American Fork, Utah, United States

🇺🇸 American Fork is a city in north-central Utah County, Utah, United States, at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range, north from Utah Lake. This city is thirty-two miles south-east from Salt Lake City. It is part of the Provo–Orem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city has grown rapidly since the 1970s.

The area around Utah Lake was used as a seasonal hunting and fishing ground by the Ute Indians. American Fork was settled in 1850 by Mormon pioneers, and incorporated as Lake City in 1852. The first settlers were Arza Adams, followed by Stephen Chipman (grandfather of Stephen L. Chipman, a prominent citizen around the start of the 20th Century), Ira Eldredge, John Eldredge and their families.

The first settlers of American Fork lived in scattered conditions along the American Fork river. By the 1850s, tension between the settlers and Native Americans was increasing. In 1853, Daniel H. Wells, the head of the Nauvoo Legion (the Utah Territorial Militia at the time), instructed settlers to move into specific forts. At a meeting on July 23, 1853, at the schoolhouse in American Fork, Lorenzo Snow and Parley P. Pratt convinced the settlers to follow Wells' directions and all move together into a central fort. A fort was built of 37 acres (150,000 m²) to which the settlers located. Only parts of the wall were built to eight feet high, and none were built to the original plan of twelve feet high.

Transport A FrontRunner Station in American Fork. FrontRunner is the commuter rail line along the Wasatch Front.

In 2012, the FrontRunner commuter rail line began operation in Utah County, opening the American Fork station.