Woods Cross lies near the bottom of the Great Salt Lake Basin, approximately eight miles north of Salt Lake City. It was officially chartered in 1935 by the owners of the Reservoir and Pipeline Company who pooled their Mill Creek water shares and transferred their capital stock and assets to the new city board of trustees. Woods Cross was originally an unincorporated area extending from the southern boundary of Centerville south to the Salt Lake County line and including the areas and communities of Val Verda, Orchard, North Salt Lake, West Bountiful, among others.

In 1847, after the initial Mormon settlement of the Salt Lake Valley, Peregrine Sessions went north to locate pasture lands.He selected a spot near Cudahy Lane, where he spent the winter with is family watching over the herds. The next year, 1848, other settlers arrived and built cellars and dugouts along and near the banks of the Jordan River.

The historical development of Woods Cross is directly linked to water. Pioneer settlers in 1848 selected the area's rich bottom lands to establish their farms -- generations of fertile silt deposits from the overflowing channels of Mill Creek created some of the best farm land in the state. The mountain watersheds east of Woods Cross retained rain and melting snows until saturation sent runoff water into the boggy meadows and sloughs of the bottoms. Here some of the water was trapped and absorbed into underground aquifers preserving fresh water along the eastern edge of the Great Salt Lake.

Woods Cross and its population are visibly committed to their "rural way of life." The LDS chapel, the park, and the city hall form the hub of the town. Small local businesses and limited heavy industry ring the city. Subdivision housing separates the two. Local residents (60 percent ) told interviewers they preferred the rural life-style and less complicated life of Woods Cross to city life in Salt Lake City or Bountiful. Many new residents have selected Woods Cross as a place to raise their families.High-density housing and industrial complexes have consistently been defeated when proposed as developments for the city. Recent state and federal matching grants have enabled Woods Cross to mark its boundaries and welcome newcomers with evergreens and flowers.