Payson City was founded on Oct. 20, 1850, by Mormon settlers. Near Peteetneet Creek, the first public building was erected as a log cabin used as a school, church, and fort. By 1853, a sawmill and flour mill had been built. In 1860, a nail factory, one of the first west of the Mississippi River, was established, and in 1861 a planing mill, one of the first in Utah Territory, was built. Payson's first public school opened in the spring of 1866.