Willcox, Arizona

Willcox was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in eighteen eighty as a cattle-loading stop a railroad stop in the Sulphur Springs Valley of southeastern Arizona. The original name was Maley, after an early settler. In eighteen eighty-nine General Orlando B. Willcox, who had commanded the military district of Arizona during the Apache Wars, came through on a visit and the town renamed itself in his honor.

By the nineteen thirties Willcox had become one of the nation's leading cattle-shipping points. Cowboys moved herds from ranches across the Sulphur Springs Valley into the rail yards here for shipment to markets across the country. The ranching economy has persisted, and Willcox has more recently become known for an unlikely second identity: the Sulphur Springs Valley's high desert climate turned out to produce grapes well suited to red wine production, and the area has become a recognized wine appellation.