Sugar City is a city in Madison County,

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), ...

, United States. The population was 1,715 at the 2020 census, up from 1,514 in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. It is part of the Rexburg Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Sugar City was a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

for the Fremont County Sugar Company, which was part of the

Utah-Idaho Sugar Company The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company was a large sugar beet processing company based in Utah. It was owned and controlled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its leaders. It was notable for developing a valuable cash crop ...

, supporting a

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

processing factory built in 1903–1904. Since it was created to support the factory, construction workers and early factory families were housed in tents, leading to the nickname "Rag Town". By 1904, the town consisted of 35 houses, two stores, a hotel, an opera house, several boarding houses, two lumber yards, a meat market, and a schoolhouse. The first

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

ward was the Sugar City Ward, with

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 ...

Mark Austin. One of his counselors was James Malone, a construction engineer for E. H. Dyer, who was not a Mormon. In early years the factory had a labor shortage, leading to a local community of ''Nikkei''—

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese migrants and their descendants. The city was flooded by the waters of the

Teton Dam The Teton Dam was an earthen dam in the western United States, on the Teton River in eastern Idaho. It was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, one of eight federal agencies authorized to construct dams.Perrow, Charles. '' Normal Accide ...

collapse on June 5, 1976.

Geography

Sugar City is located in northern Madison County. U.S. Route 20 runs along the western edge of the city, leading southwest to Rexburg and northeast to St. Anthony. Idaho State Highway 33 runs through the center of Sugar City, leading southwest to the center of Rexburg and east the same distance to Teton. 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 , or 0.50%, are water.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

there are 2,616 people, 419 households, and 373 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 434 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 91.3%

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 ...

, 0.1%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 6.7% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 10.9% of the population. There were 419 households, of which 52.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 11.0% were non-families. 10.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.61 and the average family size was 3.87. The median age in the city was 24.8 years. 39.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22% were from 25 to 44; 18.7% were from 45 to 64; and 9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,242 people, 326 households, and 292 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 336 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.83%

, 0.16%

, 0.16% Native American, 0.81% Asian, 4.51% from other races, and 1.53% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 8.29% of the population. There were 326 households, out of which 57.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 80.7% were

living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 10.4% were non-families. 8.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.81 and the average family size was 4.08. In the city, the population was spread out, with 40.6% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 6.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $45,500, and the median income for a family was $46,333. Males had a median income of $30,139 versus $22,917 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 $12,737. About 6.1% of families and 7.8% 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 10.5% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Sugar-Salem High School is a small

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in the town of Sugar City and is part of the Sugar-Salem School District. The district takes in students from the surrounding area, from the community referred to locally as Plano on the west to beyond the town of Newdale on the east. On the north it borders Fremont County, following the Henry's fork of the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...

, and on the south it borders with Madison School District and the city of Rexburg.

Notable people

* Harold G. Hillam, Emeritus General Authority of the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded during ...

* Thomas C. Neibaur, first Mormon

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient and first born in Idaho * Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Pulitzer-prize winning author of ''A Midwife's Tale''

References

External links

*
Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Cities in Madison County, Idaho Cities in Idaho Rexburg, Idaho micropolitan area Company towns in Idaho Populated places established in 1903 1903 establishments in Idaho