Draper, UT

Draper occupies the Point of the Mountain, where the south end of Salt Lake Valley meets the north end of Utah Valley. Interstate 15 and rail transit run through the lower western side, while development climbs toward Corner Canyon and the Wasatch foothills in the east. FrontRunner commuter rail and TRAX light rail both serve the lower city. Offices and businesses cluster along the same transportation route. Draper's 2024 general plan describes most local jobs as office or professional work, concentrated especially around Interstate 15 and 12300 South, with retail and industrial work also present. Businesses operating there in 2026 include 1-800 Contacts, Pluralsight, eBay, and Edwards Lifesciences. Over several decades, farms and open land gave way to metropolitan housing and employment. An earlier Draper industry also served markets far outside Utah.

Arelius Mickelsen organized Draper Poultrymen in 1926, later renamed the Draper Egg Producers Association. At the industry's peak from the 1930s through the 1950s, poultry work employed an estimated one-third of the local workforce. Eggs traveled to customers coast to coast, and the cooperative supplied U.S. troops in the South Pacific during World War II. The industry declined in the late 1950s as California producers gained market share. A feed-processing and farm-supply operation later occupied the cooperative property, preserving an agricultural use in the middle of a city whose economic center had shifted toward offices, technology firms, medical manufacturing, and regional retail. The Utah State Prison created another defining tract on the valley floor. In March 1951, the state transferred 575 inmates from Sugar House to the newly completed Draper prison.

The complex eventually spread across roughly 600 acres and remained in operation until July 2022. Demolition removed nearly all of it, leaving the inmate-built chapel, used since 1961, as the only standing structure. Officials also retained a Johnson Bar mechanical locking system otherwise found at Alcatraz. The land is now The Point, a state-led redevelopment. By July 2026, The Point had broken ground on its first phase of building construction after years of planning and site preparation. Plans call for offices, housing, shops, parks, a central green, and a 1.4-mile River-to-Range trail linking the Jordan River Parkway with Corner Canyon. Those elements are planned or under construction; the former prison site remains unfinished. Many of Draper's established recreation sites and seasonal events sit on the older eastern side and in the foothills above it.

In 2026, the city's trail system spanned over 150 miles across 5,000 acres of open space. Corner Canyon supports hiking, mountain biking, equestrian use, and an annual trail race that crosses the Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge. At the Point of the Mountain's south slope, the county Flight Park provides separate launch areas for hang gliders and paragliders. Draper Historic Park hosts free outdoor concerts in June, and Draper Days spread a rodeo, parade, concerts, films, and other programs across nine July days in 2026. During the same summer that Phase I broke ground at The Point, a rodeo returned to Andy Ballard Arena and concerts returned to the lawn at Historic Park.