Settled in 1872 by Spanish pioneers from New Mexico, the town of St. Johns began as a farming and sheep-raising community far removed from the county seat and territorial capital of Prescott. Soon after, the Mormon Church, represented by Bishop David King Udall, purchased 1,200 acres for Mormon colonizers to settle. With the building of the Lyman Dam, the town was finally able to provide adequate water for crops and began to thrive. The building of a power plant in the 1970s doubled the population of St. Johns, but many of the original settlers' descendants are still there as well, canning...
Settled in 1872 by Spanish pioneers from New Mexico, the town of St. Johns began as a farming and sheep-raising community far removed from the county ...