Toquerville, as the area's cultural and religious center, grew rapidly--from nineteen families in 1859 to forty-one families in 1864. The increase resulted in part when the main body of Cotton Mission colonists was called to Dixie late in 1861 and a number of them went to Toquerville. Providentially, water from Toquerville springs increased after the floods of 1861-62; new springs and new channels were opened up, allowing irrigation on the west side of Ash Creek. A post office, the first to be authorized in Utah south of Cedar City, was established, with John Menzies Macfarlane as postmaster. James McFate erected a primitive hand-powered cotton gin. John Nebeker followed with a water-powered mill built in a rock building (still standing). Charles Stapley, a transplant from San Bernardino, is generally credited with growing the first alfalfa in Dixie and probably Utah. By 1864 Toquerville reported twenty-four acres of lucern (alfalfa) under cultivation.

It was in 1864 that the territorial legislature defined Kane County and created it from the eastern portion of Washington County. Toquerville was designated as the county seat. Boundaries changed again in 1883, and Toquerville was shifted back into Washington County.