Smithfield

Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church, p.798-799

SMITHFIELD, Benson Stake, Cache Co., Utah, is one of the principal Latter-day Saint settlements in Cache Valley. It is situated in the open valley, not far from the mountains, seven miles due north of Logan and six miles southwest of Richmond, the stake headquarters. The town is most beautifully situated on elevated ground, sloping gently from the mountains on the east to Bear River on the west. Owing to its high location, the town is visible from nearly all parts of Cache Valley. Smithfield is the center of a rich agricultural district, well watered from the summit on Smithfield Creek, which rises in the mountains east of the settlement and also through canals tapping Logan River, near the mouth of Logan Canyon. The town is universally known for its bounteous production of all kinds of cereals and fruits. Near the town are two flouring mills, a pea canning factory, a branch of the Sego Milk Industry Company, the largest brick and tile yard in northern Utah, a number of stores and many fine private residences. In the center of the town there is a fine meeting house or tabernacle, and two other L. D. S. houses of worship.

Smithfield was settled by Latter-day Saints in 1859, about the same time that the city of Logan was founded. The first settlers were Seth Langton and Robert and John Thornley. Others followed and the saints who settled on Summit Creek (the original name of Smithfield Creek) were organized as a branch of the Church in 1859, with John G. Smith (in whose honor the settlement was named) as presiding Elder. A townsite was surveyed in 1860. Some Indian difficulties were encountered in the summer of that year, during which John Reed of Franklin, one of the settlers, was killed and others wounded. The first school house was built in Smithfield in 1861. This was later moved to the Tabernacle Square. A fort was also built as a protection against the Indians. In 1862 Samuel Roskelley succeeded John G. Smith as Bishop of the settlement. He was succeeded in 1880 by George L. Farrell, who in 1900 was succeeded by Newton Woodruff, who presided until 1906, when the town of Smithfield was divided into two wards, viz., the Smithfield 1st and Smithfield 2nd wards. Later a Smithfield 3rd Ward was organized. According to official reports the membership of the three Smithfield wards on Dec. 31, 1930, was 2,293, including 377 children, out of a total population of 2,446.


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