Our Namesake, Stephen Weaver Higley

In addition to wondering where Higley actually is, some may ask, how did Higley come to be? There are some details that are unclear but we do know that our community was named after Stephen Weaver Higley, railroad pioneer, publishing magnate, rancher and business man extraordinaire.

But before I start on S.W.’s history, I’d like to tell you about one of Higley’s first Friendly Historians, an Iowan named Parker Higley who traveled through the area in 1971. While driving on the I-10, Parker was directed to the town that shared his name by following an exit to “Chandler-Higley.” Considering the name Higley was quite uncommon (he even notes that he looks at the phone books when he travels, and Alaska had the most Higley’s) he was compelled to find out everything there was to know about the man who founded this town.

Well lucky for us! In my research about Higley, Parker Higley’s analysis was the most extensive about our founder’s life and genealogy (about 20 pages of extensive). A very kind thank you goes to Parker Higley for following his curiosity! A copy of his 1972 letter to the Higley postmaster can be found at San Tan Historical Society.

S.W. Higley (1857-1935) was an industrious man whose story exemplifies the allure of the wild west at the turn of the century, the hard work it took to sustain a life here and the benefits reaped by doing so. A native of Ohio, he ran away from his father’s ranch while living in Missouri and was hired by the stagecoach company as a shotgun guard on stages that ran out west. When he was around 15 or 16, the Santa Fe Rail Co. hired him to work in Kansas City as a laborer. His large stature (6’7 and 270lbs!) made him a great candidate for such jobs. According to S.W.’s obituary, his work as a Santa Fe Rail superintendant had taken him to Prescott, AZ where the rail company was headquartered. While there, he is credited with building the short line between Arizona and California which ran through Parker, the Phoenix/Hayden, AZ line and the Crown King road. After working on the line for 35 years, he resigned in 1909 and turned his endeavors to procuring land in the Salt River Valley for ranching mainly sheep. His land holdings were 8300 acres in Higley; 4600 acres in Avondale area; and 640 acres south of Tempe. His personal residences were listed in downtown Phoenix and Paradise Valley where he had a 160+ acre ranch.

S.W.’s life was blessed with family, but appears to have had just as many hardships as joys. His first wife, Sarah Henson, who bore his first two children Claude and Thomas Henson, died when she was 23 and he 28. Their eldest son Claude died in 1893, four years after her death. He was seven years old. S.W. married again and had two children, Jessie and James, with wife Jessie Howe. Both of his sons served in WWI and, sadly, his son James perished in the battle. After divorcing Jessie at an unknown date, he married Olga Johnson in Los Angeles in 1920, and had another daughter, Cynthia, who would have been 14 when he died in 1935.

In the years leading up to Arizona’s statehood in 1912, S.W. Higley had just resigned from the railroad and was a very busy man! In 1909 at 52, he and a friend, Sims Ely purchased the Arizona Republican (the Republic’s predecessor). He served as the president while Mr. Ely was the General Manager. In 1911, S.W. purchased Mr. Ely’s interest in the paper and then sold the publication to Dwight B. Heard in 1912.

After the sale of the newspaper, he continued to pursue his ranching interests and then moved to Oklahoma in 1925. He continued to ranch sheep until he died on 7/26/1935 in Woodward, Oklahoma.

So... back to how the area known as Higley came to be. S.W. held about 8300 acres of land here, and according to the book of Arizona Name Places (Byrd Granger, U of A Press, 1960), he “was concerned with construction of the Phoenix and Eastern Railroad” in this area. What the latter means, I’m not quite sure, considering he had just stopped working with the railroad. In 1910, the post office in Higley, AZ was established for the community with Lawrence H. Sarey as the postmaster. And the rest is Higley history…..

Please feel free to add to, repudiate, or contribute pictures to this story about the founder of our town, ahemm, okay, really, our historic postal community, Stephen Weaver Higley.

Some questions I would like answered are this:

Did he name it after himself or was someone honoring him? I ask this because the town came into place at the same time he purchased the Republican.

Did he fund the construction of the Higley store and what was his interest if so? The farming community didn’t really pick up momentum until the years after the founding of Higley. Was he predicting growth or did he want to fill the need for a specific community? What was his tie to this area outside of the land he owned?

Did he make any attempt to establish a governing board in this community; did he have any interest in an executive position?

It is rumored that he built the building next to the store (the blue one that San Tan Arts currently occupies) for his daughter. There was no kitchen in it because she couldn’t cook. Can anyone verify that information?

Any idea when he released his land holdings in Higley? Any Higley’s still in Higley?

An editorial in the Republican was released on 8/31/1909 announcing the new owners and their commitment to publish without bias, prejudice, or distortion (“inaccurate information is always a nuisance” it states). Parker Higley’s notes say that S.W.’s sole purpose for buying the paper was to use it as a tool to promote the Republican Party, which was in the minority at the time. I am guessing that everyone had input about the direction we would/wouldn’t take as a state. I would love to know more about the political power struggle at that time.