The Center Creek Hydroelectric Power Plant at 190 West 200 South in Parowan was part of the development of hydroelectric power in a community originally called Center Creek, which was settled in 1851 because of its plentiful fuel, water, good agricultural soil, and rich iron ore deposits. Between 1900 and 1940, one of Parowan's most important political, social, and agricultural changes was the movement of farmers from town residences to their farming acreage under homesteading laws that required families to live on active farming property, helping shift agriculture from self-sufficient truck farming to commercial farming and prompting large-scale water projects. Telephone lines reached Parowan in 1903, electricity arrived in 1907, and the first nearby power plant was built in 1906 at the mouth of Parowan Canyon. In 1925, Parowan City built the Center Creek penstock, or aqueduct, to use Center Creek water to generate electricity for city residents. The small power plant at the mouth of Parowan Canyon was moved into town in 1952 and rebuilt at the corner of 200 West and 200 South, where it still stands. Photographs from 1975 show that the original brick building looked much the same as the current structure, while photographs from 1975 and 1983 show the substation enclosure that stood on the north side of the plant; only concrete platforms and a small wood tower remain in the fenced enclosure that once contained towers, transformers, and insulators. The penstock has remained in use since the mid-1920s, though parts were replaced over time, with the original wire-wrapped wood pipe later replaced by steel pipe of varying diameters along the route from the diversion dam in Parowan Canyon to the plant in town. From November 2014 to August 2015, the Center Creek Hydroelectric Plant and Penstock underwent a major upgrade and replacement project in which nearly the entire penstock was replaced with new HDPE and ductile iron pipe following the same general alignment as the original until the mouth of Parowan Canyon, then continuing along SR-143 to 300 South and following 300 South to 200 West. The new penstock was buried, unlike the mostly above-ground original, and all power-generating equipment in the plant was replaced with a modern Pelton Wheel Turbine-Generator system. The building exterior remained much the same except for a new roof, windows, and doors, the interior was renovated for the new systems, and the new Center Creek Hydroelectric Plant was commissioned in September 2015.