South Jordan

The first known people here were nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Desert Archaic Culture. From around 400 to 1350 AD the Fremont people lived in villages and grew corn and squash. When European settlers came, there were no permanent Native American towns in the valley.

In 1859 a blacksmith named Alexander Beckstead moved his family to the west bank of the Jordan River and became the first settler of South Jordan. They lived in a dugout cut into the bluffs. Beckstead and others dug a 2.5 mile ditch to bring river water to their fields. The Beckstead Ditch is still used today to water city parks and the Mulligan's golf course.

In 1863 the South Jordan Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was set up with just nine families. It was named for its place south of West Jordan, and the town took the same name. A school of adobe was built in 1864 and also served as the meetinghouse. A bigger building went up in 1873. People called it the Mud Temple, and it was used until 1908.

Two canals changed where people lived. The South Jordan Canal was finished in 1876 and carried water up above the bluffs, so most families moved up onto the flats. The Utah and Salt Lake Canal followed in 1881. With more water, more land could be farmed, and the population grew.

In the late 1890s farmers began growing alfalfa hay, which replaced the tougher native grasses as feed for livestock. Around 1910 sugar beets arrived. Farmers liked them because they could be sold for cash at a sugar factory in West Jordan.

On January 14, 1914, the town held a big party for the arrival of electric power, a water tank and a new park. By the 1930s the town needed another water tank. The only way to get a federal grant was to become a city, so voters chose to incorporate on November 8, 1935. A Town Board ran parks, water and the cemetery. In 1978 the city switched to a mayor and council form of government and took over police, fire, roads and building inspections from the county.

Farmland shrank fast. Salt Lake County had 489,000 acres of farms in 1950, and only 108,000 acres by 1992. South Jordan went from a farming town to a bedroom community for Salt Lake City.

Daybreak is a planned community that Kennecott Land began building in 2004 on the western half of the city. It covers 4,200 acres and will have more than 20,000 homes, along with shops and offices. In 2022 the last 1,300 acres of undeveloped land were sold to the Larry H. Miller Group. In 2025 that company opened an urban center called Downtown Daybreak, anchored by the Salt Lake Bees ballpark, which hosted its first game on April 8, 2025.

Oquirrh Lake is the heart of the neighborhood. The 67 acre lake sits inside 137 acres of park and wetlands. People fish, sail, kayak and canoe on it, and it is stocked with trout, bigmouth bass, channel catfish and bluegill.

Daybreak also has 22 miles of trails, 37 parks and five swimming pools. The lake, parks and pools belong to the neighborhood's homeowners association and are for residents only.

The city runs 35 parks and playgrounds, with fields for baseball, softball, football, soccer, lacrosse and more, plus courts for volleyball, pickleball and tennis and a place to skateboard. It also owns an aquatic and fitness center, a community center with senior programs, and three fishing ponds. Utah wildlife officials stock them with rainbow trout and catfish. Mulligan's has two miniature golf courses and two nine-hole executive courses.

Salt Lake County runs two big regional parks inside the city. The 120 acre Equestrian Park has a horse racing track, a polo and dressage field, indoor arenas and stables, and the Salt Lake County Fair is held there every August. The 65 acre Bingham Creek Regional Park has sports fields, a large playground, a disc golf course and trails along the creek. Glenmoor Golf course is privately owned but open to the public.

South Jordan was the first city in the world with two temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Jordan River Utah Temple was finished in 1981. The Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple was finished in 2009 on a bluff at the edge of Daybreak. Its stone spire is 193 feet high. Provo now shares the two-temple distinction. The city also has the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple, which was completed in May 2003.

Nearly 590,000 people toured the Oquirrh Mountain temple during its public open house, which ran from June 1 to August 1, 2009. It was dedicated on August 21, 2009. The name Oquirrh is said to come from the Goshute people and to mean shining mountains.

South Jordan is in the Jordan School District. Bingham High School and Herriman High School serve its students, along with eight elementary schools and three middle schools. Roseman University of Health Sciences, a private university, is in the city.

Interstate 15 runs along the east edge of the city, with interchanges at 10600 South and 11400 South. Bangerter Highway crosses the middle. TRAX light rail has three stops in Daybreak, and a FrontRunner commuter rail station sits at the eastern edge at 10200 South.