List of Mormon place names

This is a List of Mormon place names, meaning towns and other places named, in modern times, after places and people in the Book of Mormon, after Mormon leaders during the settlement of Utah, or after other elements of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' history. See List of Book of Mormon places for a reference list of locations mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and List of Book of Mormon people for persons mentioned therein. The intention is to list all places named (usually by Mormons) for specifically Mormon places and people, where those names are not otherwise generally known as Biblical (meaning from the Old and New Testaments) to non-Mormons.[Note 1]

According to John W. Van Cott in his 1990 work Utah Place Names, the Mormons named more places in Utah than any other group or individual in the state.[1] Salt Lake City Tribune author Davidson noted, in 2018, that "Utah cities and towns were named for at least five church presidents, 10 apostles, 11 stake presidents, nine bishops, two biblical figures and three Book of Mormon prophets, among other things."[1] Similar general works for other regions, such as Idaho Place Names, identify numerous other Mormon place names.

Place names

edit

The intention is to list all modern usages of place names that are clearly Mormon, to exclusion of other Christian place names. Those starred are from the Book of Mormon, or modern revelation.

Adam-ondi-Ahman*

edit

Ammon*

edit
  • Ammon, Idaho, originally South Iona, the area was made a ward in the church in 1889 with Arthur M. Rawson as bishop, who renamed the town in honor of Ammon, a figure in the LDS book of scripture, the Book of Mormon.

Ballard

edit

Bountiful

edit

Brigham

edit

Cannonville

edit

Cardston

edit

Clawson

edit

Colonia LeBaron

edit

Colonia Mormones

edit

Cumorah*

edit

Cutler's Park

edit

Deseret*

edit

Deseret (Book of Mormon) is the word for "honeybees" in land of the Jaredites, in the Book of Mormon. "Brigham Young wanted pioneers to be as industrious as honeybees and used the name in many places and ways. When Latter-day Saints first sought statehood, they applied using the name 'State of Deseret.'"[1]

Draper

edit

Enoch*

edit
  • Enoch, Utah after the Order of Enoch.[11]
  • Enoch, Texas, founded by LDS and named after the Order of Enoch. Samuel O. Bennion's organization of the Enoch Branch in 1911.[12][13] The first Latter-day Saint settlers had arrived in 1906.[13] In 1908 a Sunday School was organized at Enoch. In 1910 a building was built for the Sunday School.[14] In 1930 it was only one of eight communities in Texas where the church owned a chapel.[15]

Ephraim*

edit
  • Ephraim, Utah - the special significance here is that the Tribe of Ephraim is said to restore the gospel to the earth and many modern Mormons are said to belong to it.

Far West

edit

Far West, Missouri, in Caldwell County, Missouri, was a Mormon settlement, which grew as Mormons were expelled from the Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri area. Settlement there, too, was challenged, and many Mormons moved on to Nauvoo, Illinois.

Farr West

edit

Fayette

edit

Fielding

edit

Francis

edit

Grantsville

edit

Georgetown

edit

Hamblin

edit

Harmony

edit

Hawkins

edit

Heber City

edit

Henrieville

edit

Hinckley

edit

Hooper

edit

Hyde Park

edit

Hyrum

edit

Iona

edit
  • Iona, Idaho "Iona: According to the town’s own history book, Iona was named by LDS Church President John Taylor. He visited early settlers in the area, then known as Sand Creek, and apparently suggested the name “Iona”, claiming it was the name of a small town in Israel that meant “beautiful”."[17] It is also the name of an island in Scotland.

Iosepa

edit

Ivins

edit

Jacob Lake

edit

Joseph

edit

Kaysville

edit
  • Kaysville, Utah, honors William Kay, the first LDS bishop in its area. Early settlers, including Kay, wanted to name it "Freedom". "But Brigham Young asked, 'When did Bishop Kay’s ward get its freedom?' Young pushed the name Kaysville instead."[1] also [3]

Kimball

edit

Kingston

edit

Kirtland

edit

Kolob*

edit

Lamoni*

edit

Layton

edit

Leavitt

edit

Lehi*

edit
  • Several places are named after Lehi from the Book of Mormon, as opposed to Lehi (Bible) a place in the Old Testament. Book of Mormon Lehi's include two prophets: Lehi (Book of Mormon prophet), 7th–6th cen. BC or Lehi, son of Helaman, late 1st cen. BC; and two other persons: Lehi, Nephite military commander, or Lehi, son of Zoram.
    • Lehi, Arizona, a Mormon agricultural community and neighborhood now part of Mesa, Arizona
    • Lehi, Utah, "Named for a Book of Mormon prophet. It was chosen because its early pioneers had moved often, much like the scriptural prophet Lehi, who traveled from Jerusalem to the Americas."[1]

Lewiston

edit

Lund

edit

Lyman

edit

Maeser

edit

Manti*

edit

Manti is the name of a city in the Book of Mormon and also of Manti, a soldier

Martin's Cove

edit
  • Martin's Cove, in what is now Wyoming, is named for the Martin Handcart Company. In November 1856, about 500 Mormon emigrants in the Martin Handcart Company were halted for five days in the Cove by snow and cold while on their way to Salt Lake City.[22] The Martin Handcart company had begun its journey on July 28, 1856, which was dangerously late in the season and would ultimately lead to the disaster. Although the number who died in the Cove is unknown, more than 145 members of the Martin Company died before reaching Salt Lake City.[23]

Milo

edit
  • Milo, Idaho "Milo: First, there was a small settlement named Leorin, as well as a Leorin School. An LDS ward was organized there in 1900 and called the Milo Ward after Milo Andrus, an LDS pioneer who led a company across the plains to the Intermountain West. It’s probable that the Milo name then just became a common way for Mormons to refer to the area, so it stuck."[17]

Morgan

edit

Mormon*

edit

Mormon is a prophet who gave his name to the Book of Mormon, which in turn produced the nickname of Latter-day Saints.

Moroni*

edit

Mount Pisgah

edit

Nauvoo*

edit

The original Nauvoo is in Illinois, named by Joseph Smith and was founded by church members. The name is derived from the traditional Hebrew language with an anglicized spelling. The word comes from Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains...” (/ˈnɔːv/; etymology: Hebrew: נָאווּ, Modern: Navu, Tiberian: Nâwû, “they are beautiful”)

Nephi*

edit

Nephi is the name of two Book of Mormon prophets

Nibley

edit

Orderville

edit

Parley

edit

Perry

edit

Preston

edit
  • Preston, Idaho "Preston: The settlement was originally called Worm Creek, but renamed in honor of William B. Preston, a prominent LDS Church authority who was an early settler of Cache Valley."[17]

Ramah*

edit

Randolph

edit

Raymond

edit

Rich

edit

Rigby

edit

St. George

edit

St James

edit

Schuler

edit

Smithfield

edit

Snowflake

edit

Snowville

edit

Talmage

edit

Taylor

edit

Veyo

edit
  • Veyo, Utah, named for "Virtue", "Enterprise", "Youth", and "Order", values of its Mormon settlers.[3]

Voree

edit

Webb

edit

Wellsville

edit

Widstoe

edit

Wilford

edit

Willard

edit

Winter Quarters

edit

Woodruff

edit

Generally after Wilford Woodruff, president of the church.

Notes

edit
  1. ^ So this will include places named after Lehi (Book of Mormon prophet), but should not include places, if there are any, named after Lehi (Bible), a somewhat obscure place in the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. This does not include places generally known to be Biblical/Christian, such as most listed as biblical place names in North America. For example Goshen, is notably the name of a bible place, and was used as name for Goshen, Utah in Utah County, by the first LDS bishop of that area, Phineas Cook, but he named it after his birthplace, Goshen, Connecticut, according to Davidson. Which is named after Land of Goshen in Egypt, mentioned in the Old Testament, so Goshen, Utah is only indirectly named for a biblical place, and the biblical place is not specifically Mormon, so it is doubly not the type of place covered in this list.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq Lee Davidson (October 4, 2018). "This is the place for Mormon references in city names, but did you know Brigham City first was called Youngsville, and Goshen was Sodom?". Salt Lake City Tribune. (sourced mainly to Utah Place Names, by John W. Van Cott, 1990 edition)
  2. ^ "Adam-ondi-Ahman". Selected Quotes and Instructional Pictures. compiled by Bruce Satterfield, BYU-Idaho Professor of Religion
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dale Van Atta (January 22, 1977). "You name it, there's a town for it". The Deseret News. Salt Lake City. p. 15. Retrieved July 29, 2019 – via Google News.
  4. ^ Richard E. Bennett, "Canada: From Struggling Seed, the Church Has Risen to Branching Maple," Ensign, September 1988, p. 30.
  5. ^ a b A. P. Kesler, "Mormon Hill", Young Woman's Journal, 9:73 (February 1898).
  6. ^ "Thomas Cook History, 1930", in Dan Vogel ed. (2000). Early Mormon Documents, vol. 3 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books ISBN 1-56085-133-3) pp. 243–50.
  7. ^ Andrew Jenson, Conference Report (April 1917) p. 99.
  8. ^ "A Looked-for Exposure: Secrets of the Original Mormon Bible", The New York Times, 1888-02-26.
  9. ^ Bruce E. Dana (2003). Glad Tidings Near Cumorah (CFI, ISBN 978-1-55517-723-2) pp. 58–60.
  10. ^ "Hill Cumorah (New York)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  11. ^ The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Volumes 9-10. 1918. p. 124.
  12. ^ Handbook of Texas Online - ENOCH, TX
  13. ^ a b Enoch History
  14. ^ "总决赛-广东5人上双胜新疆2-0-陕西博纳会展文化传媒有限公司".
  15. ^ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1941) p. 130
  16. ^ Van Cott, John W. (1990). Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names: A Compilation. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-87480-345-7. OCLC 797284427. Retrieved 29 July 2019.)
  17. ^ a b c d e "Origins of Idaho place names". Museum of Idaho. 9 October 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2019. (Credit partly to Idaho Place Names: A Geographic Dictionary, by Lalia Boone)
  18. ^ Shaw, Keith (1978). Chief mountain country : a history of Cardston and district. Volume I. Cardston: Cardston and District Historical Society. p. 64. ISBN 0-919213-89-8.
  19. ^ "Kingston Incorporated as a Town". Piute County News. Vol. 14, no. 32. July 26, 1935. p. 4.
  20. ^ Thomas Rowell Leavitt, Once Upon a Wedding: Stories of Weddings in Western Canada, Nancy Millar, 2000
  21. ^ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1941) p. 452
  22. ^ "Martin's Cove". Alliance for Historic Wyoming. 2010-01-14. Archived from the original on 2009-12-28.
  23. ^ "Martin's Cove". Mormon Historic Sites Registry. 2010-01-14. Archived from the original on 2006-07-20.
  24. ^ "WalkerWeb - Nauvoo, Alabama". www.walkerweb.net. Archived from the original on 2006-02-24.
  25. ^ Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Hancock County, Vol. II, Munsell Publishing Company, Chicago, 1921
  26. ^ "Davew Akers and Tom Purcell". Lethbridge Herald, Golden Jubilee Edition. 11 July 1935. p. 64.
  27. ^ a b "Strang". www.beaverislandhistory.org. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  28. ^ History of Snowflake, AZ
  29. ^ Linda S. Godfey. Strange Wisconsin. p. 10.
  30. ^ a b Hanchett, Jr. Leland J. (1993). The Crooked Trail to Holbrook. Pine Rim Pub. ISBN 0963778501.
  31. ^ Kent Powell (May 1, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Willard Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved August 16, 2019. With accompanying 22 photos from 1974
  32. ^ 1911 Encyclopædia Nebraska" (Available at Google Books).
  33. ^ Lund, Anthon Henrik (1922). The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine. Geneal. Society of Utah. p. 43.

Further reading

edit