Uintah is located in the mouth of Weber Canyon at the foot of the Wasatch Range. The Shoshone Indians occupied this site long before the first European settlement was founded in 1850. Some ancient artifacts found in the area date back more than 5,000 years.

The Transcontinental Railroad was built through Uintah in 1868 and the town boomed with the population rising above 5,000 in 1869. At first, Uintah served as the freight terminus for Salt Lake City-bound materials, then the Utah Central Railroad was opened between Salt Lake City and Ogden in 1872 and that freight business moved to Ogden. Almost overnight, most of the residents, business owners and freighters were gone. By 1875, the population was down to less than 300, and it stayed there into the early 1900's.

Driven by the need to sell bonds and construct a municipal water system, Uintah became an incorporated municipality in 1937.