Safford/Thatcher

Past
History of Safford
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Founding:
The City of Safford was originally a village in the Arizona Territory. About the winter of 1873-74 a small party of hardy pioneers, who had been for a number of years making an effort to develop water at Gila Bend, and having their dams and canals washed away by the high water, and crops drying out in the consequence, concluded to try anew in the Valley of the Pueblo Viejo, (Old Town), as the whole valley was then known.
The pioneers made their first camp on the bank of the river near here, on land owned by the Chiricahua Cattle Company. Having been joined by a few others, they laid out the present town site under the town site laws of the United States. The town site was surveyed by C.M. Ritter during the closing days of 1874. The early settlers constructed a few crude buildings as a commencement of a town.
Naming:
In January 1874, Joshua Eaton Bailey (See "Father of Safford" below) arrived in Safford. As one of Safford’s first merchants, he was active in supplying the military posts. Bailey, referred to as the “Father of Safford,” was instrumental in naming the little community after the third territorial governor of Arizona, Anson Pacely Killen Safford. Whether Bailey was an admirer of Governor Safford, or whether it was a case of political expedience to secure for the village some recognition, historians do not say. However, it is said that Governor Safford always took a lively interest in the development of the little community.
Governor Safford was appointed governor of the territory by President Grant and took office in April, 1869. He served two terms from 1869 to 1877. According to the 1870 census there were more than nineteen hundred children of school age in the territory, but there was no public school. During his term of office, Governor Safford worked hard to found an educational system and because of his efforts became known as “Father of the Public School System in Arizona.”
Father of Safford: historical information as told by Joshua Bailey's grandson: Joshua E. Bailey was born Nov 4, 1833 in Orleans County New York, in Barre Township. He traveled west in 1851 to the the goldfields of California (the Eureka area). In 1861 Bailey joined the California 4th Volunteers who did service in the Arizona Territory. In 1865, he was discharged from the Army and went to work at Yuma Army Depot. He worked trade stations along the Colorado River until he led the party of Mormons to the Safford Area. Tuttle and Bailey opened the first store--Bailey ran the store, and Tuttle financed it. Joshua then opened the stage station at Bailey's Wells. Later, he was elected a Graham County Commissioner. He sold out of Safford in 1898, and purchased a dairy in Yuma. At the request of Bailey's wife, Ida Garber Bailey, they moved to Michigan in 1899. Joshua Bailey died April 2, 1900 at his farm in Eaton County Michigan and is buried in the Diamondale Cemetary in Eaton County Michigan.

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