History
The earliest known residents of the western Salt Lake Valley were Native American bands of the Ute and Shoshoni tribes.
Joseph Harker and his family were the first settlers in the territory known as "over Jordan" (referring to the land west of the Jordan River, which runs through the valley). The area was largely agricultural for over one hundred years.
The Granger area was settled by Welsh Latter-day Saints who had come to Utah with Dan Jones in 1849. Irrigation systems and agriculture were developed in the area, and it was Elias Smith who proposed the area's name on account of its successful farming. At other times high alkali content made farming difficult, but there were enough Latter-day Saints to form a separate Granger Ward in 1884. Granger and vicinity had about 1,000 people in 1930.
Hunter was not settled until 1876. This settlement was started by Rasmus Nielsen, Edward Rushton, August Larsen and about seven others along with their families. Irrigation began in 1881 and the main crop was fruit trees.
The city began to experience rapid growth in the 1970s, when the area that is now West Valley City consisted of the four separate communities of Hunter, Granger, Chesterfield, and Redwood. These four unincorporated areas merged in 1980 to form the present-day city. During the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, West Valley City was the official venue for men's and women's ice hockey.
On May 19, 2011, the city unveiled an official plan to create a downtown area for the city over the course of 10 years, building on plans and development that already existed. It will be known as Fairbourne Station (named after Joseph Fairbourne, an early settler who operated a weigh station in the area in the late 19th century) and will consist of approximately 40 acres, costing $500 million to build. The center will include a civic center (consisting of city hall, a courthouse, police headquarters, and a library), an 8-story Embassy Suites hotel, a plaza, and residential development, as well as the end of the West Valley TRAX line. Valley Fair Mall and the Maverik Center are located nearby, as is I-215. Much of the development has already occurred, with the TRAX line expected to open in 2011 and the hotel in 2012.
Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was arrested in Granger on August 16, 1975 on a routine traffic stop.
Read more about this topic: West Valley City, Utah
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