Georgetown History
Information comes from Treasured Tidbits of Time Volume I by Jens Patrick Wilde and is a condensed version
Georgetown can trace its origin to the October 1870 conference of the LDS Church. It was at that time that Brigham Young called the first settlers to settle the area. He instructed them to develop a settlement between Soda Springs and Montpelier.
There were six settlers in the first group; Ezra T Clark, David Hess, Henry Lewis, Jacob Hess, James Lloyd and Joseph Clark. They left Farmington Utah in mid October, traveled the longer but easier route through Gentile Valley to Soda Springs and then back along the Oregon Trail to the present location of Georgetown. Water was a prime factor in their choice of location and the first suitable area was at the spot where the two forks of Georgetown Creek were crossed.
They remained in the area for most of November getting logs out from the nearby hills and blocking off the section which they chose for the town site. In the following spring Joseph C Rich was brought in to finish surveying the area. When the original group returned in the spring, Nicholas Barkdull, Dow Chaffin, Nephi Hayes and George came also. Their families came in 1872. The Lewis house was finished first. The first birth in Georgetown was John Alma Hess on Aug 15, 1871. The first girl was Vanetta Payne on Sep 8, 1875.
Henry A Lewis was the first presiding elder. Meeting were held in his home. In 1872 Brigham Young came to the Valley and made an inspection of the settlements. At Georgetown he asked the settlers to change the name from Twin Creeks to Georgetown in honor of his traveling companion, George Q Cannon. By 1872 the first public building was competed and used as a church house, school and village center.
Additional settlers arrived in 1874 & 1875. There were Alma Hayes, John, Henry and Charles Hoff, Chancy Payne, Francis Bacon, Hyrum Thompson and Sarah Fretwell, the mother in law of Chancy Payne. She was an experienced mid wife. In 1896 a school bond calling for $2500 was passed and Georgetown began construction of the first school and was the first to have indiviual desks. It burned down in 1923.
The Georgetown branch was organized in 1877 with Henry A Lewis as the first Bishop and in 1894 the first frame church was completer. In 1960 the present chapel was built. In the early 1900s Georgetown was responsible for the construction of the Wells Canyon to Georgetown road through the mountains from Crow Creek. It was hoped to divert the freight traffic from Star Valley to Georgetown and make it a freighting center similar to Montpelier. At that time Georgetown had a railroad depot, sawmills and a phosphate mine. Mining was begun in 1908 in Georgetown canyon for the phosphate. Utah Fertilizer Chemical Company began the mining. During the 1920s it was the Syndicate Phosphate Company of Los Angeles. In the 1940s Central Farmers purchased the plant and developed an multi million dollar plant. Later they sold to El Paso Natural Gas and it closed the mines.
Georgetown had one of the first post offices authorized by the legislature of Utah and Henry A Lewis was the first postmaster. After 1875 it was re-licensed in Idaho. The first village government was organized in 1905 with Henry Hoff as chairman, John Bee, Willard Stoddard and Christian Sorenson as the councilmen. In 1967 Georgetown became an incorporated city.