Leeds, UT

Leeds is a Washington County town in a southwestern Utah valley, set between the Pine Valley Mountains and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The 2020 census counted 864 residents. Interstate 15 runs along the town, putting Leeds on the road between St. George and the parks and red-rock country farther north. The old Main Street still carries buildings from the 1800s, so the town's history is visible before you even get to the surrounding desert.

Leeds began as a move. Flooding in nearby Harrisburg pushed families north into Road Valley, where they dug irrigation ditches and organized a new town in 1867. It was first called Bennington, then renamed Leeds in 1869 after the English city where the local bishop had served as a missionary. Grapes, sorghum, cattle, and support work for Silver Reef all shaped the early economy. The mountains are never far from the town. Leeds still has that three-part feel: old farm town, I-15 stop, and gateway to the red-rock landscape around Washington County.