page_title: Arizona Territory capitals
section_title: Background and first Prescott capital
hierarchical_section_title: Arizona Territory capitals / Background and first Prescott capital
caption_attribution_description: English: The first Arizona Territory capitol building and Governor's Mansion — in Prescott, Arizona. Front—east facade view, built in 1864. Now part of the Sharlot Hall Museum open air museum complex (opened 1928). Image courtesy of Historic American Buildings Survey—HABS. This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 71000121
context_page_description: The capital of the Arizona Territory was established in Prescott, but was moved to Tucson, back to Prescott, and finally to Phoenix over 25 years as political power shifted as the territory grew, developed, and stabilized. Each move was controversial.
context_section_description: After the Gadsden Purchase expanded the New Mexico Territory in 1853, there were several proposals for a division of the territory and the organization of a separate Arizona Territory. No proposal succeeded for a nearly decade until the American Civil War when the southern part of the territory, more under the influence of southern sympathizers, attempted to secede and join the Confederate States of America. The United States Congress then partitioned the territory into the Arizona Territory in the west with New Mexico retaining the eastern part. This had the effect of splitting the area with confederate sympathy.
  Conflict over the location of the capital began immediately. The bill passed in March 1862 by the United States House of Representatives to create Arizona stipulated that the capital would be in Tucson, located in the southern part of the territory. The final bill, the Arizona Organic Act, passed by the United States Senate in February 1863 and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on February 24, 1863 included no such language.
  Territorial officials, en route to Arizona in 1863 to establish its government, arrived at Fort Union in New Mexico after a ten-week journey over the Santa Fe Trail. There they discussed a location for the Arizona capital with post commander General James Carleton who argued against Tucson. Carleton felt that although Tucson was the most populous city in the territory, it suffered from strong Confederate and Mexican influences and recommended that the capital be located in the northern Union-controlled area.  He suggested the geographic center of the territory where a gold rush was attracting miners to the Walker Mining District. The prior month, Carleton sent troops there to protect the miners. They established Fort Whipple, near present-day Chino Valley. Governor John N. Goodwin heeded the advice and traveled to the fort, arriving on January 20, 1864.
  Goodwin shortly concluded that the site was too far from the mining settlements on Granite Creek, Lynx Creek, and Hassayampa Creek and too far from timber sources needed for buildings. After a month, Goodwin took a party of 84, including a military escort, to explore the area and search for a better location. He decided to move Fort Whipple 14 miles (23 km) south to its present location on Granite creek and establish the territory capital two miles further south in what became Prescott. Goodwin's decision was relayed to General Carleton who agreed and ordered the fort moved.
  While the Governor had chosen Prescott as the site of the capital, the 1st Arizona Territorial Legislature, which met in September 1864, had the authority to move it and considered doing so.  Two other locations were proposed, La Paz, along the Colorado River at the state's western border with California, and a new community named Aztlan to be located at the juncture of the Salt and Verde rivers in central Arizona. Efforts to move the capital to either location failed.
caption: First Territorial Capital and Governor's Mansion, 1864
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