History

This 1913 photo looks south from the Southern Pacific railroad crossing to the main street leading into Maricopa. The path through the trees eventually...

By Michelle Chance Rural Maricopa is home to several archaeological sites that contain petroglyphs along local mountain passes. Aaron Wright, preservation archaeologist with Archaeology Southwest, said...

By Patricia Brock and the Maricopa Historical Society   Mobile is a small community located about 15 miles west of Maricopa on State Route 238 (Mobile...

  This week about 180 Maricopa 14- to 18-year-olds are re-creating the handcart trek of western pioneers across the country. The re-creation, called a Youth Trek,...

They've put on the uniforms of the United States of America's armed forces to defend our rights and our way of life. Many of them...

Now with the confidence of having future storage and display space for their many items of historical significance to the community, Maricopa Historical Society...

Courtesy of Maricopa Historical Society The first of many Maricopa Stagecoach Days began on Sunday, May 3, 1959, with a BBQ dinner, and a slew...

This flooding scene near the Richfield service station on the old Maricopa Road in 1949 was captured by a photographer looking north from atop...

In October of 2006, a “CBS News Sunday Morning” crew visited Maricopa to film a segment on population growth in America entitled "300 Million...

When Octavio Machado enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 19, he was following a family tradition that went back to his grandfather, who...

As a relative newcomer in Maricopa, I have been surprised by how much there is to do in our town. True, we have no...

During a long, hot summer, finding ways to keep cool has always been a priority in Maricopa. Swimming is a big temptation, but in...

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the latest installment in a series dealing with the Oatman massacre and the experiences of the family members who survived...

Decades before Maricopa incorporated, the center point of the community was the school. Some of these fresh faces may still be familiar to long-time...

Floodwaters inundate the backyard of Dallas and Susie Smith in September 1946. Their home was just south of today’s Business Barn. Dallas Smith was...

Maricopa farming pioneer John Smith and his son Mark are familiar with cultivating growth in their agricultural communities. John farmed cotton and other crops here...

  His story begins less than a month after Black Tuesday, America’s economic disaster that incited the Great Depression.“He’s always served without fanfare, under the...

Two highly visible economic development projects – the Heritage District and South Bridge – would blend together as envisioned by city staff. During a recent...

By Michelle Chance An estimated 200 Hohokam petroglyphs are etched into a pile of boulders that lay nestled at the base of a mountain range...

Every Sept. 11, we remember those we lost in one of history’s greatest tragedies in 2001. Mountain Pointe High School graduate Raul Ontiveros is...

The changing skyline of Maricopa is evident in historic and modern photos of the same stretch of railroad tracks. In 1911, the depot was...

The O.S. Stapley store opened in Maricopa in 1955 south of the railroad tracks and east of the high school on Maricopa Road. The...

A community pool once sat just north of where the Silver Horizon Zephyr railcar now sits. The Zephyr railcar came to Maricopa in 2000...

When Dorothy Shally Charles started working for the National Park Service, singing was a job requirement.IF YOU GO What: The History of Scotty's Castle, Death...

A photo taken in Maricopa circa 1910 facing west shows the Southern Pacific tracks passing by a water tower, the Maricopa Train Station, along...

This photo from the 1890s looks east along the railroad tracks while a steam engine is stopped at the Maricopa Depot, on left. The...

By Fran Lyons He said to himself, “No wars in the U.S.” He wanted our country to be protected and safe. He wanted freedom and he...

The Maricopa Historical Society installed a new display at the Maricopa Public Library, exhibiting the cotton-based fashions of the U.S. First Ladies. Cotton was king...

For decades, cotton was a staple crop in Arizona. Pima cotton in particular, with its extra-long staple (ELS) fibers, revolutionized the industry in 1910....

The growth of Maricopa was dramatic between 2002 and 2006, when the city was a poster child of the housing boom. The post-recession surge...