At less than 300 square miles, Davis County is by far the smallest of Utah's 29 counties. However, perhaps no county is more polarized than Davis County - it's the north vs. the south, with Farmington - the county seat - caught in the middle.
A city of approximately 9,000 residents, Farmington, home of Lagoon amusement park, is almost exactly the geographical center of the county and it is also Davis' own "Mason-Dixon line," dividing north Davis and south Davis - two entities cozied together in a small space yet amazingly different in many ways.Some other counties have their own divisions. For example, Salt Lake County has a split personality - of the east-west variety - but that type of "opposing sides of the tracks" economic division is fairly common.
Davis County is a narrow strip of habitable land between Weber and Salt Lake counties, bordered by the Great Salt Lake, which has its easternmost shore in the Farmington-Centerville area, on the west and the Wasatch mountain range on the east. But the population of that narrow strip is one of the two fastest growing in the state with bulging schools and ever-more-crowded residential areas.
Both the north and south ends of the county are experiencing this growth, but the demographics of the two polarities are becoming very different. A higher proportion of the residents of the south end of Davis County are LDS Church members; homes generally sell for more there; and residents are tied more closely - economically and culturally - to Salt Lake County.
In the north end, Hill Air Force Base dominates. The base leads to more diversity in religious preference, a more transient population and one that is more aligned with the Ogden area. Layton City's economic boon is also helping the north end to stand on its own economically, while the Bountiful area is regarded primarily as a bedroom community for Salt Lake City.
In the past, some residents of southern Davis perceived their northern counterparts mostly as undereducated farmers. In contrast, some northerners have traditionally perceived residents of the south as being arrogant. While these perceptions seem to have changed somewhat, it appears that some other physical factors have established divisions in Davis County.
For example, the county is neatly divided by providers of most public services, including: sewer, telephone, electrical power, newspapers and emergency facilities. Pick up the Ogden telephone book and you'll find Farmington but not Centerville. The Salt Lake book contains Farmington but not Kaysville.
About the only three things that the two portions of the county share are the same landfill/burn plant (in northeast Layton), the same water district (Weber Basin) and, of course, the same county government.
Until Bountiful High opened in 1952, all students in Davis County had attended Davis High in Kaysville since 1914. This had helped keep the county united. Some believe that the current population shift to the north is helping to end the split, and they theorize that the differences between the north and south will disappear and will be replaced by a division between the small and the large cities.
Ivan Lincoln, a Kaysville resident, believes that the new Bountiful LDS Temple will help tie the county together again.
Mark Flygare grew up in Ogden but now lives in northern Farmington. He works in Salt Lake County and describes Farmington as "a small-town county seat and environment." He said he wasn't really aware that Farmington was the dividing line in Davis County, though he believes half of his neighbors work in the Salt Lake area and the other half in the Ogden area.
Where to shop has always been a tossup for the Flygare family. They can either go north to Layton/Ogden or south to Bountiful/Salt Lake City because Farmington lacks many stores. However, there's now a Smith's food and drug store in Farmington and a new K mart is under construction. Soon, the city may have its own large shopping district that will keep residents in town for purchases and make Farmington a new business power in the county.
Sheryl Allen, a lifelong Bountiful resident who works at the Davis Applied Technology Center (DATC) in Kaysville, doesn't think there are any real differences among residents in the north and south sections of the county.
"I served on the Davis School Board and the Board of Education for 12 years," Allen said. "I haven't perceived any differences, but the county patrons think that there are differences and so you have to deal with that . . . I think the north end of the county perceives themselves as unusual because of their rapid growth . . . ."
She also said that from Kaysville north, people think of going to Layton or Ogden for shopping, while Bountiful residents are oriented to Salt Lake City. She believes this creates a county split in social life and entertainment.
Allen also said she loves working in the north end of the county because commuting is so much easier than it is in the more crowded Salt Lake area.