Florence, Arizona History: Levi Ruggles and the Courthouse Clock Stuck at 11:44

Florence, Arizona was founded in 1866 by Levi Ruggles, a Civil War colonel who came to the territory as a U.S. Indian agent and laid out a town on the south bank of the Gila River. It became the Pinal County seat in 1875, and its 1891 courthouse clock has read 11:44 ever since.

Florence sits just south of San Tan Valley, but it feels like a different century once you reach Main Street. Here is how this county seat came to be, and why its famous clock never runs.

Levi Ruggles and the Founding of Florence

Levi Ruggles was born in Ohio in 1824. He worked as a carpenter and a schoolteacher, served in the Ohio militia during the Civil War, and rose to the rank of colonel. In 1866 he was appointed a U.S. Indian agent for Arizona Territory and came west to the Gila River country.

Ruggles saw promise in the farmland along the river. He set up a trading post, claimed land, and platted a town. Pinal County's own history pages credit him as the founder of Florence and note that his town plan was known for its unusually wide streets. Ruggles later turned the title of the town land over to the Town of Florence. He also served as a merchant, justice of the peace, county treasurer and territorial legislator. He died in Florence in 1889 and is remembered as the "Father of Florence."

Where Did the Name Florence Come From?

Nobody knows for sure. Ruggles had a daughter named Florence, which makes for a sweet story, but many historians believe he named the town after Florence, Italy. I tell people both versions.

Becoming the Pinal County Seat

When the Territorial Legislature carved out Pinal County in 1875, Florence was named the county seat. That same year, silver was discovered in the area, which led to the Silver King Mine, and Florence became a supply and business center for the mining country.

The county's first courthouse went up in 1877 and 1878, built by hand from adobe blocks made on site. Ruggles himself drew up the plans. Today that building is the oldest standing courthouse in Arizona, and it is known as McFarland State Historic Park, named for Ernest McFarland, who served as Pinal County Attorney and later became a U.S. Senator, Arizona's governor and chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. McFarland bought the old building and donated it to Arizona State Parks.

The Courthouse Clock Stuck at 11:44

By 1890 the county had outgrown the adobe courthouse, so it hired architect James M. Creighton to design a new one. The red brick, Victorian-style building was finished on February 2, 1891, with a handsome clock tower on top.

There was one problem: the county ran out of money before it could buy working clockworks. So instead of a real clock, the tower got clock faces with the hands set permanently at 11:44. More than a century later, it still shows the same time.

The building came close to losing its tower in 1952, when the cupola was set to be torn down, but residents protested and saved it. The courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and later restored.

Some famous trials happened inside. Pearl Hart, the woman stagecoach robber, was jailed and tried in Florence in 1899, and Winnie Ruth Judd had her 1933 sanity hearing in the courthouse.

The Prison That Shaped the Town

Florence incorporated as a town in 1908. A year later, in 1909, the Arizona Territorial Prison moved from Yuma to Florence, and the prison has been part of the town's identity ever since. During World War II, Florence was also home to Camp Florence, which held German and Italian prisoners of war, many of them captured during the North Africa campaign. McFarland State Historic Park has a display about that chapter of local history.

A Town Full of Historic Buildings

Florence has a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, with more than 25 individually listed buildings.

Two more stops worth knowing about:

• Poston Butte: This hill was once called Primrose Hill. It was renamed for Charles D. Poston, known as the "Father of Arizona," whose pyramid-shaped tomb sits on top.
• Tom Mix memorial: Outside town, a small iron statue of a riderless horse marks the spot where cowboy movie star Tom Mix died in a 1940 car crash. The dry wash there is still called Tom Mix Wash.

If you want to see the first courthouse in person, McFarland State Historic Park is at 24 West Ruggles Street. Arizona State Parks lists it as open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from October through April, with shorter hours in summer, and closed Sundays. Check their site before you go.

Questions People Ask

Who founded Florence, Arizona?
Levi Ruggles founded Florence in 1866. He was a Civil War colonel from Ohio who came to Arizona Territory as a U.S. Indian agent and laid out the town on the south bank of the Gila River.

Why is the Florence courthouse clock stuck at 11:44?
The county ran out of money for working clockworks when the courthouse was built in 1891. The tower got clock faces with the hands fixed at 11:44 instead, and they have stayed that way ever since.

Is Florence the county seat of Pinal County?
Yes. Florence has been the Pinal County seat since the county was created in 1875.

Terry Day, REALTOR®, DeLex Realty, 10115 E Bell Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85260.