Business View Magazine | September 2019

296 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019 in Spanish Fork to meet the needs of existing settlers, and in January 1855, Spanish Fork was incorporated as a city. Soon after incorporation, the first Icelandic immigrants emigrated there, establishing the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the United States. By 1860, Spanish Fork’s population, made up of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Scandinavian émigrés had grown to 1,069; in ten years, the population had reached 1,450. The first commercial industry was a saw mill which began operation in 1858. One year later, the first flour mill opened its doors for business. Today, Spanish Fork has a population of approximately 45,000, up from 20,000 at the turn of the 21st century, and is still open for business. “We are a growing community,” says Community and Economic Department Director, Dave Anderson. “And Spanish Fork is not just a bedroom community,” he adds. “There are thousands of jobs here; a good number of those involve very specialized, advanced types of manufacturing. We have manufacturers in the community that are suppliers to companies such as General Dynamics, Raytheon, Boeing, and Airbus, using composites and very advanced machining technology. Also, Utah County, where we’re located, is becoming something of a tech center - Silicon Slopes is the moniker that’s been associated with a lot of the recent development in the tech industry here, and, certainly, a good share of the growth that we enjoy is a result of very strong job growth that’s happened throughout our particular part of the world.” “In addition to strong residential growth that we’ve seen over the years, we’ve seen considerable growth with new retail development in the community,” Anderson continues. “Costco built here several years ago and Wal-Mart built a Supercenter a few years ago. That was followed by a neighborhood Wal-Mart, and Lowes is currently under construction and will be open in November. That really has changed the community - our residents no longer need to leave Spanish Fork to shop and to do the other day-to-day things that we do. “The most significant project that’s happened www.AtlasEngineering.net 801-655-0566 946 East 800 North Suite A, Spanish Fork, UT 84660 Civil Engineers & Land Development Specialist