The region that is now Farmington was settled in 1847 by the Haight family, a
Mormon pioneer family that established a farm and an inn. Five more pioneering families migrated to this region in the autumn of 1849. The region developed into an undefined community originally called North Cottonwood Settlement. In 1852, the territorial legislature picked North Cottonwood as the county seat and officially named it Farmington. Following orders from
Daniel H. Wells and
Brigham Young, Farmington residents built a wall around the city in 1853 under the direction of Major Thomas S. Smith. This walled townsite became known as "the Fort". Early church meetings were held in a log school and then an adobe structure. The county courthouse was used for religious meetings from 1855 to 1863. The city's ward moved back to the schoolhouse, and the first meetinghouse was dedicated in January 1864. By the early 1860s, the town of Farmington stretched for six miles between Centerville and Kaysville. The Children's
Primary Association of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized here on August 11, 1878. It was the birthplace of one of the longest-lived Latter-day Saint apostles,
LeGrand Richards. His maternal great-grandfather, Joseph Lee Robinson, was the first bishop of what was then the North Cottonwood Ward.
Lagoon Amusement Park was founded here in 1886 and occupies of the city. Ezra T. Clark was an early settler of Farmington who later founded the Davis County Bank and built several houses in the area, some of which are located in the Clark Lane Historic District, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. in Farmington ==Geography==