Editing Florence, Arizona (section)

==History==
The area where the current town of Florence is located was once inhabited by the [[Hohokam]], ancestors of the [[O'odham]] people.<ref>[http://www.azcentral.com/news/native-americans/?content=arizona-tribal-map#ixzz3cYDBlx1j Arizona Republic]</ref> Prior to the establishment of the town, the [[Gila River]] served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico. In 1853, the [[Gadsden Purchase]] extended American territory well south of the Gila.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peterson, Charles S. |year=1992 |title=Pioneer Settlements in Arizona |url=http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/gathering/Arizona_EOM.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220004602/http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/gathering/Arizona_EOM.htm |archive-date=February 20, 2012 |access-date=March 16, 2012 |publisher=Light Planet}}</ref>

[[Levi Ruggles]], a veteran of the [[American Civil War]], founded the town of Florence on the south bank of the Gila River. He came to Arizona Territory in 1866 as a U.S. Indian Agent. Recognizing the agricultural potential of the valley, he found an easily fordable crossing on the Gila River and surveyed a townsite there. With the aid of [[Richard Cunningham McCormick|Governor R.C. McCormick]], he secured a post office in August of the same year. Ruggles held numerous public offices including that of [[Arizona Territorial Legislature|Territorial Legislator]].<ref>[http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=26709 Levi Ruggles, Founder of Florence]</ref> Florence became the county seat in the newly formed Pinal County. Silver was discovered in 1875 in the nearby mountains which led to the creation of the famous Silver King Mine.<ref name="AF">[http://www.visitflorenceaz.com/aboutflorence.shtml About Florence]</ref>

===Adamsville===
In 1870, Fred Adams founded a farming community two miles west of the original Florence townsite. The farming town had stores, homes, a post office, a flour mill, and water tanks, It was named Adamsville. In the 1900s (decade), the [[Gila River]] overflowed after a storm and ran over its banks. Most of the small town was wiped out and the residents moved to Florence. The area where the town was established is now a [[ghost town]] and is currently within the boundaries of Florence. At the junction of Highway 79 and 287 there is a historical marker about Adamsville.<ref>[http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/adamsville.html Ghost towns]</ref>

A canal was built in the 1880s which enabled water from the Gila River to be diverted for irrigation. Farming and ranching then played a major role in Florence's economy. All of the federal land transactions for Southern Arizona were conducted in Florence until 1881, when the [[Federal Land Office]] was moved to [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]].

===Tunnel Saloon Gabriel-Phy shootout of 1888===
One of the most notable gunfights in the Old Southwest occurred in Florence. Sheriff Pete Gabriel hired thirty-nine year old Joseph (Joe) Phy as his deputy in 1883. Gabriel decided to not run for sheriff in 1886 and supported his deputy Phy for the job. Later Gabriel withdrew his support because of personal differences with Phy. The two friends became bitter enemies and had a confrontation on May 31, 1888, in the Tunnel Saloon. A gunfight ensued and spread to the street. Both men received gunshot wounds. Phy died a few hours after the gunfight, but Gabriel survived the encounter and died 10 years later.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shootout at the Tunnel Saloon |url=http://www.guns.com/2011/07/29/gunfights-on-gunscom-shootout-at-the-tunnel-saloon/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150127191937/http://www.guns.com/2011/07/29/gunfights-on-gunscom-shootout-at-the-tunnel-saloon/ |archive-date=January 27, 2015 |access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>

===Second Pinal County Courthouse===
The second Pinal County Courthouse was built in 1891. It was the site where the trials of three notorious women were presented. They were [[Pearl Heart]], [[Eva Dugan]] and [[Winnie Ruth Judd]], known as the "Trunk Murderess". [[Pearl Hart]] (birth surname: Taylor) was an [[outlaw]] of the [[American Old West]]. She committed one of the last recorded [[stagecoach]] [[robbery|robberies]] in the United States; her crime gained notoriety primarily because of her gender. She was tried in 1899 and was acquitted, however the judge ordered a second trial and she was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 17, 1899 |title=Pearl Hart Acquitted |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A01E1DB1530E132A25754C1A9679D94689ED7CF |work=New York Times |page=9}}</ref>

In the 1930s [[Eva Dugan]] was convicted of murder. She was sentenced to be executed by [[hanging]]. However, it resulted in her [[decapitation]] and influenced the State of Arizona to replace hanging with the gas chamber as a method of [[execution]].<ref>[http://www.executedtoday.com/2011/02/21/1930-eva-dugan-her-head-jerked-clean-off/ 1930: Eva Dugan, her head jerked clean off, Executed Today]</ref>

[[Winnie Ruth Judd]] was a Phoenix medical secretary who was found guilty of murdering and dismembering her friends Agnes Anne LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson over the alleged affections of her lover Jack Halloran. The jury found her guilty of first-degree murder on February 8, 1932. An appeal was unsuccessful. Her trial was marked by sensationalized newspaper coverage and suspicious circumstances. Judd was sentenced to be hanged February 17, 1933, and sent to the Arizona State Prison in Florence. The sentence she received raised debate about capital punishment.<ref name="NYT_1998-10-27">{{Cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |date=October 27, 1998 |title=Winnie R. Judd, 93, Infamous As 1930's 'Trunk Murderess' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/27/us/winnie-r-judd-93-infamous-as-1930-s-trunk-murderess.html |access-date=January 12, 2010 |work=The New York Times |quote=Winnie Ruth Judd, who spent three decades in an Arizona state mental hospital as the notorious ''trunk murderess'' in one of the most sensational criminal cases of 1930s, died in Phoenix on Friday. She was 93.}}</ref> Her death sentence was overturned after a ten-day hearing found her mentally incompetent; she was then sent to Arizona State Asylum for the Insane on April 24, 1933.<ref>Arizona State Hospital History http://www.azdhs.gov/azsh/history.htm</ref>

===Tom Mix Monument===
In 1940, the cowboy movie star [[Tom Mix]] was killed when he lost control of his speeding Cord Phaeton convertible and rolled into a dry wash (now called the Tom Mix Wash) in Florence, Arizona. Mix, who was a regular tenant in the Ross/Fryer–Cushman House, was returning to Florence from Tucson. There is a 2-foot–tall iron statue of a riderless horse with a plaque on the site of the accident.<ref>[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/silent-film-star-tom-mix-dies-in-arizona-car-wreck-brained-by-suitcase-of-death History]</ref>