From a pioneer mercantile on the Gila River to the seat of Graham County — and the living community of Solomon today.
Long before Anglo and European settlement, the fertile bottomlands of the upper Gila River supported ancient farming peoples, and the area around present-day Solomon was known to Mexican settlers as Pueblo Viejo — "old town" — a reference to the prehistoric ruins scattered along the valley floor. Hispanic farming families were already working the land when the town's namesake arrived.
Prussian-born merchant Isador Elkan Solomon and his wife Anna settled in the valley and acquired a small store and land in the Pueblo Viejo district. Solomon built a thriving business producing mesquite charcoal for the copper smelters at Clifton, and his mercantile quickly became the commercial anchor of the eastern Gila Valley.
A post office was established at the growing settlement and named Solomonville in honor of the merchant family — by local tradition, at the suggestion of the mail contractor who carried the route. The name stuck, and the town had an official identity.
The Territorial Legislature carved Graham County out of Pima and Apache counties on March 10, 1881, with Safford designated the temporary county seat. The young county encompassed the entire Gila Valley and the booming mining districts to the east.
Just two years later, the seat of government moved to fast-growing Solomonville. A courthouse rose in the town center, and for the next 32 years Solomonville was the political heart of Graham County — the place where deeds were recorded, trials were held, and territorial politics played out.
Charles Stevens (1893–1964), son of Graham County's first sheriff George H. Stevens, was born in Solomonville. Stevens went on to appear in nearly 200 films across a 50-year Hollywood career, working alongside Douglas Fairbanks in the great silent adventure epics and becoming the valley's most enduring link to early cinema.
The Gila Valley Bank was founded in Solomonville with the Solomon family among its founding figures. Through a 1922 merger it became part of the Valley Bank lineage that grew into the Valley National Bank of Arizona — for much of the 20th century the state's largest bank. Arizona banking, in a real sense, has roots on Solomon's main street.
After decades of growth along the railroad-and-highway corridor to the west, voters moved the county seat back to Safford in 1915. Solomonville's courthouse era ended, and the community began its second life as a quieter agricultural town. The town's name was gradually shortened to Solomon.
Solomon's Mexican-American families built the institutions that still define the community: the mutual aid society El Beneficio Propio (Sociedad Mutualista), Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Parish, and later the American Legion Lopez-Hernandez Post #95, named in honor of local servicemen. Cotton, chiles, and family farms sustained the town through the century.
Modern Solomon is a small, unincorporated community of roughly 500 residents along U.S. Route 70 east of Safford — home to Solomon Elementary School, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension for Graham County, beloved local dining, and generations of families who trace their roots to the county seat era. Explore the full community guide →
The settlement took its name from pioneer merchant Isador Elkan Solomon, who arrived in 1876 and established a mercantile and mesquite charcoal trade supplying the Clifton copper mines. When a post office was established in 1878, it was named Solomonville in his honor; the name was later shortened to Solomon.
Solomonville served as the seat of Graham County for 32 years, from 1883 to 1915. Safford was designated the temporary seat when the county was created in 1881, and the seat returned to Safford permanently in 1915.
The Gila Valley Bank was founded in Solomonville in 1900 with the Solomon family among its founding figures. Through later mergers it grew into the Valley National Bank of Arizona, which became the state's largest bank in the 20th century — making tiny Solomonville a genuine birthplace of Arizona banking.
Yes. Solomon is a living, unincorporated community in Graham County, anchored by Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Parish, Solomon Elementary School, the American Legion Lopez-Hernandez Post #95, and local dining along the historic townsite. It remains a proud center of Hispanic heritage in the Gila Valley.
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