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Show "Mother Town" to Honor Colonizers By Beverly O. Taylor. Parowan Correspondent On Wednesday, Jan. 13, Parowan City will celebrate its 114th birthday and for just a few minutes let us as present day citizens, think back to the time and people who gave birth to our community. Parowan has been called the "Mother Town of Southern South-ern Utah;" do you know why? Here the first attempt to colonize southern Utah was made and Parowan became the first community in this area. It was the first town settled midway between northern Utah and southern California Cali-fornia on the original Spanish Trail, and even more important, im-portant, because so many of its early pioneers, having proved their merit in its establishment and their ability to wrest a home from the wilderness, were called to lead in the colonization of other communities in Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming. It was in December of 1850 that a well organized and fully equipped party of 168 men, woman and children left Fort Provo and made their way through the snow and storm to the mouth of Center Creek, arriving there Jan. 13, 1951. In May of that year, when Brigham Young and company com-pany arrived, the people organized their new city, adopting adopt-ing the name Parowan, and were granted a city charter, an hntior shared by only four other communities in the state at that time. At this time Parowan became the county coun-ty scat of Iron County. By the end of the year a saw mill, shingie mill, grist mill and a threshing machine were in operation. A council coun-cil house was built which served as a social center and church and a small school house was dedicated. The first dramatic company organized in the West was organized at Parowan in 1851 and the first cotton came into being at Parowan in 1851 and the first cotton cloth to be manufactured by machinery west of the Mississippi Mis-sissippi was at Parow an. The community was self-sustaining with industries such as a cabinet shop, a tannery, a gun and machine shop, a blacksmith shop, a cotton factory, a wooden tub and bucket shop, a harness and shoe shop, saddle shop, and a pottery factory. These were a few of the accomplishments of the pioneers pio-neers of our community, and today we as citizens should be conscious and proud of the important role they played in the settlement of our country. |