Much of Utah's sugar beet history and production was centered in West Jordan due to the large sugar factory built and operated in the community for many years. West Jordan also had been known for its fur industry, which has mostly disappeared due to urbanization.

In the sports world, several West Jordan boxers gained national and international recognition, ranking and titles under the management of Marvin Jenson. Most notably native-son *Gene Fullmer twice won the World Middle Weight Boxing Championship. Other fighters of note include AAU champions Floyd Richardson and Rex Layne (also a top professional contender), Olympic champion Jay Lambert, and Gene Fullmer's brother Don, who also fought for the Middle-weight championship.

In politics, West Jordan was the home of Jean M. Westwood, when she was chosen to chair the National Democratic party on 14 July 1972, the first woman in America to chair a major national political party.

It was 10 January 1941 before the town of West Jordan, with a population of less than 2,000, was officially incorporated. In the late 1960s the community began growing at such a rate it became one of the fastest growing small communities in the United States. By 1990 the population had reached 42,912. During this time the community has developed a degree of economic diversity with segments of industrial and commercial development along with its population growth. In the process, over a dozen community parks have been acquired and developed. This push to strengthen quality of life for citizens is also reflected in a recent successful proposal that brought it together with its sister city, South Jordan, to win the location site for a new 100-acre Salt Lake Community College campus, which will be built straddling the cities' shared border.

Glen Moosman