Welcome to the Cowboy Cradle of the Southwest. Founded in 1866, Florence is an Arizona "Main Street" town. An original Old West mining town, Florence is centrally located at the Junction of U.S. Highway 79 and Arizona 287 just 61 miles from downtown Phoenix and 70 miles from Tucson.

THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE

Arizona became a territory under the signature of Abraham Lincoln in 1863. When the Civil War ended two years later, the U.S.Cavalry came to protect the new territory from bandits and marauding Apache resistant to the increased settling of the land. Farmers soon settled the banks of the Gila River to raise cattle and hay using prehistoric HoHoKam irrigation canals to water the thirsty desert. Families from Mexico moved north to escape wars in northern Mexico as settlers came from the east seeking fortune and adventure. So began Florence.

Florence boomed in the 1870’s as wagonloads of ore from the Silver King Mine passed through town. Single men swarmed to work the mines and spend their money in Florence, while cowboys from local ranches celebrated payday here as well. Twenty-eight establishments such as the Nichols and Tunnel Saloons served these men who would quench their thirst, gamble and enjoy female companionship.

Homes and commercial buildings were constructed of sun-dried, or adobe, and shade by cottonwoods trees growing along small ditches of flowing water beside the streets. The sounds of Mexican music could be heard many evenings in this small oasis in the desert.

Needless to say, single men from Boston, New York, and Ohio found the senioritis who had been educated in Mexican convents very enchanting. Descendants of the resulting marriages still live in town. As stage lines came to Florence and news of the abounding opportunities spread, Florence grew. Businessmen from Mexico and the United States established themselves here and prospered. Eventually, early Victorian ladies ventured west to live on the frontier.

The good people in town finally demanded law and order. Florence became the county seat of the newly created Pinal County in 1875 and a new brick courthouse and jail was built (now McFarland State park). That didn’t stop citizens vigilantes from storming the courthouse believing two jailed men were murders and hanging them from the ceiling joists.