I'm Looking For

History & Future

Buckeye Valley Development
Buckeye Valley Development

Buckeye's Development

Arizona’s “biggest small Town” has gone from a pioneer outpost, to a gas stop for California and Mexico-bound travelers, to a farming and transportation center, to a Town that people believe is the Valley of the Sun’s next great suburban metropolis. The vision began in 1878, when Thomas Newt Clanton moved his family and a group of settlers from Creston, Iowa, to Arizona to pursue good health. The area got its initial boost in 1885 with the beginning of the Buckeye Canal, named by Ohio native Malie Monroe Jackson. Oscar L. Mahoney and Thomas N. Clanton teamed together to subdivide 120 acres of land after the post office was established in March of 1988. In September of 1888, Clanton named the new Town Sidney, later to be renamed Buckeye in 1910. Advances in transportation put Buckeye on the map.

Progress came with the arrival of the Arizona Eastern Railroad in 1910, the automobile, a steam rail line connected to Phoenix and a state highway during the early-1900s. The Town incorporated in 1929 and grew as a farming, ranching and transportation center. Over the last quarter century, families, entrepreneurs and developers have turned to Buckeye as the last frontier as the Phoenix area matures.


The Town is anchored by several spectacular master-planned communities.  The 8,800 acre Verrado community is nestled at the base of the White Tank Mountains with 14,000 homes, 325 proposed acres of parks and 4 million square feet of commercial space. Tartesso with 12,800acres, 48,800 homes and 1,200 acres designated for commercial, retail and industrial use is located between the foothills of the White Tank Mountains and the Hassayampa River. Twenty-five percent of the Tartesso community is dedicated to natural area open space. Douglas Ranch is rising in North Buckeye with an impressive 35,000 acres and 80,000 homes. When completed, it will be one of the largest communities in Arizona.  More than 42,700 acres of additional master-planned communities are underway in Buckeye including Festival Ranch, Sundance, Trillium, Westwind and many others. The Verrado Resort Village, a world-class resort offering golf, spa, hiking, horseback riding, as well as golf villas, town houses, condominiums, an exciting mix of restaurants, boutiques and other retail attractions, is slated to begin construction in 2007.