Located in Utah Valley, Utah County, Springville is about midway between the north and south borders of the county to the east of Utah Lake at approximately 4,500 feet in elevation, at the foot of the Wasatch Range.

One of the most important features of the Springville location is Hobble Creek, a stream draining the modest watershed of Hobble Creek Canyon. Springs from both forks of the canyon feed the creek above what is now the Hobble Creek Golf Course, but irrigation keeps Hobble Creek from flowing perennially. These springs and others north of town give Springville its name, although it was first called Hobble Creek.

Native Americans of the Ute tribe occupied land in the well-watered valley. They hunted and fished, but left no written record of their lifeways. The first such record of these people is in journal entries of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition, which left Santa Fe for Monterey in July 1776. The Spanish fathers leading the expedition were delighted to find many Utes living around Lake Timpanogotsis (Utah), and felt the Indians, including those living on Hobble Creek, might be subject to their missionary efforts.