History

In 1860, the first European American settlers came to the location that is currently Rockport Reservoir and Rockport State Park. They settled in the area, and called their settlement Crandall. The deep snow in the area and the cold weather were hard on the pioneers, but they decided to stay. A year after arriving, they renamed the settlement Enoch City.

In 1866, during the Black Hawk War, the fear of Indians drove the settlers away from Enoch City and they fled to Wanship, another settlement nearby. A year later, they went back to Enoch City and built a wall 2’ thick and 8’ high to protect the city from Indian attacks. Once it was built, the settlement was renamed to Rock Fort. When the war had ended, the wall was torn down and its material was used to build other structures. The settlement adopted the name Rockport.

The town of Rockport’s population stayed around 100-200 people over the years, however, in the 1940s the population started to decline. In the 1950s, while 27 families were still living in area, the government decided to build the Wanship Dam. In 1952 the federal government bought all of the land in the area, which is now Rockport Reservoir.

Between 1954 and 1957, the Bureau of Reclamation built the Wanship Dam, which is 156 feet tall and 2,010 feet wide at the crest. The valley where the town of Rockport once lay was then flooded and Rockport Reservoir was created. The total capacity of the lake is 62,100 acre-feet and the surface area is 1,080 acres.

Before the area was flooded, some of the buildings were removed so that they could be preserved for history. Those buildings are currently located at the Pioneer Village inside the Lagoon Amusement Park. You can see the Rockport Coop, which was organized by farmers in the area and operated until 1930; and the Rockport School House, which was built in 1870.

The Bureau of Reclamation owns the area surrounding the reservoir. However, the management responsibilities were contracted with Utah State Parks, and in 1966 Rockport State Park was opened to the public.