Porterville, Utah
Porterville is an unincorporated community in Morgan County, Utah, United States. It sits at the south end of the county, about four miles southwest of the town of Morgan, at the junction of Hardscrabble Canyon and East Canyon.
The settlement began in 1859 when Sanford and Nancy Warriner Porter built the area’s first sawmill because there was plenty of timber. A local woman started teaching school in 1862, and a formal schoolhouse was built in 1867. Western Shoshone people, led by Chief Washakie, hunted and gathered berries in the area for years after settlement began.
The church history in Porterville is notable. The original church house was built in 1898 and dedicated in 1908 by President Joseph F. Smith. The building later became a church by converting the old schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was sold to the ward in 1936, and regular church meetings resumed in 1946 after World War II. Over the years the church changed hands and, in 1970, the Bergman family bought and remodeled it into a home while keeping the exterior intact. It was added to the Utah State Register of Historic Sites in 1971 (a listing now inactive). The steeple was removed, and a 2000 fire left only a shell of the building. The area around Porterville has also appeared in films, including Troll 2 (1989).
The Utah Historical Society has a 1920 photo of the “Porterville Meeting House,” and LeConte Stewart painted “Country Funeral, Porterville” in 1948, which was shown in a 2003–2004 LDS Church History Museum exhibit.
Nearby landmarks include the Mormon Flat Breastworks along Jeremy Ranch Road near the mouth of Little Emigration Canyon. Built in 1857 by Mormons to defend against Johnston’s Army during the Utah War, these rock walls stood about four feet high and included rifle trenches.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:32 (CET).