ALPINE — This city is a metropolitan crossbreed.
A small farming community founded in 1850, Alpine is still a small farming community in 2001 — but it is flanked by palatial homes and new upscale housing developments.
When a growth spurt about five years ago brought in the new, wealthy homeowners, the city's longtime farmers found themselves sharing roads with corporate capitalists.
No one really seems to mind.
"There is definitely the rich and the non-rich — there's a big spectrum," said Otis "Hunt" Willoughby, an Alpine city councilman.
There's no animosity between residents, he says, regardless of whether they live in the valley on a 50-acre ranch or on the mountainside in a 5,000-square-foot home.
Willoughby said most people recognize that eventually the farms will all disappear. "We designed for that," he said.
Jeff Mendenhall, Utah County community development director, said most small-scale farms will be swallowed up by developments. Productive farmlands will stick around but diminish to a low level.
Mendenhall, who noted that growing urban cities such as Orem still have orchards, said Utah County is growing and changing like most everywhere else.
However, Willoughby noted that the housing market, at least in Alpine, is slowing a bit, and not as many developers are looking to build 100-unit developments in the city.
Now, it's mostly smaller subdivisions and single homes, he said.
"It's unique," said farmer and retired Alpine Mayor Van Burgess.
The town is changing drastically, and the old-timers are becoming few and far between while new residents from across the country move into the city, he said.
Alpine has been steadily growing for decades. But it was nothing like what happened during the 1990s.
In 1990, according to the U.S. Census, Alpine's population was 3,492. New census figures show population at 7,146.
Bill and Elaine Devey bought their first house in Alpine in the 1950s. Bill Devey, who was born in Alpine, met Elaine in Salt Lake City and brought her back to Alpine after they married. Only the two couldn't get a house loan. A banker told them property in Alpine had no resale value.
"Things certainly have changed," said Elaine Devey.
The Deveys agree the town, whose palatial homes reach high onto the mountainside, has lost a bit of its small-town appeal — but that hasn't made them bitter.
Bill Devey believes the hardest change that growth has brought is a cost-of-living increase. Many farmers and older residents have trouble pacing themselves with the more affluent members of the community, who are now in the majority.
The town is certainly moving from agricultural to residential, but Burgess doesn't see it going commercial.
"We had one store when I was growing up, and now that's gone," he said.
The past few years have been tough for the agriculture market, Burgess said. As a result, older farmers who are worried about having a retirement or leaving an inheritance for their children will sell the farm, he said.
"It's the natural course of things," Burgess said.
There's no real resentment on the part of the farmers, he said. However, he has no intention of selling his farmland. "It's a challenge," he said, but "we get along."
For many, a move to the small town is for atmosphere and mood. As more people move to Alpine, the less it will feel like a small town.
"I think it's probably still here," Bill Devey said, speaking about Alpine's small-town atmosphere. "But not like it was."
Like Burgess and other longtime residents, Bill Devey used to know most everybody in Alpine. Now, he hardly knows anybody, he said.
However, the Deveys and Burgess believe something of vintage Alpine will remain.
"I think there are certain people who will hold," Elaine Devey said.
And as long as you have the people, she said, you have Alpine.
E-MAIL: rrogers@desnews.com