Tooele, Utah

Tooele is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 22,502 at the 2000 census, and 30,708 as of the 2009 estimates. It is the county seat of Tooele County. The city is well known for Tooele Army Depot, privately owned waste-disposal facilities west of Tooele Valley, and TOCDF, a government-owned chemical weapons incinerator south of Tooele Valley.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.2 square miles (54.8 km²), of which 21.1 square miles (54.8 km²) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) (0.09%) is water.

Tooele is located on the western slopes of the Oquirrh Mountains in the Tooele Valley, the next valley west of the well-known Salt Lake Valley. Many popular camping and picnic areas surround the city.

The unusual name for the town is thought by some to have evolved from an old Ute Indian word for tumbleweed. This is only one of many unverified explanations, as the name's usage predated the introduction of the Russian thistle to the United States. Other explanations include that the name derives from a Native American chief, but controversy exists about whether such a chief lived. Others hypothesize that the name comes from "tu-wanda", the Goshute word for "bear", or from "tule", a Spanish word of Aztec origin, meaning "bulrush".

Climate
The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Dsa" (Dry-summer continental climate).

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,502 people, 7,459 households, and 5,825 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,064.4 people per square mile (411.0/km²). There were 7,923 housing units at an average density of 374.8 per square mile (144.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 90.96% White, 0.74% African American, 1.32% Native American, 0.56% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 3.84% from other races, and 2.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.09% of the population.



There were 7,459 households out of which 46.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.6% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.9% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.39.

In the city the population was spread out with 34.1% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 15.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $43,862, and the median income for a family was $48,490. Males had a median income of $37,373 versus $24,175 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,580. About 5.0% of families and 6.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Tooele is located in the Tooele County School District. That district contains 16 elementary schools (Anna Smith, Copper Canyon, Dugway, East, Grantsville, Harris, Ibapah, Middle Canyon, Northlake, Overlake, Rose Springs, Settlement Canyon, Stansbury Park, Vernon, West and Willow), three junior high schools (Grantsville, Tooele and Clarke N. Johnsen) and six high schools (Grantsville, Tooele, Blue Peak, Dugway, Stansbury, and Wendover. ) There is also a regional campus of Utah State University and the Tooele Applied Technology College, a campus of the Utah College of Applied Technology within city boundaries.

Tooele is also served by Scholar Academy Charter School.

Infrastructure

 * Water Water rights are tightly controlled throughout Tooele County. All new construction requires the acquisition of ample water rights.  If the construction is inside incorporated areas, the water rights will be surrendered to the local government and become part of the common water right for the entity.  Outside incorporated areas, water rights are attached to drilled wells.
 * Sewer Tooele City, Grantsville, Stansbury Park and Lakepoint have sanitary sewer systems. All other areas are served by septic tanks and drainfields.
 * Electricity Most of Tooele County is served by Rocky Mountain Power.  Some of the Western Region is served by Wells Rural Electric Coop and Mount Wheeler Power.
 * Natural gas Tooele City, Grantsville, Stansbury Park, Lakepoint and some of the unincorporated areas in between are served by Questar.
 * Communications Tooele County is unique in that there are a variety of telecommunications providers.  The two public utility companies serving the area are Beehive Telephone Company and Century Link.  Comcast also serves Tooele, Grantsville and Stansbury park with cable, phone and internet.  Beehive Broadband serves Tooele County with Fiber to the Home as well with phone, TV and up to 1 Gbit/s internet service.

Industry

 * A major private employer in the area is Kennecott Utah Copper which operates the Kennecott Bingham Copper Mine, the world's largest open-pit excavation mine on the other side of the Oquirrh Mountains from Tooele's location. 240- and 320-ton capacity trucks deliver copper ore to the in-pit crusher, where the material is reduced to the size of soccer balls before being loaded onto a five-mile (8 km) conveyor that carries the ore to the Copperton Concentrator.
 * EG&G, the company which operates TOCDF in Rush Valley, south of Tooele Valley
 * Energy Solutions (formerly known as Envirocare), a waste-storage facility in Clive, west of Tooele Valley.
 * Federal governmental agencies
 * State government agencies
 * Tooele county governmental agencies
 * Tooele Industrial Depot - A portion of the previous Tooele Army Depot has been turned back to the local area, and many of the government-constructed buildings in that area are now filled with manufacturing facilities, warehouses and offices. The area is administered by a consortium known as Tooele Industrial Depot.
 * Miller Motorsports Park is a state-of-the-art road racing facility for automobiles, motorcycles and karts located just 35 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City in Tooele, Utah. It is considered the finest facility of its type in North America. Opened in 2006, Miller Motorsports Park hosts many of the world’s most significant racing series, including the American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, NASCAR Grand National West Series, AMA Superbike and Supersport Championship and, new for 2008, the FIM Superbike World Championship, one of the top three racing series in the world. Miller Motorsports Park also hosts the National Auto Sport Association National Championship Races.
 * Tooele was the filming location of the 2009 comedy Gentlemen Broncos
 * Also in 2009, Tooele appeared on Newsmax magazine's list of the "Top 25 Most Uniquely American Cities and Towns," a piece written by current CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg.
 * Tooele was one of the locations for the second season of Prison Break, yet the episodes were filmed in Texas.

Arts festival
Since 1985, the Tooele Arts Festival, an annual 3-day event since 1998 falling on the last weekend in June, has drawn visitors from around the country who are looking for one-of-a-kind artwork, including paintings, jewelry, ceramics, photographs, sculptures, and live musical entertainment. Children's playground equipment and entertainments are also provided. There is no admission fee for this festival, which is held at a city-owned park west of the city center. For the first several years of its existence the Festival was held near the end of May, but it seemed to coincide with late-spring cold spells, which were disastrous since all the Festival's activities are held out of doors. Due to this unpredictability, sponsors finally decided to move it into June, although this decision puts it in direct competition with the much larger Utah Arts Festival, held in Salt Lake City on the same dates. The 2011 Tooele Arts Festival was cancelled due to lack of volunteers, which was the first time since 1985 that no arts festival was held in Tooele City; however the festival was held again in 2012.

County fair
Until 2000 the annual Tooele County Fair was held during the first week of August at the Tooele County Fairgrounds, inside Tooele City limits. After that date it has been held at the Deseret Peak Complex, located in the Tooele Valley midway between Tooele City and Grantsville City.

Sister cities
Tooele has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:
 * 🇷🇺 Kambarka, Russia
 * 🇪🇸 La Bañeza, Spain