Draper

In the fall of 1849, a man named Ebenezer Brown brought cattle to graze beside South Willow Creek. The next spring he moved his family to the spot. The Native American name for the area was Sivogah, which means willows.

His wife, Phebe Draper Palmer Brown, came from the Draper family. Her brother, William Draper Jr., moved there too with his large family. By the end of the first year, most of the settlers were Drapers. The families farmed, and Ebenezer Brown sold cattle to travelers heading to the California gold fields.

By 1852, 20 families lived along the creek. In 1854 the first post office opened under the name Draperville, to honor William Draper Jr. and the other Drapers. In later years the name was shortened to Draper.

Settlers built a fort in 1855 and 1856 and lived in it through two winters, because they feared trouble with Native American neighbors. The trouble never came, and the fort was never finished. Its old site is now Draper Historical Park, and the street next to it is called Fort Street.

In the 1940s Draper was known as the Egg Basket of Utah. Eggs from the town were sold across the country. The local co-op even supplied eggs to troops in the South Pacific during World War II. Poultry was the most important business in town then. One big farm, run by Bruce D. Washburn, kept over 10,000 chickens in the 1950s.

Draper stayed a small farming community until the late 1990s. Then its population started to grow very fast. The city was incorporated in 1978.

Draper's weather is close to that of other Salt Lake City suburbs. It sits farther from the Great Salt Lake and at varied heights, so winters are a little drier and temperatures swing more. Winter temperatures run from about 30 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and summer ones from about 80 to 100. Snow usually falls on and off from November through March. Storms from the south bring afternoon thunderstorms in July and August.

The Point of the Mountain, at the edge of Draper, has some of the best wind in the country for hang gliding and paragliding. A travel guide says people have been gliding from this spot since the 1920s.

The Draper Amphitheater sits on South Mountain and seats over 2,000 people. It has sound and lighting systems and a view over the Salt Lake Valley, and it hosts touring shows and concerts as well as its own productions. The Draper Historic Theatre was built in 1938 as a movie theater. It is now a non-profit live theater.

Draper Days is a festival held every July. It began in 2001 and brings live music, rodeos, a parade, fireworks, movie nights and vendor booths. In June, free concerts are held on Wednesday evenings in Draper Historic Park, with food trucks on hand.

Families can visit the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, which has marine life from penguins to sharks, or Cowabunga Bay Water Park. The Draper Library is a branch of the Salt Lake County Library. The Draper City Journal is a monthly paper that covers local government, schools and sports.

The Salt Lake County part of Draper is in the Canyons School District. The Utah County part is in the Alpine School District. Canyons was created when voters in the southeast part of the county chose to leave the Jordan School District in 2007. It began operating on July 1, 2009.

Corner Canyon High School opened in 2013 and was the first full high school in Draper. It was paid for with a $250 million bond that voters approved in 2010. It has a 3,300 seat gym and a turf football field. Its teams are the Chargers, and its football team has won six state titles. In 2022, U.S. News ranked it seventh among all Utah high schools, and the six schools ahead of it were public charter schools.

Utah Transit Authority trains serve the city. TRAX light rail has two Blue Line stations in Draper, Draper Town Center and Kimballs Lane. A FrontRunner commuter rail station is also in town. Salt Lake City International Airport is about 30 minutes north.