ST. GEORGE — A process that started over two years ago has culminated in the designation of the Sugarloaf, also known as the Dixie Rock, as a recognized landmark on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places.
The city of St. George announced Tuesday that the Sugarloaf sandstone formation that overlooks the city from the Red Hill was recognized as a historic landmark due to its significance to the area’s history and culture.
“It’s an exciting thing for us,” David Cordero, a spokesman for the city of St. George, said Tuesday afternoon. “Anybody who’s lived in St. George always looks up and sees what they call the Dixie Rock, which is actually called the Sugarloaf, and they see the Dixie sign. It’s almost like a beacon that you’re home.”
The move for the Sugarloaf to be part of the National Registry of Historic Places was originally reported in January 2021. Officials at then-Dixie State University and the city were working on a way to preserve the “D” on the Black Hill and the Sugarloaf. It was being done in connection with the institution’s name change to Utah Tech University.
Henrie Walton, who was the university’s assistant to the president for government and community relations at the time, told St. George New that the school and city were partnering on applications for the sites “to ensure that the community understands how much we value the meaning of the word Dixie … They’re monuments to our heritage and they represent so much. They’re just the landmarks we think of when we think of this region.”
Over a year following the applications made by the university and the city, the “D” on the Black Hill was listed on the national registry in June 2022.
Fourteen months later the Sugarloaf has followed suit with the same recognition.
The Sugarloaf is considered one of the area’s “very prominent” landmarks and has become an “emblem for the community” and is “often shown in advertisements and promotional media for the community,” according to the State Historic Preservation Office.
As with the original recognition of the hillside “D,” the response over social media has been largely positive with commenters thankful the landmark has a possible level of protection now and it is likely it won’t change anytime soon.
“One of my fondest memories was rappelling off that ledge as a Dixie High senior to give it a fresh coat of paint,” one commenter on the city’s Facebook page wrote. “I’m glad this is one part of history that won’t be going away.”
Many longtime St. George residents and elected officials say the local use of the word “Dixie” is one that equates to community, cooperation and unity and not the negative connotations connected to slavery and the antebellum South. The loss of the name’s association with the local university is a lingering sore point for some community members and efforts meant to preserve other aspects of local history and culture tend to be lauded by supporters of the Dixie name.
According to the Washington County Historical Society, the “Dixie Sugarloaf” came about in 1915.
The original name of the Sugarloaf came for the Latter-day Saint settlers who came to the area. The sandsone formation reminded them of the “shape and color of a loaf of sugar as it was used in the old days.”
How the Dixie came to be on the Sugarloaf is explained in the following excerpt from the Washington County Historical Society’s website:
The “Dixie” painted on the Sugarloaf was the result of a plan to quash conflicts between successive class years of the Dixie Stake Academy. The Class of 1913 had painted the numerals “1913” on the Sugarloaf rock. The Class of 1914 was larger and consisted of younger people who thought a “1914” would be more appropriate. So the last digit changed a number of times. Once the class of 1913 graduated and the Class of 1915 came along, the competitions became more contentious, sometimes resulting in physical confrontations.
As a result, school officials and student body officers met together and began talking about the possibility of a program that would bring all the students together and do away with the heavy class rivalry. It took some time, but out of this effort came the idea of constructing a school letter on one of the surrounding hills and painting the word “Dixie” on the Sugarloaf in place of any class numerals.
It has since been a tradition for Dixie High School students to put fresh coats of paint on the Dixie sign at least once a year.
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