When was St. George, Utah founded?

In 1861, when 309 families were called to the Cotton Mission in southwestern Utah.

Who is St. George named after?

Apostle George A. Smith, who selected most of the 1861 company of pioneers but did not settle there himself.

Why was the area called Utah's Dixie?

Many early settlers came from the American South and arrived to grow cotton, so they called the area Utah's Dixie.

When was the St. George Tabernacle built?

Its first cornerstone was laid on June 1, 1863, and it was completed and dedicated in 1876.

St. George, Utah History: From the Cotton Mission to Today

By the Simply St George editorial team · Updated 2026-10-16 · Facts cited below

Before the pioneers

Long before settlement, the Virgin and Santa Clara river valleys were home to Native peoples, including the Southern Paiute. Their history is still visible in petroglyph sites around the county, such as Little Black Mountain and Snow Canyon. By 1854, Latter-day Saints had established an Indian mission at Santa Clara, two miles north of the St. George valley, and in 1857 and 1858 experimental farms were set up on either side of the future town site.¹

The Cotton Mission, 1861

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Brigham Young worried that cotton supplies would be cut off. After touring the experimental desert farms in May 1861, he predicted the area would be settled. That October, 309 families were called to the "Cotton Mission," chosen so the new community would have the farmers, masons, blacksmiths, educators and other tradespeople it needed.^1,6 Many settlers came from the American South, and they brought a nickname that stuck: "Utah's Dixie."¹

The city was named for apostle George A. Smith, who selected most of the 1861 company but did not settle there himself. Apostle Erastus Snow led the settlement.^1,6

Hard early years

Life was difficult. Great rainstorms nearly destroyed the farmlands, and intense heat and scarce drinking water made daily life a struggle.¹ Along the upper Virgin River, floods repeatedly wrecked dams and fields, and several small settlements eventually became ghost towns.² Cotton never became a lasting commercial success, but the warm climate supplied Utah with figs, grapes and other warm-weather crops.^3,6

Building monuments of faith

Work on the St. George Tabernacle began with a cornerstone laid on June 1, 1863, and it was completed and dedicated in 1876.³ Even more ambitious, the St. George Temple was announced in 1871, when the town had about 1,100 residents, and dedicated in April 1877.⁴ Read the full story in The Building of the St. George Temple.

A college town

What began as the St. George Stake Academy became Dixie Normal College in 1918, Dixie College in 1923, and was deeded to the State of Utah in 1933. It became a university in 2013 and was renamed Utah Tech University in 2022.⁵ See our Utah Tech guide.

Boom town

Between 2000 and 2005, St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States.⁶ Today it is known for year-round recreation, golf, and its closeness to Zion National Park and several state parks.

See the history yourself

Brigham Young Winter Home and the Jacob Hamblin Home (see Family & Kids)
The St. George Tabernacle and the Temple grounds and visitors' center downtown
The Dinosaur Discovery Site, for a much older kind of history

St. George History