In the early days of Utah’s settlement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged Utahns to develop their land and build industrial infrastructure. One fitting example of this occurred in 1854, when Ezra T. Benson (the great-great grandfather of the later prophet, Ezra Taft Benson) moved to Tooele Valley with orders from Brigham Young to build a gristmill, which would grind raw cereal grains into flour. Such a mill would provide a vital service for the surrounding settlements. Soon, Benson and a few other men gained the rights to the land, water, and timber from Brigham Young and started building the mill by a pond in northern Tooele.  The mill itself was a remarkable piece of resourceful architecture. For example, wooden pegs were used in stabilizing the beams of the building. This allowed the pegs to expand and contract along with the beams as the weather changed, leading to greater stability.  For almost one hundred years, from 1854 until the 1940s, the mill processed many tons of corn and wheat for the communities of Tooele Valley. For instance, in 1860 alone, the mill processed about $17,000 worth of grains. That same year, the mill’s rights were transferred to Brigham Young, after Benson moved to Cache Valley. This transfer of ownership was likely to prevent the mill from being seized by the federal government during the conflict over polygamy.    In 1922, the mill was bought by the future LDS apostle J. Reuben Clark. Under his ownership, the mill was upgraded and the older wooden waterwheel and millstones were replaced by a metal turbine and free standing “grain breakers,” which were more durable and could grind the grain with greater efficiency. In 1938 the mill switched from milling flour to making animal feed. A few years later the mill stopped being used and fell into disrepair.  The building stood abandoned until 1983, when a committee of volunteers recognized the Benson Gristmill as an important historical site to the community of Tooele. In the next few years, the small group got Terracor Corp, a land development firm that then owned the property, to donate the site to Tooele County as a historical monument, allowing them to restore and preserve the mill. The Benson Gristmill is now one of the most intact pioneer-era sites in the state, standing as a reminder of the humble yet powerful origins of Utah’s communities. 

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The Tooele Ordnance Depot was activated in December 1942, occupying 24,732 acres near the city of Tooele, Utah. Originally part of the U.S. Army Depot System Command (DESCOM), its mission was to provide a reserve storage depot which would have the following responsibilities: store vehicles, small arms, and fire control equipment, and to overhaul and modify tanks and tracked vehicles.   The Army chose the desert site near Tooele for four reasons: first, it was situated far enough inland from the West Coast to be defendable from attack by sea or air; second, the sandy loam soil of the area absorbed shocks--a necessary feature in case of accidental detonation or bombing; third, the site was adjacent to the Great Salt Lake Desert where ammunition, artillery pieces and vehicles in storage would be less vulnerable to ruse and corrosion in the dry climate, and finally, the site, which had been formerly used for sheep grazing, was uninhabited and with no existing structures.  Blowing sands and shifting soils were immediately encountered by construction crews, hampering construction efforts and forcing delays and shutdowns. Despite these and other problems, the contract was completed by January 1943. The problem of shifting soils was not alleviated, however, until later that year when Utah State University personnel planted drought resistant grasses to prevent further erosion. The Lanham Housing Project, known as Tooele Ordnance Depot Park, originally included permanent community facilities as well as housing. The quarters for the expanded World War II workforce included such amenities as a shopping center, a post office, and an elementary school. Six community buildings (Buildings 1001-1005) remain, but the housing units were declared excess following World War II and were either sold or demolished in the following years. During WW2, the depot received and shipped a total of 40,946 railroad carloads of  ammunition supplies and salvage items, handling more than 1,625,000 tons of material. In addition, the depot overhauled or salvaged 997 major auto vehicles, 1,347 major artillery pieces, and 896 tanks. In 1949, the depot assumed command of the Deseret Chemical Depot.   During the Korean War, the depot's major emphasis would shift from a storage unit to a manufacturing enterprise devoted to producing, rebuilding, and repairing military equipment. In 1952, TEAD was selected by Ordnance Ammunition Command (OAC) to develop Ammunition Peculiar Equipment (APE) for use in all depots munitions operations.  In 1962, the depot was redesignated the Tooele Army Depot. Since that time the depot has been assigned maintenance mission responsibilities for topographic equipment, troop support items, construction equipment, generators, and various types of tactical wheeled vehicles. In 1964, TEAD assumed command and control of the non-tactical generator rail equipment repair facility located at Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah. It was the sole facility in the country which provided such services.  The establishment of the Ammo Equipment Office (AEO) at Tooele was the result of a careful study involving thorough analysis. AEO was changed to the Ammunition Equipment Directorate (AED) in 1981. This changed the status of the organization on the depot. The AED mission was now recognized as a valuable asset to the Tooele Army Depot and was included in depot planning and programs.  In 1988, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) recommended that TEAD take over the general supply storage mission from Pueblo Depot Activity in Colorado. In 1993, BRAC recommended TEAD eliminate its troop support, maintenance, storage, and distribution missions. Since that decision, the Army completed the transfer of surplus property to the Redevelopment Agency of Tooele City (RDA). On January 19, 1999, the U.S. Army Materiel Command, Chief of Staff, Major General Normal E. Williams, presented a ceremonial deed commemorating the transfer of 1700 acres and 258 buildings to Tooele City.  On September 28, 1999, another mark in Tooele Army Depot history took place. Once again the mission of the Defense Non-Tactical Generator and Rail Center (DGRC), command and control, transferred to another command--U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren, Michigan. In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, the Department of Defense recommended realigning Sierra Army Depot, California, by relocating Storage to Tooele Army Depot. Capacity and capability for storage existed at  numerous munitions sites. To reduce redundancy and remove excess from the Industrial Base, the realignment would allow the Department of Defense to create centers of excellence and remove inefficiencies.  On March 1, 2010, TEAD was designated as a Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for Ammunition Peculiar Equipment by the Secretary of the Army. During a special U.S. Army ceremony, Deseret Chemical Depot was formally closed July 11, 2014. U.S. Army officials called it a transfer of property, taking Deseret Chemical Depot's 19,000-plus acres and transferring them to Tooele Army Depot. The depot is currently the Department of Defense’s western region conventional ammunition hub for the storage, receipt, issue, maintenance, and demilitarization. It is also the center for the design, manufacture, fielding and maintenance of all Ammunition Peculiar Equipment (APE). The workforce at the post is now primarily composed of civilians. A full colonel serves as the commander. As of June 2018, Colonel Todd W. Burnley is the depot commander.

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“Gathering” was an important concept in early Mormon theology. Converts to the church were encouraged to make their way to Utah so they could gather with the saints and participate in ordinances that were only available in the temples in Utah. Though missionaries had first arrived in Hawai'i in 1850, Hawaiian converts were barred by strict emigration laws from emigrating to America until the 1880s. Once Hawaii relaxed their emigration laws, Hawaiian converts began to migrate to Salt Lake City. However, because of a lack of employment opportunities for the Hawaiians, cultural differences, and a growing fear in Salt Lake City of leprosy being brought over from Hawaii, it soon became apparent that the Hawaiians would need a separate settlement. In 1889 the church bought the ranch of John T. Rich in Tooele County’s Skull Valley to use as the site for the Hawaiian settlement. On August 28, fifty-two Hawaiians arrived at their new home in Skull Valley. The settlement was named Iosepa after Joseph F. Smith, a member of the church’s first presidency who had been a missionary in Hawaii.

To get around the provision in the Edmunds-Tucker Act that prohibited the Church from owning property valued over $50,000, Iosepa operated as a joint-stock company known as the Iosepa Agricultural and Stock Company, with several white Mormon men as shareholders. Hawaiian settlers began raising livestock and planting crops such as corn and wheat in Iosepa. While living in Iosepa, the residents faced the trials that naturally accompanied settling and farming in the Great Basin such as unexpected weather, crop failure, illness, and having enough water for their crops and daily needs. Despite these difficulties, the Hawaiian settlers managed to create a little Hawai'i in the Utah desert. They raised carp and grew algae as a substitute for seaweed in a nearby reservoir. They used corn husks as a replacement for Hawaiian ti leaves to wrap pork. They spoke Hawaiian and sang Hawaiian hymns in their church meetings. Each year they celebrated their own Pioneer Day on the anniversary of the settlement’s founding with a traditional Hawaiian feast. The Hawaiian converts also helped build the Salt Lake temple and consistently made the journey to Salt Lake City to attend the temple once it was dedicated. While the Tooele desert could not be more different from the tropical island environment of Hawaii, the settlers of Iosepa found ways to adapt to their new surroundings and participate in the religion that was so important to them.

In 1915 the church announced their plans to build a temple in Hawai'i. Joseph F. Smith encouraged the Hawaiian saints in Utah to return to Hawai'i to help with the temple and promised that the church would help pay the settlers’ traveling expenses. This essentially dissolved the community at Iosepa as almost all the settlers between 1915 and 1917 sold their property and possessions back to the Iosepa Agricultural and Stock Company and returned to the island. Though Iosepa only lasted a little over twenty-five years, it stands out in Utah’s history as being the first place in the state to be settled by non-European emigrants. Iosepa continues to be an important place for Pacific Islanders today, who gather in Iosepa each Memorial Day to commemorate Utah’s first Polynesian community.

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