding stones were turned by water which was . . . — — Map (db m266831) HM
The city office building was built in 2001 and the library in 2003 on land originally homesteaded by George and Elizabeth Hunter. Between the city office and the library, you can still see ruts from the Old Spanish Trail. Further history of the . . . — — Map (db m256020) HM
Old Main
This monument is dedicated to the selfless sacrifice and hard work of the 1898 citizens of Cedar City. The story of the construction of this unique building is told at the Old Sorrel Monument next to the Centrum. The thirty-five . . . — — Map (db m266837) HM
In the 1930s, iron mining expanded in Iron County and massive shovels were needed to excavate the needed ore. According to company delivery records, two Bucyrus-Erie 120-B shovels were delivered to the Utah Construction Company in Cedar City in . . . — — Map (db m130598) HM
Maxwell Dairy - By Keith Maxwell:
When I was 10, our family moved to Enoch to run the Maxwell Dairy. Our dairy was rented from Stanford Jones. We milked between 30 and 40 cows. Customers brought their own containers to get milk. Surplus milk . . . — — Map (db m256623) HM
The Page Ranch House was designed by its original owners, Daniel Richey Page and Sophia Geary Page. Construction began in 1898 and was completed in 1900. The builders were Jack and Harvey Fabian of St. George, who made and fired the brick on the . . . — — Map (db m284145) HM
Built in 1895, this is one of the oldest buildings on Main Street.
Originally, there was a curved parapet on the roof which had
been removed by 1932. By 1909, this building become the home of
the Palace Drug Store where you could purchase the . . . — — Map (db m289740) HM
This is the oldest log cabin in Southern Utah. It was built in 1851 in Parowan by George Wood, one of the founders of Iron County, who later moved it to the Old Fort in Cedar City and then to his lot on North Main Street. Through the years it was . . . — — Map (db m239742) HM
To satisfy an urgent need for manufactured iron products, a small group of English, Welch, Scotch, Irish and American pioneers answered a call from Brigham Young to become "Iron Missionaries" to settle Iron County and to make iron. They arrived in . . . — — Map (db m59545) HM
Born in England, Francis Webster traveled to Utah in 1856 and played an important role in the early development of Cedar City. A leader in the sheep industry, he was among the first to begin shipping sheep and wool to the Chicago markets. An early . . . — — Map (db m75620) HM
Born in Springshire, England, and an iron-molder by trade, Richard Harrison served as superintendent of the worlds largest iron foundry, located in Liverpool. He immigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1843 then on to Utah in 1849. He arrived in Cedar . . . — — Map (db m130595) HM
Named after the Catholic Church's St. Joseph, the area across the street east of here was once a lush meadow that became a popular layover for travelers on the Old Spanish Trail. Here pioneers, explorers, and others could rest safely for a few days . . . — — Map (db m255950) HM
School Life and the Dairy
By Owen Evan Matheson (1909-1983)
When I was very small, my father and two brothers bought a section of land in Midvalley and went out and built houses by putting up a wood frame and filling in the cracks with . . . — — Map (db m256625) HM
The Cedar City Pioneers had made their homes in the Old Fort and had built an adobe schoolhouse 28 feet by 60 feet when, in May 1855, President Brigham Young advised them to move to higher ground. By 1859, the majority of the people had moved to the . . . — — Map (db m59542) HM
This monument commemorates the enduring strength of the Southern Paiute people and invites harmony among all that live upon or visit their homelands.
Today, the Southern Paiutes are organized in several Federally recognized Tribes (see map), . . . — — Map (db m241703) HM
The Third Midvalley School was built on the southwest corner of Midvalley and Bulldog Roads in about 1928. The building had an exposed partial crawlspace where students would hide and play pranks on each other and their teachers. Midvalley students . . . — — Map (db m256632) HM
For nearly fifty years (1923-1972) the Utah Parks Company (UPC) brought visitors from around the world to the national parks and monuments of southwestern Utah and northern Arizona. Cedar City marketed itself as the "Gateway to the National . . . — — Map (db m240282) HM
From 1923 to 1972, the Utah Parks Company (UPC), a subsidiary company of Union Pacific Railroad brought thousands of visitors to southwestern Utah and northern Arizona. Cedar City was the starting point for travelers on the UPC tours; the "Grand . . . — — Map (db m268973) HM
From 1923 to 1972, the Utah Parks Company (UPC), a subsidiary company of Union Pacific Railroad brought thousands of visitors to southwestern Utah and northern Arizona, Cedar City was the starting point for travelers on the UPC tours; the "Grand . . . — — Map (db m255843) HM
In the sandy ground that is now Pearly Lane south of here, Millard Halterman raised row crops (broccoli, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, etc.) and sold them to Union Pacific Produce to raise money to support the First and Second World War efforts. To . . . — — Map (db m256627) HM
Site of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recreation building known as the Ward Hall. Rushed to completion in the fall of 1897 and deeded to the State of Utah so the Branch Normal School of the University of Utah could be legally . . . — — Map (db m59543) HM
When the railroad came to Cedar City in 1923, the mighty Union Pacific trains brought visitors from across the world to immerse themselves in the scenic wonders
at our doorstep. The entrepreneurial brothers Gronway and Chauncy Parry saw
the . . . — — Map (db m240275) HM
