Several towns,
including Kanab, were first settled in the mid-1860s and then abandoned.
Kanab was resettled in 1870 by Levi Stewart and others at the request
of Brigham Young. In March 1874 Young encouraged the formation of a United Order at Orderville. Although United Orders were organized in
many Utah towns, including Kanab, the Orderville experiment in communal
living was more successful and longer lived than all the others, making
this town unique among Utah settlements. By the 1880s Mormon Church
support had become lukewarm, and the United Order of Orderville was
dissolved.
During the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries a majority of the county's residents were
either farmers or raised livestock. In 1922, when Deadwood Coach with
Tom Mix was filmed in Kane County, the Parry brothers of Kanab led in
the development of lodging, food, and other services for film crews;
and by the 1930s Kanab was called "Little Hollywood" because so many
movies were made there.