Town file
Payson, Utah
Payson, Utah (Utah County, Utah) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 617, "Murder Mystery Gone Wild" (31 July 2025). Dr. K. Sherman Mortenson was born on 6 July 1939 in Ephraim, Utah, the oldest of five children, and grew up on a farm raising sheep with his father.
- Town
- Payson
- County
- Utah County
- State
- Utah
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 617
- Approximate location
- 40.036, -111.739
Episode 617 / 31 July 2025 / 176 min / full
Murder Mystery Gone Wild
"This is Payson, Utah ... this is in Utah County, north central Utah, about 20 minutes to Provo" about 0:05:09
The case: Murder of K. Sherman Mortenson (November 16, 2009). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2025
- Population
- 21,093
- Median age
- 26.7
- Median household income
- $75,682
- Median home value
- $425,000
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,130
- Cost of living
- 117
- Religious
- 95.7%
- Property crime
- right about average
- Violent crime
- ▼ less than half
History, in brief
- Mormons were the first to settle the area; Edward Pace Jr. was the first settler, arriving in 1850 with his family and the families of two others, 16 people in all, at Peteetneet Creek. about 0:06:23
- The settlement was originally named Peteetneet Creek after Chief Peteetneet. about 0:06:57
- In January 1853 territorial governor Brigham Young submitted a bill to the second Utah Territorial Legislature to incorporate Payson as a city, and the act passed. about 0:07:09
- Payson had an opera house in 1883. about 0:07:29
- In the late 1800s a factory making horse collars operated in Payson. about 0:08:08
- The Strawberry Valley reclamation project was completed in 1912 and the Utah Idaho Sugar Company placed a sugar beet processing factory in the area. about 0:08:16
- In 1897 the beet leafhopper ate the sugar beets and destroyed the crop, so farmers reduced sugar beets and planted other crops; the site is now a fertiliser factory. about 0:08:30
- The onion celebration was first held in 1929 as an opportunity for residents and former residents to renew friendships, originally called the onion harvest and homecoming, honouring Payson's status as an agricultural district and outstanding producer of onions. about 0:17:24
- The event was renamed Payson City Golden Onion Days and is held every year on Labor Day weekend. about 0:17:51
The reviews read out
5 stars
"I have lived in and near Payson my whole life and it is my home; the people are fun and the surrounding areas make it a great place to raise a family and be with friends."about 0:08:57
3 stars
"The city struggles to keep up on street repair, there are not enough traffic lights for the number of people, businesses struggle to stay and the planning is poor."about 0:09:15
2 stars
"The attitude around the city is that it has been a crappy little town forever and there is no reason to get better at anything."about 0:10:00
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Eureka, Utah21 miles
- Pleasant Grove, Utah23 miles
- American Fork, Utah24 miles
- Holladay, Utah43 miles
- South Salt Lake, Utah47 miles
- Oakley, Utah54 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.