When Wendover, Utah was incorporated on 25 October 1950 with 149 qualified electors and a population of more than 400, it was a far cry from the watering stop established by the Western Pacific Railroad in 1907. One hundred twenty miles into the Great Salt Lake Desert from Salt Lake City, Wendover became a service and supply point for the railroad; it may have been named for a surveyor employed by the railroad, Charles Wendover.

The city lies on an ancient beach of Lake Bonneville, and is snuggled against the Toana Range, which rises 5,000 feet up from the desert floor. To the northwest is the 10,000-foot Pilot Range; and the 12,000 foot Goshute and Deep Creek Ranges lie to the south.

In 1845 Captain John C. Fremont passed north of Wendover surveying the country. After crossing the salt desert, his party stopped at the springs of Pilot Mountain, the beacon mountain he named, then continued west over the Pequop and Toana Ranges.