St. George

St. George or Saint George^[2] is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Utah and the largest outside the Wasatch Front with a population of 95,342 at the 2020 census,^[3] while the St. George metropolitan statistical area has an estimated 208,000 residents. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it lies in the northeasternmost part of the Mojave Desert immediately south of the Pine Valley Mountains, which mark the southern boundary of the Great Basin. St. George lies slightly northwest of the Colorado Plateau, which ends at the Hurricane Fault.^[6]

St. George 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. 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, located in St. George, is an NCAA Division I institution. The city is 118 miles (190 km) northeast of Las Vegas and 300 miles (480 km) south-southwest of Salt Lake City on Interstate 15.

St. George was founded as part of the cotton mission^[7] in 1861 under the direction of Latter Day Saint apostle Erastus Snow. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Brigham Young accelerated the colonization effort:

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 300 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 was the church's third temple and is the oldest still in active use.^[10]

The 1992 St. George earthquake destroyed three houses, as well as above- and below-ground utilities, causing about US$1 million in damage.^[11][12]

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 River and Santa Clara River. One person was killed and 28 homes were destroyed by the Santa Clara River.^[13][14]

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.^[15][16]

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, 91 had come down with cancer, and 50 had died from it.^[17] Of these, 46 had died of cancer by 1980. Among the cancer deaths were John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, and Susan Hayward, the stars of the film.^[17] However, the lifetime odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43% and the odds of dying of cancer are 23% (38 and 19%, respectively, for men and women).^[18] This places the cancer mortality rate for the 220 primary cast and crew quite near the expected average.^[19]

A 1962 United States Atomic Energy Commission report found children living in St. George at the time of the fallout may have received doses to their thyroids of radioiodine as high as 120 to 440 rads" (1.2 to 4.4 Gy).^[20]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 77.151 square miles (199.82 km²), of which 0.003 square miles (0.0078 km²) (0.72% or about 2 ac) is covered by water.^[1] St. George lies in a desert valley, with most of the city lying below 3,000 feet (900 m) in elevation. 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, the Santa Clara River and the seasonal Fort Pearce Wash flow through the St. George valley and converge near the western base of Webb Hill near the city center.

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".^[21]

Some neighborhoods are large housing developments created during the city's rapid modern expansion; others carry the names of geographical features or unincorporated communities that have been annexed by St. George.

• Atkinville (annexed)
• Bloomington (annexed)
• Bloomington Hills
• Bloomington Ranches
• Desert Color
• Desert Hills / Hidden Valley
• Dixie Downs
• Downtown
• Entrada
• Foremaster
• Green Valley
• Price City (formerly Heberville, annexed)
• The Ledges (golf neighborhood)
• Little Valley
• Middleton (annexed, includes Cottonwood)
• Red Cliffs
• Sand Town
• Snow Canyon
• Southgate
• Stone Cliff
• Sunbrook
• Sunriver
• Tonaquint (annexed)