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Official Website
The county was created in 1852 and organized in 1856. It was named after the first President of the United States, George Washington. A portion of the Paiute Indian Reservation is in western portion of the county.
The earliest settlement was Fort Harmony in 1852. Santa Clara was established in 1854 as a mission to the natives who lived on the Santa Clara River. Hamblin and Pinto were settled along the Los Angeles - Salt Lake Road in 1856, as was Gunlock in 1857.
Next came the settlements established as colonies to grow cotton, before the beginning of the American Civil War. They were located along the Virgin River, in the warmer climate below the Great Basin, that was called Utah's Dixie. The first were Virgin, and Washington in 1857. Heberville, Pintura and Toquerville followed in 1858, Grafton, Harrisburg and Pine Valley in 1859, Adventure in 1860, Duncans Retreat, Northrop, Shonesburg and St. George in 1861.
Fort Harmony, Adventure, and Northrup were abandoned, and Santa Clara, St. George, Washington, Harrisburg, Heberville, Grafton, and Duncans Retreat were nearly destroyed by the Great Flood of 1862 that followed 44 days of rainfall in January and February 1862. New Harmony, Springdale and Rockville were founded in 1862 by settlers flooded out of Fort Harmony, Adventure, Northrup and other places in the vicinity. Harrisburg was relocated.
Shoal Creek later called Hebron, was a ranching community established in 1862 in the west of the county. Leeds was settled in 1867, and Silver Reef was a mining town begun in 1875 and abandoned by 1891 due to the collapse in silver prices.
Adjacent Counties
Cities, Towns & Communities
Adventure | Apple Valley | Atkinville | Bloomington | Brookside | Central | Dammeron Valley | Duncan's Retreat | Enterprise | Fort Harmony | Grafton | Gunlock | Hamblin | Harrisburg | Hebron | Hildale | Hurricane | Ivins | La Verkin | Leeds | Middleton | Motoqua | New Harmony | Northrop | Pine Valley | Pinto | Pintura | Price City | Rockville | St. George (County Seat) | Santa Clara | Shem | Shivwits | Shunesburg | Silver Reef | Springdale | Tonaquint | Toquerville | Veyo | Virgin | Washington
Cemeteries
Links
National Register of Historic Places
Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area
Dixie National Forest (part)
Red Cliffs National Conservation Area
Zion National Park (part)
Washington County Historical Society
