In 1880, the first Mormon settlement was started in the valley by Nels Johnson, who was joined by others to form the community they called Junction.
In 1902, the name of this remote settlement was changed to Fruita based upon the fruit of their famed orchards of this Eden in the Desert, widely known across Southern Utah.

Fruita is the best-known settlement in Capitol Reef National Park in Wayne County, Utah. It is located at the confluence of Fremont River and Sulphur Creek.
Today the few buildings remain, except for the restored schoolhouse and the Gifford house and barn of the early 1900’s.
The orchards beyond the Gifford Barn have about 2,500 trees and are populated by apple, cherry, peach, pear and apricot trees.
They are now under the ownership of the National Park Service and are preserved by the NPS as a "historic landscape".

The Homestead was initially constructed by Calvin Pendleton in 1908. He and his family occupied it for eight years. The second residents of the home, the Jorgen Jorgenson family, lived there from 1916 until 1928.
Jorgenson sold the homestead to his son-in-law, Dewey Gifford in 1928. The Gifford family resided there for 41 years. Dewey and his wife, Nell, were the last private residents to live in what is now a national park.