St. George, Utah
City
City of St. George
Overlook of downtown St. George and adjacent Pine Valley Mountains
Flag Logo
Nickname(s):  Utah’s Dixie, (the) STG
Motto:  It’s The Brighter Side
Location within Washington County
St. George Location within Utah Show map of UtahShow map of the United StatesShow all
Coordinates: 37°06′15″N 113°35′03″WCoordinates: 37°06′15″N 113°35′03″W[1]
Country	United States
State	Utah
County	Washington
Settled	1861
Incorporated	1862
Named for	George A. Smith
Government
• Type	Mayor-Council
• Mayor	Michelle Randall
• City Manager	John Willis
Area [2]
• City	78.47 sq mi (203.22 km2)
• Land	78.46 sq mi (203.22 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.01 km2)  0.72%
Elevation [1]	2,700 ft (800 m)
Population  (2020)[3]
• City	95,342
• Rank	1st in Washington County 7th in Utah
• Density	1,215.17/sq mi (469.16/km2)
• Metro	180,279 (US: 239th)
• Metro density	1,310/sq mi (510/km2)
Demonym	St. Georgian
Time zone	UTC−7 (Mountain)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−6 (Mountain)
ZIP Code	84770–84771, 84790–84791
Area code	435
FIPS ID	49-65330
GNIS feature ID	1455098[1]
Website	sgcity.org

St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northeasternmost part of the Mojave Desert, adjacent to the Pine Valley Mountains and near the convergence of three distinct geologic areas and ecoregions: the Mojave Desert, Colorado Plateau, and the Great Basin.^[4] The city is 118 miles (190 km) northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 300 miles (480 km) south-southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, on Interstate 15.

As of the 2020 U.S Census, the city had a population of 95,342, with the overall MSA having an estimated population of 180,279.^[5][6] St. George is the seventh-largest city in Utah and most populous city in the state outside of the Wasatch Front.

The city was settled in 1861 as a cotton mission, earning it the nickname “Dixie“. While the crop never became a successful commodity, the area steadily grew in population. Between 2000 and 2005, St. George emerged as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States.^[7] Today, the St. George region is well known for its year-round outdoor recreation and proximity to several state parks, Zion National Park and The Grand Canyon. Utah Tech University is located in St. George and is an NCAA Division I institution.

History[edit]

 

Brigham Young Winter Home and Office in St. George

Prior to the arrival of the first European settlers, the St. George area was inhabited by the Virgin River Ancestral Puebloans and later by the Southern Paiute tribe. The first Europeans in the area were part of the Domínguez–Escalante expedition in 1776.

St. George was founded as a cotton mission in 1861 under the direction of apostle Erastus Snow. It was called Dixie by Brigham Young, who was president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). While early settlers cultivated cotton as a commodity crop, they did not succeed in producing it at competitive market rates; consequently, cotton farming was eventually abandoned. More important to the economy was tourism, which developed as the railroads began to carry visitors to the nearby Zion National Park.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Young organized the settlement of what is now Washington County.

Fearing that the war would take away the cotton supply, he began plans for raising enough in this southwestern country to supply the needs of his people. Enough favorable reports had come to him from this warm region below the rim of the Great Basin, that he was convinced cotton could be raised successfully here. At the general church conference in Salt Lake City on October 6th, 1861, about three hundred families were “called” to the Dixie mission to promote the cotton industry. Most of the people knew nothing of this expedition until their names were read from the pulpit; but in nearly every case, they responded with good will, and made ready to leave within the month’s time allotted to them. The families were selected so as to ensure the communities the right number of farmers, masons, blacksmiths, businessmen, educators, carpenters, as needed.^[8]

The settlement was named after George A. Smith, an LDS Church apostle.^[9]

In April 1877, the LDS Church completed the St. George Utah Temple. It is the church’s third and oldest continually-operating temple in the world (the temple has been closed since November 2019 for renovation).

The 1992 St. George earthquake destroyed three houses as well as above- and below-ground utilities, causing about US$1 million in damage.^[10][11]

St. George was the location of the 1997 United States Academic Decathlon national finals.

In January 2005, a 100-year flood occurred throughout the region, due to prolonged heavy rainfall overflowing both the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers. One person was killed and 28 homes were destroyed by the Santa Clara River.^[12][13]

Nuclear contamination[edit]

In the early 1950s, St. George received the brunt of the fallout of above-ground nuclear testing at the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site northwest of Las Vegas. Winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through the St. George and southern Utah area. Marked increases in the frequency of cancer in the population, not limited to leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s until the early 1980s.^[14][15]

In 1980, American popular weekly magazine People reported that from about 220 cast and crew who filmed in a 1956 movie, The Conqueror, on location near St. George, ninety-one had come down with cancer, and 50 had died of cancer.^[16] Of these, forty-six had died of cancer by 1980. Among the cancer deaths were John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz and Susan Hayward, the stars of the film.^[16] However, the lifetime odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43 percent and the odds of dying of cancer are 23 percent (38 percent and 19 percent, respectively, for women).^[17] This places the cancer mortality rate for the 220 primary cast and crew quite near the expected average.^[18]

A 1962 United States Atomic Energy Commission report found children living in St. George, Utah, at the time of the fallout may have received doses to the thyroid of radioiodine as high as 120 to 440 rads” (1.2 to 4.4 Gy).^[19]

Geography[edit]

 

The red hills of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve north of St. George

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 64.9 square miles (168.0 km²), of which, 64.4 square miles (166.8 km²) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.2 km²) of it (0.72%) is water. St. George lies in a desert valley, with most of the city lying below 3,000 feet (900 m). It is situated near a geological transition zone where the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin converge. The Beaver Dam Mountains/Utah Hill lie to the west, the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and Pine Valley Mountains to the north, the western edge of the Colorado Plateau and Zion National Park to the east, and the Arizona Strip to the south. The Virgin River and Santa Clara River flow through the St. George valley and converge near the western base of Webb Hill near the city center.

 

Eubrontes, a dinosaur footprint in the Lower Jurassic Moenave Formation at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site

The city uses street numbers rather than names, such as “East 100 South”. Exceptions have been made for streets with curves or those not fitting into the traditional grid system. Some roads have names along with numerals, such as “400 East” which is also known as “Flood Street”.^[20]