Clearfield, Utah
city in Davis County, Utah, United States
Clearfield is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. The population was 31,909 at the 2020 census. The city grew rapidly during the 1940s, with the formation of Hill Air Force Base, and in the 1950s with the nationwide increase in suburb and "bedroom" community populations and has been steadily growing since then.
Clearfield is a principal city of the Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan area, which includes all of Davis, Morgan, and Weber counties.
History
Clearfield was settled in 1877 by Richard and Emily Hamblin and was originally called Sand Ridge. In 1869, the Utah Central Railroad was built through the area that would latter become the settlement.
There was no water for those early families until wells could be successfully dug. The only water available at first had to be hauled in large barrels from Kays Creek in East Layton. But the great event that did more to transform the bleak Sand Ridge into a fertile garden spot was the coming of the Davis and Weber Counties Canal in 1884. This caused an immediate population boom in the area as people plowed up the sagebrush and cactus, and homes and farms began to appear throughout the area.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Clearfield, Utah” as city in Davis County, Utah, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Davis County, Utah, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q483715. VIAF identifies the subject as 152471942. The Library of Congress control number is n82157702. Authority coordinates are 41.106, -112.024. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1877, 1869 and 1884.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Clearfield, Utah”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Clearfield, Utah primary sources, Clearfield, Utah archive and Clearfield research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Clearfield, Utah”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Clearfield, Utah” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.