[3] Pioneers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by James Edward Pace Jr. first settled what is now Payson, Utah.

Peteetneet is the anglicized approximation of Pah-ti't-ni't, which in the Timpanogos dialect of the Southern Paiute language means "our water place".

[7][8] Chief Peteetneet was the clan leader of a band of Timpanogos Indigenous Americans[9] whose village was on a stretch of the creek about a mile northwest of Payson's present city center.

[10] Five months later, on the morning of March 23, 1851, Brigham Young, having lost confidence in the leadership of James Pace, released him from his calling and reorganized the community under Bishop Benjamin Cross.

And Payson became an incorporated city within a strip of territory two miles wide on either side of Peteetneet Creek, extending from the shore Utah Lake to the top of the mountains to the south.

[16] On April 12, 1853, Payson voters elected a city council composed of aldermen and councilmen, the distinction between the two being uncertain.

The voters also elected as the town's first mayor, David Crockett who had returned to Payson after James Pace's fall from power.

[17][18] On March 6, 1854, the LDS Church organized the Payson Ward as part of the Utah Stake with C. B. Hancock as Bishop and James McClellan and John Fairbanks as counselors.

[19] The Payson Tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated by Wilford Woodruff in 1872.

It closed in 1876 after Brigham Young Academy opened in Provo,[21] and a Presbyterian mission school offering education through grade 12 was established under Rev.

As the disease grew worse, Payson farmers reduced beet acreage and planted other crops.

Beet contracts continued to be signed in the Payson area, and harvests were processed in the Utah-Idaho Sugar factory in Spanish Fork.

[26][27] In 1979, this property located at 10460 South 4400 West in Payson became the present IFA fertilizer storage, blending, packaging and distribution facility.

[citation needed] Payson is the site of the annual Scottish Heritage Festival, held every July.

The popular Mormon film Baptists at Our Barbecue was also shot on Payson's historic Main Street.

A committee headed by Marva Loy Eggett has recently raised funds for the Peteetneet Museum glass elevator.

Payson, like Provo, has a predominantly Latter-day Saint population,[citation needed] but other religious sects and denominations such as Lutherans, Methodists, Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists.

Payson is home to the Onion Days and Salmon Supper events held every August[35] and an annual Scottish Festival.

To pay tribute to Elmer Gale's influential role in the town's agricultural success, the inaugural Onion Days festival was suggested to be held on his birthday, September 2, 1929, though it was eventually moved to Sept 12-14th, 1929.

[39] The celebration became an annual event, marking the town's deep-rooted connection to onion farming and community spirit.