Graham

Formed March 10, 1881 (10^th county)

Graham County (38,533), Safford (10,126)

The 1915 tan brick courthouse is a stately addition to this town.  The building is located at 8^th Avenue at Main Street.  United States Highway 70 is one block north of the site.  Royal W. Lescher and John Rinker Kibbey designed this Classical Revival style courthouse.  It features columns with veteran memorials in front and across the street.  Solomonville also served as the county seat.  The Graham Mountain provided the name for the county.  Governor A. P. K. Safford is the namesake of the county seat.  The county was established on March 10, 1881 from parts of Apache and Pinal counties as the 10^th county. 

Graham County government consists of a sheriff and an assessor (executive).  It has 3 supervisors (legislative.)  Two Superior Court Judges and Two Justice Court Judges, a County Clerk and an Attorney serve Graham County (judicial.)   It is located in eastern Arizona with the Salt Black River forming its northern border.  Phoenix, Arizona is West and El Paso, Texas is Southeast of the county.  The center of the county is 24.4 miles North of Safford nearer Pima.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Navajo, Apache, Greenlee, Cochise, Pima, Pinal, and Gila counties.  The county is rectangular with a solid “leg” extending out southeast from the eastern border.  Safford is located to the southeast of center in the county.  Safford is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 26.3% of the county population. 

The area of the county is 4641 square miles.  It is 12 of 15 in size.  It ranks 13 out of 15 in population in the state.  It has a density of 8.3 persons per square mile making it 11 out of 15 in the state.  Graham County has 47.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 70 crosses the county from northwest to southeast, Gila County to Greenlee County.  United States Highway 191 cuts the southeast corner of the county from Greenlee County, east, to Cochise County, south.  The county is in the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area.