History in Arizona

Discover 27 places to experience unusual history in Arizona.

Three northern rooms on second floor

Mohave County, Arizona

Gold King Mansion

A century-old miner's quarters turned mansion.

Charles Poston's pyramid tomb.

Florence, Arizona

Poston Butte

The "Father of Arizona" tried to build a Zoroastrian fire temple on the hill where he's now buried.

Scottsdale, Arizona

The Stand

An open-air, roadside eatery celebrating a historic indigenous cuisine of complicated significance.

Parker, Arizona

Swansea Ghost Town

One of the best-preserved ghost towns in Arizona speaks to the difficulties of establishing mining towns in the 19th century American West.

The 1910 Gila County Sheriff's Office and Jail

A historic jail preserves etchings from over a century of incarcerated people in a town with a rough and tumble past.

Coconino County, Arizona

Red Butte Airfield

The Grand Canyon’s original airport, which once welcomed pilots like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, lies abandoned.

Guiding sign near entrance

Tucson, Arizona

John Dillinger Courtroom

A 1930’s courtroom where John Dillinger and his gang went before a judge.

9-11 Remembrance Garden

Winslow, Arizona

9-11 Remembrance Garden

This memorial includes fragments from one of the greatest tragedies in United States history.

Camp Verde, Arizona

Verde Valley Ancestral Garden

Inside this garden, visitors are offered a glimpse into how inhabitants of the region survived centuries ago.

Laws Spring engraving.

Williams, Arizona

Laws Spring

This remote desert watering hole has a connection to a curious chapter of American history.

Geronimo Surrender Monument.

San Simon, Arizona

Geronimo Surrender Monument

A stone pillar commemorates the surrender of the extraordinary Apache leader.

Red Rock Motel.

Street of the Little Motels

These mid-century motels once housed the workers who built the Glen Canyon Dam.

Parker Dam seen from Arizona.

Parker, Arizona

Parker Dam

This huge dam across the Colorado River caused an armed standoff between two U.S. states.

Williams, Arizona

Sultana Bar

Bootleggers ran booze beneath this building before (and after) Route 66 appeared beside it.

The historic plaque and one of the windows.

Clifton, Arizona

Clifton Cliff Jail

This Old West prison built into the side of a cliff was said to be inescapable.

The fireplace from the outside of the ranch house.

Willcox, Arizona

James Garfield Memorial Fireplace

This fireplace-turned-monument pays tribute to the assassinated U.S. president.