Monday, April 20, 2009

Florence Junction: The Other Junction

April 20, 2009 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

When George Cleveland Curtis was planning to homestead the site of modern Apache Junction another man was planning the same thing for the place we call Florence Junction today. Ironically, Apache Junction flourished and Florence Junction never really got off the ground. There are many reasons for Apache Junction’s success, but that is not the topic of this story.

A man named Joseph R. Willoughby from Superior, Arizona pioneered the founding of Florence Junction. He staked out a homestead shortly after Curtis filed for his homestead at Apache Junction in 1922. Willoughby opened a service station for automobiles on September 1, 1923, just six months after the opening of the Apache Junction Inn and Service Station. Willoughby called his new business establishment the Sunkist Service Station. Both Curtis and Willoughby were convinced there would be sufficient traffic on the Globe-Superior-Phoenix Highway (later known as US Highway 60) to support their business ventures. The highway had just been completed at the insistence and support of Arizona’s first governor George P. Hunt in May of 1922.

The following is a quote from the Superior Sun. “One of the most attractive service stations in this part of the state is now in the course of construction at the junction of the Superior highway and Florence road. The undertaking is being promoted by J.R. Willoughby, who recently acquired good acreage in that section. A building after the style of the station of the Superior Service, only much larger, will be constructed, and there will be a large covered parking place adjoining the building. Mr. Willoughby expects to carry a full line of oil, gas and auto supplies. He will also handle refreshments. For the present he will haul water to the station by truck, but later expects to sink a well.”

Willoughby, and his wife Eula, often took the summer off and made trips through the northwestern part of the United States. The Willoughbys owned a main street service station in Superior in addition to the one at Florence Junction. Willoughby was a well-known entrepreneur in the Superior area, operating service stations in Superior from 1919 until about 1930 when he moved to Duncan, Arizona, with his wife and opened Camp Washington.

Joseph R. Willoughby was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas on July 8, 1878. He was the son of Arkansas pioneers William and Sara Willoughby. Willoughby enlisted with the C.A. Arkansas Volunteers on May 4, 1898, and was honorably discharged October 20, 1898, serving during the Spanish-American War. He and his wife had two daughters and two sons. Willoughby, the founder of Florence Junction, died on Tuesday, March 30, 1935, at the age of fifty-seven.

Florence Junction has had its ups and downs during the years since Willoughby owned and operated his station there. Florence Junction was once a very important transcontinental bus stop in the 1940s and 1950s before air transportation. I recalled stopping at Florence Junction on many occasions during the past fifty years. The junction often appeared to be a thriving business, however appearances can be deceiving. 

The site had been known by other names such as Coyote Crossing, the Crossroads, and the “junction.” Many years ago there was a Texaco Service Station just west of Florence Junction called the “Crossroads.” Today a new Texaco has been constructed just east of Florence Junction at the Hardy Turquoise Company. 

Florence Junction, like Apache Junction, is a part of the history of this region. On a historical note, the infamous Peralta Stone Maps of Superstition Mountain fame made their debut at Florence Junction around 1949.

In Columbia Studio’s film Lust for Gold, a story about the Dutchman’s Lost Mine starring Glenn Ford and Ida Lupino, Florence Junction was used as a town Jacob Waltz passed through going to his mine. This was pure fantasy according to historical records concerning the tale of the Lost Dutchman Mine.

In the early 1970’s Hardy Turquoise [chose] to locate in Florence Junction. Leonard Hardy found Florence Junction an ideal location for his turquoise business. Mr. Hardy had a private airstrip constructed, which in some ways made Florence Junction unique. Mr. Hardy used this airstrip to fly back and forth to Kingman where he had mining interests.

The completion of the new Texaco Service Station just east of Florence Junction on U.S. Highway 60 has given new life to the area once known as Coyote Crossing.

The Arizona Department of Transportation [has] finally reconstructed the intersection at Florence Junction and made it a modern two-lane intersection. Most of this construction occurred in winter and spring of 2003. Florence Junction’s original facility has all but been forgotten now. No longer do travelers stop to purchase supplies. The new intersection places the old businesses off the beaten path and into oblivion. The old Santa Fe look is gone and some modern interchange now dominates the desert around the area.

Florence Junction as we knew it is gone. The site may have a future if water in sufficient amounts is found and can support a population.