By the 1980s, most of the area now in Millcreek was built out and known by various names, including East Mill Creek, Canyon Rim and Mount Olympus.

[6] Salt Lake County created Millcreek Township in 2002 as an administrative subentity that included the populated CDPs as well as undeveloped Mill Creek Canyon in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest immediately to the east.

The township was created to give residents of the area more local control over planning and prevent annexations by neighboring cities.

Residents considered a number of options for their future, including incorporation, which would make it the county's fifth-largest city.

The area is adjacent to Brickyard Plaza, a shopping center Salt Lake City annexed in 1979 and became surrounded by Millcreek when it incorporated.

The city is organized into four community councils, Canyon Rim, East Mill Creek, Millcreek, and Mount Olympus, roughly corresponding to the former CDPs.