Arizona Historic Place Names

This collection of newspaper clippings describes the origins of various place names across Arizona. The clippings all came from miscellaneous local newspaper issues published between 1883 and 1955. Many of the clippings refer to the connections to mining and prospectors, as well as the Native American populations who encountered new inhabitants. Most of the locations featured in the collection carry the name given by the “founder,” although those founders often named land taken from Native Americans, or land that was once occupied by Native Americans. The clippings reflect more on the localized history of given names, rather than on the populations who lived in the area prior to receiving its known name.

There is also a complementary Arizona Historic Place Names Story Map that includes photographs and additional information about these place names. *Please note, the map was created on a platform that can no longer be updated, so links within the map are no longer working*

Arizona Highways also has a website that describes the history of different Arizona Place Names.

Other items from other collections provided by Arizona Memory Project Contributing Institutions have been tagged/added to this collection when the material provides additional information on Arizona place names.

Copyright to this resource is held by the creating agency and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be downloaded, reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the creating agency. Any attempt to circumvent the access controls placed on this file is a violation of United States and international copyright laws, and is subject to criminal prosecution.