Liberty

The people who settled Liberty were called to do so by LDS Church authorities in 1864. Evan S. and Margaret Morgan and the Levi Hammond Family hastened to make a shelter in the mountain side in which to spend the first winter. The following summer, others followed: Solomon Hale, Amos Wright, and William A., John, and James Hymas. Hale had explored this country in 1856.

Other settlers who came were John Martin, David M King, George Hards, Henry Hancock, Daddie and Grannie Miles, John Roberts, James Poulsen, John Bunn, Charles H. Brown, John Prescott, Joseph Derricott, and Samuel Matthews.

In 1866 Edwin N. Austin diverted irrigation water from Mill Creek. A town site was surveyed consisting of 36 plots of one and one-fourth acres each. As others arrived, they were given squatters rights to the remaining portions.

Levi Hammond was the first presiding elder of the area. Two years later, when Hammond moved back to Cache Valley, Ed Austin took his place until 1877, when a ward was organized. Austin was then called to be the first bishop of the Liberty Ward; he served for 44 years.

In 1880 Joseph Wixom moved to the mouth of Emigration Canyon to help weary travelers as they entered the valley. As the outlying areas gradually populated, each was named East Liberty, North Liberty, and South Liberty. Soon after, the areas took on the names of Liberty, Lanark, and Sharon.

In 1890, Charles Brown bought 11 Holstein cows from Holland, the first purebred registered Holsteins imported west of the Mississippi. The early community was one of the first in the valley to practice a cooperative system of living. They had cooperative herds, dairies, and a tannery, and their construction was done together.

Orson Merrill was the first schoolteacher. The school was a one room log house, located just east of the present church house. He began with five students. He took his room and board at different homes and received a variety of goods for his pay. A second school building replaced the first one in 1868. It had two rooms and was located next to the first building which then served as a home for the teacher. In 1915, the building was torn down.

In 1895 a brick and stone church was built at the cost of $10,000. It was dedicated September. 19, 1909, and was used until September of 1959 when the present church was built, at a cost of $159,000. It was also dedicated on September 19 (1959).

"Aunt" Mary Hymas was the traveling midwife for the area.

In the 1930s, the community held what they called the Liberty Black and White Days at what is now the Liberty Park. At that time, there were barns and stables, along with a rodeo arena and grandstands on the property. Farmers trailed their stock from all over the valley to be shown at the event. Cash and other prizes were awarded to the winners. Spectators and supporters came from all over over the tri-state area. Newspaper articles of the time said the event was bigger than that of the Boise State Fair.

Resources:

1. History of Bear Lake Pioneers, p.39, 40
2. J. Patrick Wilde Tidbits of Time, Vol. 1 pg. 30-31
3. DUP History of BL Pioneers, p. 890
4. Paris Post and Montpelier Examiner newspaper articles