Its proximity to the regional commercial center of Price, twenty miles to the north, has prevented Huntington from developing extensive retail business. However, a flour mill erected in 1892 remained in operation into the 1980s, producing feeds for local farmers and flour and cereals marketed throughout Emery and Carbon counties. Huntington High School, established in 1915 and later renamed North Emery High, was a focal point of the community until the consolidation of Emery County schools in 1962.

From its early years, Huntington has had a strong amateur arts tradition. A martial band was organized in 1884. Community theater groups produced as many as half a dozen plays a year between 1890 and 1910. A choir directed by Thomas L. Hardee and composed of singers from Huntington and neighboring Cleveland won an Eisteddfod competition hosted by the Scofield Welsh Choir in 1895, and later performed at an LDS general conference in Salt Lake City. A men's glee club organized in the early 1920s is still in existence, with third- and even fourth-generation members.