History of St. George

this western country to supply the needs of his people. Enough favorable reports had come to him from this warm country 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.

The settlement was named after George A. Smith, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Notable events

In April 1877, the LDS Church completed the St. George Utah Temple. It is the Church's third temple, and, currently, its longest continually operating temple.

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

In January 2005, severe flooding, dubbed a 100 year flood occurred throughout the region due to prolonged heavy rainfall overflowing the Virgin River and Santa Clara River. One person was killed and 28 homes were destroyed by the raging Santa Clara River.

Nuclear contamination

On May 19, 1953, the United States government detonated the 32-kiloton (130 TJ) atomic bomb (nicknamed "Harry") at the Nevada Test Site. The bomb later gained the name "Dirty Harry" because of the tremendous amount of off-site fallout generated by the bomb. Winds carried fallout 135 miles (217 km) to St