Spring City lies in the northern half of Sanpete Valley, about seventeen miles north of Manti, the Sanpete county seat. U. S. 89, the principal route through the valley, bypasses the town one mile to the west. Spring City is tucked beneath the Wasatch Plateau, which rises dramatically on the eastern perimeter of the town. A line of low-lying limestone hills to the south and west effectively cut the town off from the larger valley. Spring City is one of eleven existing settlements located in the upper Sanpete Valley of central Utah. Each of these settlements figures in the overall colonization of the area by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in the years after 1849. Mormon town planning in the Sanpete Valley closely followed an agricultural village system advocated by the LDS church leadership. By this design, dwellings were clustered together in town, which in turn were surrounded by individual farm holdings. Such a village living arrangement strengthened church authority, fostered communitarian activity, and facilitated the defense of the population against Native American attack. Villages were plotted into five-acre blocks, with each family generally receiving a quarter-block allotment. On the town site, the Sanpete farm family erected a dwelling house, a barn, a granary, and other necessary outbuildings. While all eleven communities in the upper Sanpete Valley are products of this system of farm planning, Spring City best represents the original nineteenth and early twentieth century character of the settlements.
The town of Spring City is a National Register Historic District. The historical and architectural significance of Spring City lies in two areas: 1. The town graphically documents the techniques of Mormon town planning in Utah: and 2. Architecture in Spring City is remarkably well preserved with an abundance of religious buildings, homes, and small commercial establishments that predate World War I. In keeping with the religious nature of the town, Spring City is dominated by a large LDS meetinghouse. This elegant stone structure of oolitic limestone was built between 1902-1911, and replaced an earlier building. In the 1970’s, a wing built of the same stone was added to the north end.