Wickenburg
History/ Websites/Newspapers/
Sites to See/ Books/Weather
"Elevation, 2,077 feet. On A.T. &S. F. R.R., on Hassayampa Creek in northwest part of Maricopa County. After Henry Wickenburg, an Austrian, who discovered Vulture mine, 1863 about 15 miles from town. Came to Arizona, as a member of Weaver party. Town is said to have ben named by Gov. Goodwin according to McClintock., who says: "His (Wickenburg's) death in May, 1905, was by his own hand by a bullet through the head, in his little adobe house on the Hassayampa, a short distance below the town he used to own." Fish says: "Wickenburg was so named by James A. Moor, (he spells it this way) a friend of Wickenburg who lived wth him in 1864. Moor worte several lettters to Governor Goodwin and always dated them Wickenburg." Barney also makes this same statement and says "the town was platted by Bob Groom, 1868." See Vulture, P.O. Est. June 19, 1865, BF Howell PM."

Barnes, Will C.  Arizona Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1997
P. 486

"Henry Wickenburg (Heinrich Heintzel b. 1820, Austria d. 1905) arrived in Arizona in 1862. Years earlier he left Austria where police where after him for selling coal from his father's property instead of turning it over to the state. In 1864 he discovered the Vulture Mine, but sold it and became a rancher near what is now Wickenburg, a name first used while James A. Moore was a guest there. In writing to Gov. John N. Goodwin, Moore headed a letter "Wickenburg Ranch." Prior to that time the area was called Hassayampa Sink. As the Vulture Mine developed, so did the village at Wickenburg as a supply point. By 1870 four hundred and seventy four people lived in Wickenburg. The place was plagued by Indian attacks. The most noted was the so-called Loring or Wickenburg massacre in which Henry Loring, who was with the 1871 Wheeler Survey, and his companions ona stage coach were brutally slain.

While the village of Wickenburg prospered, Henry Wickenburg did not. He failed as a rancher. Discouraged and tired, Wickenburg shot himself in 1905, fifty one years to the day after the first ore from the Vulture Mine had been crushed. The Wickenburg Mountains share the name. PO est June 19, 1865 BT Powell PM.

Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona's names : X marks the place Falconer Pub. Co. : distributed by Treasure Chest Publications, c1983. P. 665

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Websites

Arizona Department of Commerce Community Profiles- Wickenburg, Arizona
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/commasst/comm/wcknburg.pdf

Wickenburg, Arizona Local Government Website
http://www.ci.wickenburg.az.us/

Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce
http://www.wickenburgchamber.com

Arizonan.com Wickenburg, Arizona
http://arizonan.com/Wickenburg/

History of Wickenburg
http://www.wickenburg.com/history1.htm
 

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Newspapers

The Wickenburg Sun
http://www.wickenburgsun.com/

Sites to See

Wickenburg Public Library.
164 E. Apache St. Wickenburg, AZ 85390
928-684-2665

Desert Caballeros Western Museum
21 N Frontier St WICKENBURG AZ 85390-1417
(520) 684-2272
http://www.westernmuseum.org/

Rainbow Hogan Museum Of The Cross
611 America St WICKENBURG AZ 85358
(520) 684-5745

Robson's Mining World
(520) 685-2609
 

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Books/Manuscripts found in the ASU Library Catalog

A history of Wickenburg to 1875 / by Helen B. Hawkins.

The town on the Hassayampa : a history of Wickenburg, Arizona / Mark E. Pry.

Wickenburg! : the ultimate guide to the ultimate western town / Alan Korwin ;photography by James Cowlin ; with a foreword by Sen. Barry M. Goldwater.

The Wickenburg way [videorecording] / produced and presented by the Education Committee of Desert Caballeros Western Museum ; producer, Sheila Kollasch ; written and directed by Dennis Freeman.

Stephen Shadegg Collection
MS FM MSS 53

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