} Corinne ( ) is a city in Box Elder County,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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. The population was 809 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 figure of 685.

History

For almost ten years from its founding on 25 March 1869, the town of Corinne prospered as the unofficial " Gentile Capital of Utah". As the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads approached their historic meeting place at Promontory Summit early in 1869, a group of former Union Army officers and some determined non-Mormon merchants from

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

decided to locate a Gentile town on the Union Pacific line, believing that the town could compete economically and politically with the Saints of Utah. They chose a location about six miles west of Brigham City on the west bank of the Bear River where the railroad crossed that stream. Named by one of the founders ( General J. A. Williamson) for his fourteen-year-old daughter, Corinne was designed to be the freight-transfer point for the shipment of goods and supplies to the mining towns of western

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along the Montana Trail. Corinne differed from most pioneer communities in Utah because it was settled by people of different religions and even those who professed no religious affiliation. In its heyday, Corinne had some 1,000 permanent residents, not one of whom was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, according to the boast of the local newspaper. As an end-of-the-trail town, Corinne reflected a very different atmosphere and culture from the staid and quiet Mormon settlements of Utah, containing not only supply houses but also fifteen saloons and sixteen liquor stores, with an elected town marshal to keep order in this " Dodge City" of Utah. The permanent residents of Corinne did their best to promote a sense of community pride and peaceful cultural pursuits but had a raucous and independent clientele of freighters and stagecoach drivers to control. With some support from political leaders in the nation's capital and eastern newspapers, the town fathers attempted to use their position as a Gentile city to break the political and economic monopoly held by the Mormons in Utah Territory. They sought to have J. A. Williamson named territorial governor, tried to have the northern one degree of latitude of Utah added to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

to dismember the territory, and attempted to have Corinne named as the capital of Utah. The citizens of Corinne failed in each case to achieve their wishes, although their leaders and newspapers bombarded Washington, D.C., for help in their fight with Brigham Young and the Mormon hierarchy. The first meeting in Corinne in 1872, Corinne Lodge No.5, was chartered as first Utah

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north of Salt Lake City on 11 November 1873 by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Utah. Edmond P. Johnson, the first Master of the Lodge and a past jurisdictional judge in Box Elder County, along with many other prominent Masons of the day, are buried in the Corinne City Cemetery. Brigham Young assured the demise of Corinne when he and the Mormon people built the narrow-gauge Utah Northern Railroad from Ogden to Franklin, Idaho. Although construction of the line beyond that point ceased for four years as a result of the Panic of 1873, in the autumn of 1877, the Union Pacific bought the spur line and began pushing it northward through

. The tracks reached Marsh Valley and cut the Montana Trail at that place, thereby supplanting wagon traffic from Corinne with rail transport from Ogden. The Gentile merchants soon abandoned Corinne in favor of Ogden or the terminus of the rail line, while Mormon farmers moved in to buy the land around Corinne and make it into another Mormon settlement. In 1877 an LDS ward was organized but was dissolved when the town suffered a decline in population. As farmers again settled the region, a Corinne Ward was again organized; during the interim, it was part of the Bear River Ward. A meetinghouse was built in 1914, and the Corinne Ward was reorganized that year with Alma Jensen as

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

.Jenson, Andrew. ''Encyclopediac History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1941) p. 159

Geography

Corinne is located in southeastern Box Elder County, on the west side of the Bear River. It is the last town on the river before it enters the marsh complexes leading to the Great Salt Lake. Brigham City is to the southeast, and Bear River City is to the north. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.53%, is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 621 people, 190 households, and 159 families residing in the city. The population density was 173.4 people per square mile (67.0/km²). There were 208 housing units at an average density of 58.1 per square mile (22.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 89.86%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.48% Native American, 2.42% Asian, 0.32%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 5.96% from other races, and 0.97% from two or more races.

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or Latino of any race were 8.21% of the population. There were 190 households, of which 46.3% had children under 18 living with them, 72.6% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.3% were non-families. 15.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.27, and the average family size was 3.64. The 2000 population distribution was 34.3% under 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% of 65 or more years of age. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.6 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 104.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $42,125, and the median income for a family was $45,208. Males had a median income of $32,344 versus $19,205 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $16,053. About 6.2% of families and 8.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those aged 65 or over.

Schools

For several years an elementary school operated in Corinne, but it was closed, and its students merged with Century Elementary School in Bear River City.

References

External links