Morgan County, Utah

For counties with a similar name, see Morgan County (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Morgan, Utah, a city in the county, as well as the county's seat.

Morgan County
County
Devil's Slide, a limestone rock formation in Weber Canyon, November 2013.
Location within the U.S. state of Utah
Utah's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 41°05′N111°35′W / 41.08°N 111.58°W / 41.08; -111.58
Country	United States
State	Utah
Founded	January 17, 1862
Named for	Jedediah Morgan Grant
Seat	Morgan
Largest city	Morgan
Area
• Total	611 sq mi (1,580 km2)
• Land	609 sq mi (1,580 km2)
• Water	1.7 sq mi (4 km2)  0.3%
Population  (2020)
• Total	12,295
• Density	20/sq mi (7.8/km2)
Time zone	UTC−7 (Mountain)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−6 (MDT)
Congressional district	1st
Website	www.morgan-county.net

Morgan County is a county in northern Utah, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,295. ^[1] Its county seat and largest city is Morgan. ^[2] Morgan County is part of the Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, UT Combined Statistical Area.

History

An early route of the Hastings Cutoff ran through the Morgan Valley and down through a narrow gorge in Weber Canyon. The Donner Party avoided going through the Morgan Valley in order to speed up their journey. However, their alternate route proved more time-consuming.

In 1855, Charles Sreeve Peterson and his family became the first white settlers to take up permanent residence in the Morgan Valley after cutting a road through Weber Canyon. After others began settling in the rather limited planar areas of the mountainous territory, the Utah Territory legislature acted on January 17, 1862, to form a separate county from sections partitioned off Davis, Great Salt Lake, Summit, and Weber counties. The small settlement at Morgan was named the county seat. The town (and thus the new county) was named for the father (Jedediah Morgan Grant) of Heber J. Grant, who would serve as president of LDS Church from 1918 until 1945. ^[3]

Geography

The central core of Morgan County, the narrow East Canyon valley (now called Morgan Valley), is ringed by mountains. In its southern portion, Main Canyon Creek flows southward from Summit County to join East Canyon Creek, which flows northward from a different portion of Summit County. At their intersection, a dam has been installed to create East Canyon Reservoir and State Park. The combined discharge (now called East Canyon Creek) from the dam flows northwestward to Morgan, where it combines with Deep Creek to discharge into the Weber River, which also flows into the county from Summit and follows Lost Canyon to the Morgan Valley. The now-augmented Weber flows northwestward to Mountain Green, then turns west to exit the county through Weber Canyon. The terrain generally slopes to the north and west, with its highest point, Thurston Peak, at 9,706 ft (2,958 m) ASL. ^[4] The county has an area of 611 square miles (1,580 km²), of which 609 square miles (1,580 km²) is land and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²) is water. ^[5] It is Utah's third-smallest county by land area and smallest by total area.

Major highways

• Interstate 84
• Utah State Highway U-65
• Utah State Highway U-66
• Utah State Highway U-158
• Utah State Highway U-167

Some county roads accessing the canyons are closed during winters.

Adjacent counties

• Weber County - north
• Summit County - east
• Salt Lake County - southwest
• Davis County - west
• Rich County - northeast

Protected areas

• Cache National Forest (part)
• East Canyon State Park
• Lost Creek State Park
• Round Valley Wildlife Management Area
• Wasatch National Forest (part)

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1870	1,972		—
1880	1,783		−9.6%
1890	1,780		−0.2%
1900	2,045		14.9%
1910	2,467		20.6%
1920	2,542		3.0%
1930	2,536		−0.2%
1940	2,611		3.0%
1950	2,519		−3.5%
1960	2,837		12.6%
1970	3,983		40.4%
1980	4,917		23.4%
1990	5,528		12.4%
2000	7,129		29.0%
2010	9,469		32.8%
2020	12,295		29.8%
US Decennial Census [6] 1790–1960 [7] 1900–1990 [8] 1990–2000 [9] 2010 [10] 2020 [11]

2020 census

According to the 2020 United States census ^[12] and 2020 American Community Survey, ^[13] there were 12,295 people in Morgan County with a population density of 20.2 people per square mile (7.8/km²). Among non-Hispanic or Latino people, the racial makeup was 11,562 (94.0%) White, 12 (0.1%) African American, 31 (0.3%) Native American, 57 (0.5%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 9 (0.1%) from other races, and 286 (2.3%) from two or more races. 338 (2.7%) people were Hispanic or Latino.

There were 6,289 (51.15%) males and 6,006 (48.85%) females, and the population distribution by age was 4,299 (35.0%) under the age of 18, 6,441 (52.4%) from 18 to 64, and 1,555 (12.6%) who were at least 65 years old. The median age was 33.6 years.

There were 3,574 households in Morgan County with an average size of 3.44 of which 3,084 (86.3%) were families and 490 (13.7%) were non-families. Among all families, 2,783 (77.9%) were married couples, 91 (2.5%) were male householders with no spouse, and 210 (5.9%) were female householders with no spouse. Among all non-families, 428 (12.0%) were a single person living alone and 62 (1.7%) were two or more people living together. 1,670 (46.7%) of all households had children under the age of 18. 3,176 (88.9%) of households were owner-occupied while 398 (11.1%) were renter-occupied.

The median income for a Morgan County household was $100,408 and the median family income was $101,572, with a per-capita income of $34,280. The median income for males that were full-time employees was $87,961 and for females $46,484. 1.7% of the population and 1.0% of families were below the poverty line.

In terms of education attainment, out of the 6,695 people in Morgan County 25 years or older, 145 (2.2%) had not completed high school, 1,350 (20.2%) had a high school diploma or equivalency, 2,630 (39.3%) had some college or associate degree, 1,548 (23.1%) had a bachelor's degree, and 1,022 (15.3%) had a graduate or professional degree.

Politics and government

Morgan County traditionally votes Republican. In only one national election since 1948 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024).

State elected offices

Position		District	Name	Affiliation	First elected
	Senate	18	F. Ann Millner	Republican	2014 [14]
	Senate	19	John D. Johnson	Republican	2020 [15]
	House of Representatives	53	Kera Birkeland	Republican	2020 [16]
	Board of Education	1	Jennie Earl	Nonpartisan	2018 [17]

United States presidential election results for Morgan County, Utah ^[18]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	5,300	76.26%	1,256	18.07%	394	5.67%
2020	5,181	78.43%	1,086	16.44%	339	5.13%
2016	3,188	61.05%	577	11.05%	1,457	27.90%
2012	4,114	89.49%	403	8.77%	80	1.74%
2008	3,311	79.06%	689	16.45%	188	4.49%
2004	3,301	85.94%	472	12.29%	68	1.77%
2000	2,464	77.70%	553	17.44%	154	4.86%
1996	1,659	57.05%	859	29.54%	390	13.41%
1992	1,339	45.54%	520	17.69%	1,081	36.77%
1988	1,889	73.59%	647	25.20%	31	1.21%
1984	1,934	79.59%	481	19.79%	15	0.62%
1980	1,985	81.52%	373	15.32%	77	3.16%
1976	1,356	62.95%	701	32.54%	97	4.50%
1972	1,456	71.51%	363	17.83%	217	10.66%
1968	1,020	59.89%	551	32.35%	132	7.75%
1964	572	40.65%	835	59.35%	0	0.00%
1960	775	55.44%	622	44.49%	1	0.07%
1956	905	67.39%	438	32.61%	0	0.00%
1952	862	64.86%	467	35.14%	0	0.00%
1948	587	46.40%	670	52.96%	8	0.63%
1944	535	44.36%	671	55.64%	0	0.00%
1940	575	45.13%	699	54.87%	0	0.00%
1936	483	39.33%	739	60.18%	6	0.49%
1932	568	48.34%	602	51.23%	5	0.43%
1928	513	53.00%	454	46.90%	1	0.10%
1924	482	54.10%	360	40.40%	49	5.50%
1920	544	57.57%	397	42.01%	4	0.42%
1916	464	48.54%	484	50.63%	8	0.84%
1912	318	36.59%	233	26.81%	318	36.59%
1908	494	58.19%	306	36.04%	49	5.77%
1904	492	57.28%	315	36.67%	52	6.05%
1900	391	51.72%	363	48.02%	2	0.26%
1896	138	19.17%	582	80.83%	0	0.00%

Communities

Cities

• Morgan (county seat)

Census-designated places

• Enterprise
• Mountain Green

Unincorporated places

• Croydon
• Littleton ^[19]
• Milton ^[20]
• Peterson
• Porterville
• Richville ^[21]
• Stoddard ^[22]
• Taggarts ^[23]
• Whites Crossing

Ghost towns

• Devils Slide

See also

• Utah portal

• List of counties in Utah
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Morgan County, Utah

References

1. "Morgan County, Utah". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved June 30, 2023.
2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
3. "[[Newberry Library]]. Individual County Chronologies/Morgan County UT (accessed March 27, 2019)". Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
4. "Utah County High Points/Morgan Co. Peakbagger (accessed 27 March 2019)". Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
5. "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". US Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
6. "US Decennial Census". US Census Bureau. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
7. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
8. Forstall, Richard L., ed. (June 25, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". US Census Bureau. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
9. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). US Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
10. "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
11. 2020 Population and Housing State Data | Utah
12. United States Census Bureau. "2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (DHC)" . Retrieved November 3, 2024.
13. United States Census Bureau. "American Community Survey 5-Year Data (2009-2022)" . Retrieved November 3, 2024.
14. "Senator Millner Utah Senate". senate.utah.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
15. "Senator Johnson Utah Senate". senate.utah.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
16. "Rep. Birekeland, Kera". Utah House of Representatives. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
17. "Jennie Earl". www.schools.utah.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
18. Leip, David. "Atlas of US Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
19. "Croyden". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
20. "Milton". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
21. "Richville". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
22. "Sotddard". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
23. "Taggart's Camp".

Further reading

• Smith, Linda H. (1999). A History of Morgan County. Salt Lake City UT: Utah State Historical Society. ISBN   978-0-913738-36-8.

External links

• Official website
• UEN - Morgan County
• The Morgan County News - The Newspaper of Morgan County