"In February 1879, some Mormons, including W.R. Teeples, John Williams Tanner, Lem Pierce, and Hyrum Weech, found a location in the Gila Valley where they planned to place a canal. They named the location Smithville to honor Jesse N. Smith (b. 1834), a Mormon leader who arrived in Arizona in September 1878 with Erastus Snow. By April, the village had been laid out in sixteen blocks of four lots each. Lawless men and malaria beset these settlers. Nevertheless, they perservered. On the post office application in the National Archives, it is noted that the place was called Smithville, but the name Pima was requested for the post office in 1894. PO est Aug 23, 1880, William R. Teeples PM; name changed to Pima, Nov. 25, 1894, Henry G Boyle PM."

Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona's names : X marks the place Falconer Pub. Co. : distributed by Treasure Chest Publications, c1983. P. 481

Websites

Arizona Department of Commerce- Pima, Arizona
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/commasst/comm/pima.pdf

Arizonan.com-- Pima, Arizona
http://arizonan.com/Pima

Books/Manuscripts

Pioneer town : Pima centennial history.
F819.P68 P55x

Town of Pima, centennial memories, 1879-1979.
F819.P68 T686 1979

Pima
CE EPH DTO-PIMA

Pima, Arizona Community Profiles. Various dates from 1975-
CE EPH DTO-PIMA.1

Pima, Arizona: Information Brochures.
FE EPH DTO-Pima.1

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Page Updated July 23, 2002
If you would like to know more about the author of this site, Jeffrey Scott, feel free to visit his homepage.
In addition, if you have any questions about this site or Arizona History, feel free to e-mail Jeffrey