Riverton's residents reflected the predominant religious affiliation characteristic of most rural Utah towns. Much of the cultural, educational, and community life revolved around activities sponsored by the local wards of the Mormon Church. In the early years, Mormons met in the dugouts and log homes of members, often in the home of Nicholas Thomas Silcock, the community's first branch president (called in 1870). Many of the activities and traditions in the community were initiated in a church setting during years when it was principally an agricultural community. As in other predominantly Mormon Utah communities, there was an overlapping and mixing of ecclesiastical and civic roles and actions. In 1886, with 233 members in thirty-five families, Riverton was organized as a ward with Orrin Porter Miller as its first bishop. Members met in a combination meetinghouse/schoolhouse which had been built in 1879. By 1900 there were 517 members (ninety-two families) and construction was begun on a new meetinghouse. Completed in 1908, this domed structure in the Romanesque style was designed by Richard Kletting and was generally recognized as one of the finest LDS meetinghouses in a rural setting. It was demolished in 1940.

Public schools in the community had their beginnings in private homes and in a one-room schoolhouse which was built in 1879. A two-story brick school was built in 1892 on Redwood Road; it served students through the eighth grade. In the mid-1920s a new elementary school and junior high school were constructed on this site. As population increased in the 1970s and 1980s, the Jordan School District constructed additional elementary schools and a middle school within the boundaries of the community.