Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. state of Utah, located about 20mi south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 42,274, having grown from 7,143 in 1990.Draper is part of two metropolitan areas - the Salt Lake County portion is included in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, while the Utah County portion is part of the Provo-Orem metropolitan area.The Utah State Prison is located in Draper, near Point of the Mountain, alongside Interstate 15. The execution of Gary Gilmore took place there on January 17, 1977.HistoryAmerican Indian groups living in Utah include the Ute, Paiute, Goshute, Shoshone, and Navajo. A group of Shoshone people near Hoytsville, Utah. The Utes, Paiutes, Goshutes, and Shoshone people speak similar languages from a family known as the Numic Language Family.In the fall of 1849, Ebenezer Brown brought cattle to graze along the mountain stream of South Willow Creek. The next spring, he brought his family and sold his cattle to immigrants heading to the gold fields of California along what became the Mormon Road. More settlers came in the next few years to the new settlement first known as Sivogah, meaning Willows, the Indian name for the area, then later as South Willow Creek. At the end of 1852, 20 families lived along South Willow Creek. In 1854, the first post office was established with the name Draperville for William Draper III, the first presiding elder of the town's Mormon congregation. The name of the town in later years was shortened to Draper.
