by Viola Palmer

In the spring of 1859 on March 8, a number of families left Lehi and arrived on the plain northwest of Ogden, March 17, 1859 and established the townsite of Plain City. It is said that the town was well named. The town was laid out by the North Star. The official survey of the canal was made by Jesse W. Fox.

The following are the names of those who left Lehi on March 8 arriving in Plain City March 17. Joh Spiers, William W. Raymond, Joseph Skeen William Skeen, Lyman Skeen, Joseph Robinson, Jeppe G. Folkman, Robert Maw, George Musgrave and wife Vicotine, Charles Neal and wife Annie, John Folker, Alfred Folker, Daniel Collet, William Sharp, Thomas Singleton, Samuel Cousins, Ezekiel Hopkins, Abraham Brown, Byron Brown, John Carver and Jonathan Moyes joined the group at Kaysville.

One of the first tasks to do after arriving was to survey the townsite and assign lots to the settlers, so they could get some kind of shelter for their families. John Spiers and others who surveyed Plain City had in mind their old homes, the city of Nauvoo, and followed the pattern as nearly as possible. They surveyed the town at night using the north star and three tall poles just below it as a working guide. The measuring chain was a piece of rope which they dragged along over the deep snow through which they waded. The original plot was six blocks long and three blocks wide, running north and south. Each block contains five acres and is divided into four lots. Each settler was allowed some choice in the selection of his lot, and each settler was allotted twenty acres of farm land on the outskirts.

Early homes were dugouts, then log cabins and later adobe. The first stone house was built by William Skeen in 1862 by hauling rock from Hot Springs northeast of Plain City.

Sometime in May 1859, President Lorin Farr and Bishop West organized a Branch of the L.D.S. Church with William W. Raymond as President and Daniel Collet and Jeppe G. Folkman as his counselors and John Spiers as Secretary or Ward Clerk. Later Daniel Collet moved to Cache Valley and John Carver was chosen in his place as counselor.

Charles Neal planted the first apple seeds in Plain City in 1859. The seeds were obtained from Brigham Young's garden. Mr. Rollett, a Frenchmen, introduced the culture of asparagus to Plain City. The seed came from France in 1859. This became one of the leading industries of Plain City, as the soil and climate are especially adapted to its culture. Plain City asparagus has become known far and near.

In the spring of 1860 William Geddes brought fruit trees from Salt Lake City for the new town site and planted them. It is said he raised a few peaches from his transplanted trees that same year.

The first school house was built in 1860. It was an adobe building 24 by 18 feet and was built on the south side of the public square. (This building was enlarge in 1865 by adding 12 feet to it.) George Musgrave was the first Plain City school teacher. His first school was held in his dugout on his lot.

Charles Neal and Henry J. Newman dug the first well in Plain City in 1860.

Evelyn Sharp was the first white baby girl born in Plain City, and Thomas Singleton was the first white baby boy. They were born in 1859.

In 1861 Plain City built a canal of their own, taking the water out of the Ogden River above Marriottsville dam.

In 1866 Plain City put forth quite an effort to help the emigrants by sending two teams (four yoke of oxen for each team) with supplies to the Missouri River after the poor. Charles Neal and Hans Funk went as teamsters.

In 1867 the grasshoppers were quite troublesome and in 1869 crops were destroyed by grasshoppers. During the year, a Cooperative Merchantile Institution was organize with a paid up capital of $500.00 with John Spiers as president. The object of the institution was to enable the people to buy merchandise at a cheaper rate.

Ever since Plain City was settled the gathering of salt from the shores of Salt Lake had been indulged in by the people, but in 1880 they commenced to use salt as flux for the mine, hence the salt beds located two and a half miles west of Plain City were worked to a considerable extent.

Plain City ranks among the first settlements of Weber County for her fine orchards. There were approximately 110 acres of apple, peach, pear and plum trees. The favorite occupation was the cultivation of strawberries; there were about 20 acres of the luscious fruit. Straw- berry harvesting furnished a larger revenue to the settlers than their entire wheat crop, as their only aim was to raise sufficient wheat for family consumption. The potato is also extensively cultivated and furnished handsome returns. Some 50 carloads were shipped direst to places outside the territory. They were paid $.50 per bushel.

A brass band had existed in Plain City since 1865 when it was first organized with Thomas Singleton as leader. The instruments were bought from the Camp Douglas Band. In 1882 a second organization was effected after which the association became one of importance.

And Episcopalian Church was built in 1877, and was used as a school and church. At the time it had about 75 members. The building is still standing and is now owned by the Lion's Club.

In 1884 a committee consisting of the ward bishopric, Abraham Maw, Wm. L. Stuart, Jens P. Folkman and Lyman Skeen was organized for the purpose of building a new meeting house. Steps were taken at once to erect such a building. The dimensions were to be 70' by 34' with and addition on the south 22' by 20' and two stories high. Material was gathered together during 1884. A foundation was laid and walls built to square, after which work was suspended through certain conditions. The building was later finished and was dedicated in 1889.

The dedicatorial prayer was given by Apostle Francis M. Lyman of the Quorum of the Twelve. The pulpit desk was 20 by 32 inches and was inlaid with nearly 1400 pieces of home grown woods, including apple, peach, plum, pear, cherry, maple, box elder and others. The building cost nearly $9,000.00

The people of Plain City have always fostered amusement and entertainment of various kinds. In the early days, they always had a brass band, a choir, dramatic association and a baseball team. Regardless of all the hardships endured by the early settlers, recreation was always enjoyed. Dances were held in the old adobe school house on the south side of the square in winter and in the bowery near it in the summer. They danced on the hard dirt floor at first and many of them in their bare feet. Most of the dances were square dances and at various times music was furnished by bands.

The first Relief Society in Plain City was organized January 3, 1868 with Almira Raymond as president. The first Primary was organized in 1881 with Susannah Robson as president. The first MIA was organized in 1876 with William England as president. Emma Jane Carver Palmer was a member of the original committee which founded the Home Coming Day in 1910 an annual event in Plain City. The Relief Society sisters did an excellent work in helping the destitute and storing grain away for a day of promise. Counselors to Almira Raymond were: Margaret Schoonmaker, Mary Ann Spiers, Matilda Folkman, Secretary Victorine Musgrave, and Treasurer Anna Folkman.