In 1925, Utah Power & Light raised the price of running each of Lehi's 183 streetlights from 90 cents to $3 a month. Mayor Joseph S. Broadbent and the city council refused to pay it. On June 15, 1926, the day voters approved an $18,500 bond to build a city power plant, city workers removed all 183 bulbs from the company's sockets. For the next 12 months, Lehi's streets were dark at night.
That bond vote is why a Lehi power bill comes from the City of Lehi and not from Rocky Mountain Power. It is also why the Lehi City Power Department is throwing a party this Saturday, October 10, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lehi Power Building, 560 W. Glen Carter Drive.
What $18,500 Bought
The plant opened on June 15, 1927, a year to the day after the bond vote. It sat near the Denver & Rio Grande and Orem Interurban tracks at Third North and Fifth West, and it was the first city-run plant in Utah to use diesel generators.
The streetlights were only the start. The city brought a test case to the Utah Supreme Court, which ruled the plant legal, and then expanded it to supply homes. By the fall of 1929, 80% of Lehi homes had signed up for city power. Lehi made its own electricity until 1946. That year it traded its generating equipment to Utah Power & Light and went back to buying wholesale power, but it kept delivering that power to homes over city-owned lines.
The power lines never went back to the company, and that is the arrangement Lehi still uses. In 2018, the city opened a new Power Department building, the Broadbent Power Generating Facility, named for the mayor who pulled the bulbs.
What a City-Owned Utility Means a Century Later
Lehi's utility now serves about 33,000 retail customers. The Power Department runs it under the direction of the City Council, according to the city's 2026 electric rate study. Compare that with 183 streetlights. The department's work now covers planning and engineering, metering, substations, overhead and underground lines, and the streetlights that started it all.
The ownership structure still shapes how a Lehi power bill gets set. The Utah Department of Commerce lists Lehi among the state's municipal utilities. Those utilities are part of local government, their rates are generally approved by the city, and the Public Service Commission does not regulate them. The department names Rocky Mountain Power separately as Utah's only rate-regulated public electric utility. When Lehi's electric rates change, the decision comes up for consideration at a City Council meeting on Main Street, not before a state commission in Salt Lake City.
Lehi does not run on Lehi-made electricity alone, though. The 2026 rate study describes a mix of sources: power from the city's own generators, a federal hydropower allocation from the Western Area Power Administration, power from Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems projects using coal, gas, wind, solar and hydro, plus purchases and sales on the wholesale market. Mayor Broadbent's 1927 diesel plant tried to make all of the town's power. The 2026 utility owns the lines and buys from many suppliers, and the city kept control of the part that reaches the house.
On Saturday, that machinery is open to the public. The city's event listing promises food, prizes, photo opportunities, generator tours, hands-on activities and safety demonstrations, with "an inside look at the people, equipment and technology that have helped power Lehi for the past 100 years." The generator tours are the rare chance to see the city's own generating equipment up close.
The Same Habit, Smaller
The utility is the biggest example on this month's calendar of Lehi people deciding to run something themselves. Two smaller examples are a few blocks from Main Street.
The Utah Southern Railroad Depot Museum at 225 E. State St. occupies a restored 1872 depot, built the year the railroad first reached Lehi from Salt Lake City. The depot received a historical marker in 2024. Its organizers are descendants of R. J. Stice, the depot's station master. The museum held a soft reopening on July 25 that drew more than 250 visitors, and it opened again for Lehi Heritage Day. The Daily Herald reported that the Heritage Day opening was only the museum's second since it closed in 2020.
Inside, visitors tapped their names out in Morse code on a telegraph. They also saw a model train layout of Lehi around 1905, a scale model of the depot provided by Jim Wanlass, and a life-size 1872 train parlor where they could sit and watch the countryside roll by to the sound of a train. The museum has no regular public hours. It opens for events only, so the Lehi Free Press is the place to watch for the next date.
The second example is a front yard at 234 E. 200 S. Christensen Farms is a sixth-generation farm about two miles south of American Fork, and the family lives in Lehi. Their honor-system pumpkin and squash stand is back for its second fall, with no cashier. The reason for the stand sounds a lot like the reason for the power plant:
"We have always done wholesale with our products, and we thought we could offer the community a better value on locally grown fresh produce if we sold direct," Shanna Christensen told the Lehi Free Press.
The response was strong enough that the family doubled what they planted this year. The stand has orange, green, white and warted pumpkins in large and small sizes, plus minis. Squash options include butternut, buttercup, acorn and spaghetti. Pumpkins and squash run $2 to $6, and corn stalks are $5 each. Christensen said the honor system has worked: "People in our community have been so honest, polite and giving, and it really encourages us to continue this for many years to come."
The power company, the depot museum and the pumpkin stand are very different in size. In each case, people closest to the thing decided to run it themselves, whether that meant generating power, telling the depot's history or selling a crop.
Saturday's Easy Double
The centennial wraps up at 2 p.m. Three hours later, Lehi City's fall movie night begins at Osier Park, 385 N. Osier Ave. Activities start at 5 p.m., and Hocus Pocus begins around 7 p.m. Both are city-run events on the same day, and a family can easily do the generator tour at lunchtime and watch the movie at the park after dark.
The rest of the month follows the same pattern. Thanksgiving Point brings in big regional crowds, and a smaller set of city events runs alongside it.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 10, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. | Lehi Power 100-Year Celebration | Lehi Power Building, 560 W. Glen Carter Dr. |
| Sat., Oct. 10, from 5 p.m. | Fall movie night, Hocus Pocus around 7 p.m. | Osier Park, 385 N. Osier Ave. |
| Oct. 12–17 | Scarecrow Festival; market Oct. 15–17 | Thanksgiving Point; market at the Waterfall Amphitheater |
| Sat., Oct. 17, 8 a.m. | Scarecrow 5K | Thanksgiving Point |
| Sat., Oct. 24, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. | Día de los Muertos | Thanksgiving Point |
| Fri., Oct. 30, 5–8 p.m. | Halloween Extravaganza | Legacy Center |
| Through Oct. 31 | Cornbelly's Pumpkin Fest | 3003 N. Thanksgiving Way |
| This fall | Christensen Farms honor-system stand | 234 E. 200 S. |
Cornbelly's lists more than 60 attractions. Thanksgiving Point's Día de los Muertos event includes performances, activities and local vendors. The Halloween Extravaganza at the Legacy Center has games, trick-or-treating and food trucks, and it closes with the movie Home.
Lehi's 183 streetlights stayed dark from June 1926 until the city's own plant opened on June 15, 1927. The generator tours on Saturday show where that power comes from today.
Which utility serves a home is one of many local details that matter when a property changes hands in Lehi, along with who sets the rates and what a buyer should confirm before closing. Bybee + Co Realty works through those details for Utah County buyers, sellers and investors. If you're thinking about a move, a rental or a build in Lehi, Contact Us and we'll walk you through the details that are specific to this city.
