Cottonwood may not have had an official municipal government back in the day, but it was certainly a community.
It also apparently wasn’t the first Cottonwood in the immediate area.
To further confuse the issue, there were things named after the cottonwood tree all over the Southwest.
It’s a bit reminiscent of how Fort Verde changed its name from Fort Lincoln because it was getting confusing when everyone was naming everything after President Lincoln following the Civil War.
Many places like mines and camps throughout the region shared the name of Cottonwood.
Jerome might have been the big man on campus locally back in the day thanks to its extensive mining operations, but it depended in part on the support of the people who lived down the mountain.
Exactly when the community was founded is something Cottonwood Councilman Tim Elinski wants to set straight.
Elinski serves with the Cottonwood Historic Preservation Commission, established by the City Council in 2010 with the goal of looking at the identification, evaluation, protection, preservation and enhancement of historic properties that have significance for the city of Cottonwood.
“Many report that Cottonwood was founded by receiving its official name through the U.S. Post Department in the year 1879,” a report from the Cottonwood City Clerk’s Office reported. “The [commission] recently looked at this issue, and through thorough research by a commissioner, it was discovered that another Cottonwood was founded near Big Bug in Yavapai County, in the year 1879, which is where the confusion began.”
The other Cottonwood lasted for less than a year. It’s postmaster, William McMichael, didn’t live in the Verde Valley.
According to information from the commission, there was no mail service in the upper Verde Valley until 1885.
“This fact was known to previous civic leaders, but has never been officially addressed,” Elinski reported.
According to the commission’s research, Mac Willard was the first postmaster in the area now known as the only Cottonwood and started up operations on July 9, 1885.
The Cottonwood City Council is looking at potentially setting this as the official date of the city’s founding.
The information came from several old documents, including newspaper clippings and historical accounts of the history of the postal service in Arizona.
