The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Draper, Utah — an area once known to Native Americans as Sivogah, meaning willows — goes back to 1847, when Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. In that year Joshua Terry and Levi Savage made their camp in South Willow Creek (Draper) as they worked in the canyons and neighboring fields.
In December 1850, Church President Brigham Young assigned Ebenezer Brown to settle South Willow Creek. By 1852, it had grown to a community of 20 families whose livelihood was farming and raising cattle and sheep. These early settlers had some difficulty with swampy conditions but soon constructed a canal system to solve the problem.
The first Latter-day Saint congregation in the area was organized in September 1852, with William Draper Jr. as its local ecclesiastical leader. South Willow Creek was later renamed Draperville or Draper in his honor.
Draper residents were prominent in the early history of the Church in the Salt Lake Valley. Gurnsey Brown was a member of the 1856 team that rescued the Martin and Willie handcart companies after their tragic struggle on the plains of Wyoming during an early winter storm. Dr. John R. Park, another early resident, was a gifted educator and later became the president of the University of Deseret, known today as the University of Utah.
Growth in the Draper community was steady. In 1860 a small building known as “The Vestry” was constructed. It became known as the “Old White Meetinghouse” after a main hall was added in 1863. The building served Draper’s church and public meeting needs for many years.
As the population in the Salt Lake Valley expanded southward, many of Draper’s farmlands were replaced by houses and businesses. The Jordan River Utah Temple was dedicated in 1981, serving tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints in Draper and neighboring communities. On 2 October 2004, the First Presidency — the highest governing body of the Church — announced the construction of a temple in Draper. The groundbreaking ceremony was performed by then Church President Gordon B. Hinckley on 5 August 2006.
Now, more than a century and a half since the first Latter-day Saints settled the area, the Draper Utah Temple stands on a high point overlooking the city, with a dramatic mountain backdrop. Considered a “house of the Lord,” it will serve approximately 60,000 members of the Church in Draper and surrounding communities. It will open to the public on 15 January 2009 and be dedicated on 20–22 March 2009.