Adamsville was one of the first two towns formed in Pinal County, Arizona. It was named for its original settler in 1866, Fred A. Adams. When a post office was established there in 1871, it was named Sanford,, by a political enemy of Mr. Adams, Richard McCormick. The town had stores, homes, a post office and a flour mill and water tanks. Local residents continued to use the original name, causing confusion which existed until 1876, when the post office was discontinued. In 1900, the Gila River overflowed and wiped out most of the town. Those who survived the flood moved to the town of Florence. The inscription on the marker reads as follows: "In the 1870s, a flour mill and a few stores formed the hub of life in Adamsville, where shootings and knifings were commonplace, and life was one of the cheapest commodities. Most of the adobe houses have been washed away by the flooding Gila River". Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, reference #10000114. The entire settlement was gone by 1920. Adams died in 1910 and is buried in the Adamsville A.O.U.W. Cemetery.
Demographics
Adamsville first appeared on the 1870 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It was then located within Pima County. It became a part of Pinal County with its creation in 1875. It reported 400 residents in 1870, all White. It was tied with the village of Apache Pass as the then-second most populous locale in Pima County, behind Tucson, and was the 4th largest recorded community in the entire territory of Arizona. In 1880, it reported as the village of Sanford, with just 39 residents. It was the second-least recorded populated community, tied with the village of Plomosa, and just ahead of Casa Grande. It did not report again on the census.
Remaining structures and cemetery
Pictured are some of the remaining structures of Adamsville. They are following:
The Adamsville Water Tower
The Adamsville store - The store is in a complete state of abandonment.
The Adamsville Water Tanks
A Adamsville grain storage
The Windmill Farmhouse
The historic Adamsville A.O.U.W. Cemetery. The Pioneers' Cemetery Association defines a "historic cemetery" as one which has been in existence for more than fifty years. Among those interned in the cemetery and whose graves are pictured are:
Fred A. Adams – Founder of Adamsville.
Judge H. B. Summers
Capt. Granville Henderson Oury - Judge: District court of New Mexico. Delegate to Confederate Congress. Arizona Mounted Volunteers CSA, Territorial legislator to U. S Congress, Pioneer-Soldier-Statesman.
Felix Grunde and his wife Martha Angeline Hardwick - Family known as the Hardwick pioneers
The Stevens family - Olnorah Stevens, wife of Daniel C. Stevens; Carmen Sarah Stevens, daughter of Daniel C. & Ollie N. Stevens and Taylor Stevens, infant son of Daniel C. and Mary E. Stevens
