Fort Harmony was the last stop for travelers embarking on journeys to the southwestern part of the what was at the time the Great Basin. At one time, the Fort served as the Washington County seat and headquarters of the Southern Indian Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There were 30 missionaries called to the Southern Utah Mission. They were to travel to Fort Harmony and set up residence there, which they did. Most of the missionaries lived in their wagons and had a camp site which would likely have had an outdoor fire pit for cooking, a few makeshift benches around the fire pit made of rocks or logs, a makeshift table or one taken from their wagon and probably a small area shaded by a makeshift lean-to built of willows and covered over by brush.

The missionaries had to feed themselves and their families and so they were given by John D. Lee acreage for a 10 acre farm and a garden spot. The missionaries and pioneers farmed about 500 acres. The farms were located north east and east of where the Fort is now probably on the west side of I-15, between I-15 and the Fort site. Rumor has it that John D. Lee had the biggest farm, 200 acres west and south of the Fort.

Here is a list of the names of the missionaries who were assigned farm and gardent plots near the Fort in 1855. This information , along with their plot assignments, can be found in Washington County records department.

Missionaries that were given land plots for farming in 1855

Atwood, Sammuel
Barney, Henry
Blackburn Elihu
Brown, Thomas D.
Carter, Ruben
Dalton, Charles W.
Groves, Elisha H.
Hadden, Alford S.
Ingrham, Alexander
Knell, (Nell) Benjamin & partner Prime Coleman
Knight, Samuel
Morse, Gilbert
Lee, John D.
Littlefield, Waldo
Morse, Gilbert
Powell, Thomas A.
Powell, James L.
Richey, Robert
Riddle, Issac & partner Allen Rufus
Robinson, Richard
Roundy, Lorenzo W.
Shirts, George
Wardell, John
Young, William
Young, Willis