The Legacy of Orem

Orem Peach Orchard in the early 1900s.

Definition: Legacy - Anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.

Orem has a special legacy. From the earliest records, we know that Orem was once a dry bench-land covered with sagebrush. It has since been home to some of Utah’s best growers and finest fruit-orchards. For 57 years, Orem was home to Geneva Steel and the influx of workers that came seeking employment. Now Orem is one of the fastest growing areas in the nation; Orem lies at the heart of the Rocky Mountain’s Silicon Slopes and has a repertoire for being a friendly place to do business.

Orem claims the title  “Family City USA”—a reasonable claim noting that 48.8% of Orem’s households have children under the age of 18 living with them.

Recently, I’ve had a bad case of Orem pride and a curiosity to learn Orem’s history. As I've searched out the history of Orem, I’ve discovered a wealth of resources, and I want to share some of my findings with you.

So maybe you’ve lived here your whole life, or maybe you just moved here. Either way, we’re lucky because we are the inheritors of the Orem legacy!

Over the next few weeks, we plan to highlight historic places and sites in our community that are unique to Orem in order to give us a feel for who we are and what we can become. 

Stay tuned; there's some good stuff!

Most of our content will be from a pamphlet produced by the Orem Historic Preservation Advisory Commission that gives insight into historical sites from Orem’s past (Pamphlet titled: Orem Historic Homes and Sites of Interest.  Orem, UT: Historic Preservation Advisory Commission, 2009.) Used with permission.