Palmyra, UT

Palmyra began on the Spanish Fork River in 1852, seven miles south of Provo, and the settlement briefly held city status under Utah's territorial legislature. Most of those first settlers moved to Spanish Fork a few years later, but the name stayed on the map. Present-day Palmyra is a farming community on the northwest side of Spanish Fork, with Utah Valley's Wasatch skyline close to the east and the river threading the low ground. The old townsite's story is tied to water, irrigation, and the movement of early households toward a more defensible settlement. Palmyra is small now, but its name preserves one of the first chapters of the Spanish Fork area.