Face on American Fork history — Author details city's growing years

AMERICAN FORK — Despite a number of physical challenges, including being legally blind, Betty Spencer has persevered and written a book that puts a face on American Fork's history.

"American Fork City: The Growing Years" is a book you can peruse at will, skip around in for fun or seriously study, especially if you live in or have ever lived in the area.

A longtime reporter for newspapers and magazines, including the American Fork Citizen, which her grandfather once owned, she covers virtually every aspect of American Fork life during the decades of growth from the stock market crash in 1929 to the current Meadows development. (A detailed history of the origins was printed in 1945.)

Want to know how your forebears survived the Great Depression? It's in there. Or how World War II affected local residents? That's in there, too.

Spencer remembers as an 18-year-old going to City Hall to get ration stamps during World War II.

Politics, transportation, business, entertainment, cultural events, religion — the things that make up an American small town — are reported.

Amply illustrated with historic photographs, many of which she took, the book is a trek down memory lane for old-timers and fascinating history for newcomers. (Another 400 photos that wouldn't fit in the 370-page book are included on a companion compact disc.)

Money Magazine included American Fork in its 1985 list of the top 100 places to live in the United States, and Spencer's book tells how the city came to claim that honor.

Most towns don't have a canyon attached, but American Fork does, so Spencer included a chapter about American Fork Canyon, with detail about Timpanogos Cave.

She says the purchase of water wells by former Mayor B. Kay Hutchings was one of the most important contributions made by mayoral administrations.

"Now we had water for The Meadows," she said of the new and wildly successful shopping center next to I-15.

David L. Greenwood brought in the city's first modern hospital and the National Guard armory. He saw to it that a new water system and "lots of roads" were built.

Various administrations worked to preserve American Fork's natural beauty, including an impact fee on new construction that paid for parks.