Porterville was first settled by
Centerville residents Sanford and Nancy Warriner Porter in 1859. The area had abundant timber, so they built a
sawmill, the first in Morgan County. A town resident began teaching school out of her home in 1862, until a schoolhouse was built in 1867.
Western Shoshone, led by
Chief Washakie, continued to hunt in the area and gather berries for several years after settlement began. In 1971, it was added to the Utah State Register of Historic Sites, which is now inactive. In the conversion to a private home, the steeple tower that was wood-framed with Gothic-arched frames on each side was removed. After being seen in
Troll 2, filmed in the area in 1989, a fire in 2000 destroyed all but a shell of the original building.
The Crawlers was also filmed in the area. The Utah State Historical Society Classified Photo Collection contains a photograph of the "Porterville Meeting House" taken in 1920. Also, there is a
LeConte Stewart painting of the church from 1948 titled "Country Funeral, Porterville" that was featured in an
LDS Church History Museum exhibit called Landscape & Life: The Rural Setting of Latter-day Saints from 24 October 2003 to 18 April 2004. ==Mormon Flat Breastworks==