It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area
More information about Genola
Genola Town Data and Statistics
History
In 1867, many years before Genola was settled, Brigham Young
predicted that there would be a town in both the East and West part of Goshen Valley Goshen Valley
Some of the early colonists of Goshen Valley stated that
when they entered this area in 1856 there was a well-established, horse-raising
ranched named Stewart located about a quarter mile North of Warm Springs. He
claimed a squatter’s right to all of the bottom land watered by the springs. To
this day, this bottom land is often referred to as “Stewart’s Bottoms.”
In the year 1881, Phillip Thomas and his son-in-law, Carl
Borup, secured some land from Stewart and settled on Warm Creek.
The earliest settlers of what is now called Genola were dry
farmers. These men and women had gone into the locality to homestead the land
and to scout the possibility of raising crops with irrigation. The northern
portion of the district, including some lake shore land, was settled first.
Nothing much could be raised except rye, which thrived fairly well. Some wheat
was grown on the lake shores where it could get the dew from the lake, but most
of the settlers lived too far from the lake. To supplement their income, the men
engaged in hunting, fishing and trapping.
A few people lived near the Townsend rock quarry. This
industry was quite early and furnished work for some for the early landowners.
As late as 1917, the Townsend Hotel had the only telephone around. Townsend quarry,
hotel, townsite and flag station were all named after Byron Townsend.
The first school was held in a one-room schoolhouse provided
by the settlers. This was used from 1905 until 1918 when a two-room schoolhouse
was built on property where the LDS
Church Goshen School LDS Church
The East Warm Creek Irrigation and Canal Co. was organized
in the spring of 1910.
Roads were first laid out by Wallace York and his son,
Lavon, and Nels W. Nelson. Willows were cut and lines staked out at one mile
east and west and one half mile north and south. These roads were accepted
as county roads in 1916. Most of the
roads are two rods wide with the land owner giving a rod in front of his place.
Before the town was incorporated, grading, graveling, and other street upkeep
was done by the county; but much of the time the town has shouldered this task.
At times in the past, the County has maintained Genola’s roads in return for
the receipt of Genola’s Class C tax money. In intervening times Genola has
found it difficult, because of lack of equipment, to do the same maintenance
themselves; therefore beginning January 1986, the town entered into a contract
with the county by which they would maintain the roads.
In 1916 the local Farm Bureau was organized and this was the
basis of organization structure until the incorporation in 1935. Their goals
and desires led to many improvements in the area. The community had at one time
or another borne the name of Hardscrabble or Solver Lake
With the coming of the Strawberry Irrigation Water in 1916,
more families moved into the area and made their homes in Genola.
The first formal church organization was in 1919 when a
branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formed. In 1924
it was made into a ward with members meeting in the Schoolhouse until 1939 when
the church purchased the school grounds.
Some towns and mining camps just sprang up without much
preconceived plan or survey. This was not true of Genola. The distribution of
water over the project made it imperative that an accurate survey be made in
advance with provisions for the streets, cement laterals, weirs, and other
anticipated needs. After more than three years of effort a rural mail route was
established in August 1921. Kerosene lamps were used until the electric power
came in September 1929.
The people of Genola were not satisfied with their culinary
water so they incorporated the Town in 1935 and tool steps to establish a
municipal culinary system. The work was begun in September 1936 and was
completed in May 1938. When finished it cost $72,500. Water was turned into the
line in January 1939.
In 1951, the Town of Genola
purchased with government appropriated funds fifteen acres of ground for a
Veteran’s Memorial Park. This houses the Town Hall, Fire House, equipment
compound, bowery, playground, rodeo grounds and ball parks. These improvements
were made by united civic effort.
Sometime in the summer of 1952, part of Genola survived
quite a disastrous flood. The little reservoir situated near highway 6 in the
Southeasterly part of Town, gave way, allowing a wall of water six to eight
feet high to go dashing down across the farms in the South section. At the
height of the flood, the water picked up farm machinery, posts, small
buildings, parts of fences, chickens and other things. Rocks and mud from the
reservoir were carried along by the water, filling the ditches and gouging out
valleys here and there and leaving general destruction; however, the reservoir
was soon rebuilt.
About eight or nine telephones were installed in the year
1949; by 1960 direct distance dialing was available.
Several years during the 1950’s were extremely dry. Water
was very scarce and heavy frosts hit the grain and pea crops doing much damage.
In the spring of 1959 a destructive army of grasshoppers invaded the valley,
forcing a poisoning campaign to be instituted.
In 1961, a well was drilled east of the Union Pacific
Railroad. Originally the well produced one-half second foot. A larger pump was
installed with a capacity of 285 gallons per minute. In 1962, a mass meeting
was held to discuss water matters and it was unanimously voted to have water
meters installed for better water control.
Some orchards had been yielding in Genola, but beginning in
about 1962, orchard men began putting in large acreage of fruit trees – several
fruit varieties, but mostly peach, sour cherry and apples. Today there are
approximately ___ acres of fruit trees owned by nearly ten different
landowners.
In 1967, permission was granted by the Town to have an Ettie Lee
Home
In 1979, a public hearing regarding Zoning Ordinances was
held. To indicate the growth of the town, at this time the Genola Ward was
divided into two wards with the division being Center Street , the North side being one
ward and the South being the other. The population at this time was
approximately 600 people.
During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s farmers began
changing over to sprinkling systems. Some were gravity flow and some pumped.
Today hundreds of acres of cropland is being watered with a new gravity flow
irrigation system. It is less expensive and conserves water and labor. It could
probably be estimated that 65-75% of the ground is under sprinkling system.
On May
24, 1980 , a mass meeting was held regarding culinary water. The
town members voted to build a new headhouse which was completed on July 17, 1982 , with a
capacity of 500,000 gallons. United public support was evidenced by the willing
response of the volunteer labor.
Flooding, historically considered to be a very remote
possibility in Genola, became a frightening reality in the spring of 1983.
Excessively heavy snow-pack in the Santaquin
Canyon Santaquin Canyon
The years of 1985 and 1986 brought less snow and less
threat, however some water from the Canyon was diverted into Genola.
A history of Genola
Valley
The Town is essentially agricultural in character, unlike
most other communities in Utah
County
Even though Genola is classified as a rural community it is
not lacking in the finer things of life. They are an authentic and cultural
people and avail themselves of much that the state has to offer. Many small
businesses are found within the valley with excellent services offered.
Sources: Goshen Valley
Records
of Max E. and Melba Nelson, 1987
