How Queen Creek Got Its Name: The Silver Queen Mine Story

Queen Creek got its name from a silver mine in the mountains east of town. The stream that flows down from the mountains near Superior was first called Picket Post Creek, and it was renamed Queen Creek after the Silver Queen Mine opened. The farming community downstream, once known as Rittenhouse, later took the creek's name.

I drive through Queen Creek all the time, and one of the questions I hear most from people new to the area is simple: why "Queen"? There is no queen, and most days there is no creek you can see. The real answer is a good Arizona story about silver, a railroad flag stop, and a lot of cotton.

It Starts in the Mountains Near Superior

According to the Town of Queen Creek, the name started far from today's town, up in the mountains around Superior. In the 1870s that area filled with silver mines. Two of the best known were the Silver King and the Silver Queen. Local histories record that the Silver Queen vein was staked in March 1875, just days after the Silver King claim, and a Silver Queen Mining Company was organized in 1880.

The stream running past the base of the Silver Queen was known at the time as Picket Post Creek. That name came from the oddly shaped peak above it, Picket Post Mountain, which you can still see today rising above Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Once the Silver Queen went into production, people started calling the stream Queen Creek, and the new name stuck.

The silver did not last forever. The Silver Queen shut down in 1893 when the silver ran thin. In 1910, William Boyce Thompson and George Gunn bought the mine and formed the Magma Copper Company, and the Superior area went on to become a major copper district for most of the 1900s. Thompson is the same man whose name is on the arboretum below Picket Post Mountain.

Following the Creek Down to the Valley

From the mountains, Queen Creek runs west through Queen Creek Canyon and out onto the desert floor south of Mesa and Gilbert. Out here it is usually a dry wash. The town notes that early 1900s dams and reservoirs changed how water moved across the Southwest, so the creek that once ran past farms is now mostly a sandy channel that carries water after big storms.

Today the Queen Creek Wash and the Sonoqui Wash are part of the town's plans for trails and open space, and the washes also help carry floodwater away from homes. So when you see a "Queen Creek Wash" sign while biking or walking, you are looking at the same stream that once ran past a silver mine.

When the Town Was Called Rittenhouse

Before it was Queen Creek, the farming community here was known as Rittenhouse. Families arrived in the early 1900s to farm cotton, corn and potatoes below the San Tan Mountains. Land developer Charles Rittenhouse formed the Queen Creek Farms Company and drilled wells that made the land productive, and a railroad spur near what is now Rittenhouse and Ellsworth roads carried produce and cotton out.

The town tells a fun detail about that stop: people would flag down the train to catch a ride into Phoenix. As trucks and cars took over and fewer people used the stop, the community began going by the creek's name instead. Local histories say the name became official in 1947, when the Queen Creek post office was established.

You can still see pieces of that era. The old Rittenhouse Elementary School, built in 1925 at the corner of Ellsworth and Queen Creek roads, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now home to the San Tan Historical Society. Hunt Highway, built in 1913 and named for George W. P. Hunt, Arizona's first governor, still crosses the area.

From Farm Town to Incorporated Town

Farming carried Queen Creek for decades. Schnepf Farms dates to 1941, when Jack and Maude Schnepf bought the land, and today it is home to an antique 1912 Parker carousel and the 1952 cotton gin water tower the family moved there in 1999. The Great Freeze of 1963 hit citrus growers across the Southwest hard, and local groves took years to bounce back.

The Town of Queen Creek incorporated on September 5, 1989. The town says its population was just over 2,500 the next year. It has grown fast since then, and part of it now sits in Pinal County as well as Maricopa County. The town even made a documentary for its 25th anniversary called "From Rittenhouse to QC," which is worth a watch if you like this kind of history.

If you are thinking about living here, my Moving to Queen Creek guide covers the day-to-day side, and you can browse Queen Creek homes for sale anytime. For a nod to the farm and ranch roots, I also keep a page on Queen Creek horse properties. And if you enjoy town stories like this one, read how Fountain Hills was built around its famous fountain.

Questions people ask

Why is it called Queen Creek, Arizona?
The town is named after Queen Creek, a stream that was renamed for the Silver Queen Mine near Superior. Before that, the stream was called Picket Post Creek, after Picket Post Mountain.

What was Queen Creek called before?
The community was known as Rittenhouse, after a railroad flag stop near Rittenhouse and Ellsworth roads. It later took the name of the creek, and the name became official with the post office in 1947.

When did Queen Creek become a town?
The Town of Queen Creek incorporated on September 5, 1989. It started as a small farming community and has grown quickly since.