A history of Mantua,
since 1863
Postcards, papers and photographs of Mantua from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Mantua was settled in the mid-19th century when members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were sent by Lorenzo Snow to the valley to grow flax. The first group arrived in Mantua in 1863 (although a sign at the main entry route states "Founded 1864"), and were all émigrés from Denmark led by Hans Jens Jensen. Snow was from Mantua, Ohio, and the town was named after the Ohio community in his honor. Due to Danish pronunciation the town's pronunciation was changed to "man-away" unlike Ohio's ("man-tooway"). Prior to receiving its current name, the community was called Box Elder Valley, Copenhagen, Flaxville, Geneva, Hunsaker Valley, Little Copenhagen, and Little Valley.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Mantua’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewTOP VIEW OF BRIDGE, LOOKING EAST …, 1968: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Mantua
See all 26 →
Mantua, decade by decade
CommonsTOP VIEW OF BRIDGE, LOOKING EAST - Box Elder Creek Arch Bri…1968
CommonsTOP VIEW OF BRIDGE, LOOKING WEST - Box Elder Creek Arch Bri…1968
CommonsVIEW OF KILN, LOOKING EAST - Mantua Lime Kiln, One mile nor…1968
CommonsVIEW OF KILN, LOOKING NORTHEAST - Mantua Lime Kiln, One mil…1968
CommonsVIEW OF KILN, LOOKING NORTHEAST - Mantua Lime Kiln, One mil…1968
CommonsVIEW OF KILN, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - Mantua Lime Kiln, One mil…19681990s
Nothing in Mantua is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Mantua has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Granary of the Relief Society in Brigham City, 3.8 miles away.
Mantua and the nearest listed places
Closest to Mantua
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as TOP VIEW OF BRIDGE, LOOKING EAST - Box Elder Creek Arch Bridge, Spanning former channel of South fork of Box Elder Cree… (1968) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.