Perry is located in eastern Box Elder County, directly south of Brigham City. The Bear River Valley, in which Perry is located, is one of the prime agricultural areas of northern Utah. Perry is bordered on the east by the Wasatch Mountains and on the west by the shoreline of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. The town consists of an area of about nine square miles with a population (in 1992) of 1,550.

In 1851, the same year that Box Elder (now Brigham City) was being settled, Orrin Porter Rockwell and his brother Merritt laid claim to some land lying about 2.5 miles southwest of the center of Box Elder settlement. It was adjacent to a large spring known to this day as Porter Spring. The Rockwells made no improvements on their land, although they claimed it for a number of years. One reason they never occupied the land may have been the danger of Indian raids; Porter Springs was a great camping place for both emigrants and Indians in those days.

Early in the spring of 1853 Mormon pioneers began to settle in the area. William Plummer Tippetts and his family, along with Lorenzo and May Wray Perry, and Gustavus Perry and his family, laid claim to land in what became the center of town. Thomas C. Young Sr., Robert Henderson, and Alexander Perry settled to the north of the Tippetts and Perrys.

Three Mile Creek was the name given to early-day Perry, as it was just three miles from the center of Box Elder to the small stream which furnished water for the settlers.