Murray, Salt Lake County, Utah Genealogy

United States > Utah > Salt Lake County > Murray

General Murray History: The area where Murray City is located now started out as a temporary home for several different Native American tribes who camped there during migrations. The Mormon pioneers permanently settled the area, which was originally called South Cottonwood, in 1848. It started out as an agricultural community before transitioning into an industrial and then suburban community. The first smelter was built in Murray in 1870 because of the city's proximity to the railroad. A few of the largest smelters in the region were in Murray around that time. Their first official post office was also established in 1870. The post office was originally named South Cottonwood Post Office, but its name was changed to Murray Post Office in 1883. The post office was named after the civil war general and territorial governor Eli Murray, and Murray City got its name from the post office. In the early twentieth century, Murray was considered to be very successful in terms of business and government cooperation. However, during the Great Depression in the 1930s, Murray's industry experienced great economic loss. The smelting industry that had been a large part of Murray began to vanish around this time. Due to the Murray's central location, the city became a major retail area around the 1950s and remains this way today. Murray's borders have been expanded several times over the past century. As of 2012, its population is 48,263.

Family History Resources
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Cemeteries
Murray Cemetery BillionGraves. All 14,000+ headstones have been photographed and are on this site.

Family History Center

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