The Cities of Zion? Mormon and non-Mormon town plans in the U.S. Mountain West, 1847–1930

• Published in: Journal of historical geography 2015-10, Vol.50, p.1-13
• Main Author: Smith, Samuel A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: American West; Culture; Geography; Land settlement; Mormon Culture Region; Mormonism; Town plans; Urban morphology
• ISSN: 0305-7488; 1095-8614
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhg.2015.03.003

This study explores the ‘Mormon Culture Region’ of the U.S. Mountain West by analyzing the town plans of Mormon and non-Mormon settlements in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. Distinctive Mormon settlement practices and town designs have long been recognized as both a central process in creating a distinctive cultural region, and a material hallmark of the region's enduring cultural geography. However, Mormon settlements exhibited considerable variation, changed over time, and competed with non-Mormon settlements as Mormon isolation gave way to American westward expansion. Yet most studies of the region's cultural geography have focused on a few early Mormon settlements, rather than using town plans as evidence for tracing the changing contours of settlement during eight decades of town-building. This study, based on original plats for 394 settlements across 45 counties, identifies eight prototypical plans representing Mormon and non-Mormon influence in the region. These plans show that Mormon planning was not uniform, but gradually standardized into two separate town designs as well as many variants. Non-Mormon settlements, in contrast, illustrate the influences of mining and railroad-building across a broader Western frontier. The distribution of these plans during three periods in the region's history reflects the extent of competing Mormon and non-Mormon settlement, as well as the eventual accommodation of Mormon and non-Mormon influences within a broader national frame. The shifting settlement practices recorded in the region's townscapes suggest several avenues for investigating the long-term evolution of Mormon settlements and the transformation of the ‘Mormon Culture Region.’ •Town plans are an important indicator of cultural influences in the American West.•I examine original plats for 394 towns in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.•I develop a classification based on eight Mormon and non-Mormon town prototypes.•I compare the Utah settlement processes with those used elsewhere in the West.•Town plans reflect the intersection of Mormon and non-Mormon influence after 1900.