Carbonville was one of the very first settlement sites in what became Carbon County. Caleb Rhoades built a dugout here in 1877, before moving on to found Price in 1879. Later called “Rhoades Meadow”, the place had plenty of water, but of poor quality.

The village grew slowly, with most immigrants preferring the more developed areas of Price and Spring Glen. Carbonville did experience rapid growth in the industrial and housing boom years after World War II. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized the first ward here in the late 1940s, and a second one in the 1950s.