How Did Dewey-Humboldt Get Its Name?

If you've driven Highway 69 through Dewey-Humboldt and wondered about the double name, you're not alone, and the story is a fun one. Here's the short answer: Dewey-Humboldt is two old towns joined together. Dewey was named in 1898 for George Dewey, the naval hero of Manila Bay. Humboldt, first known as Val Verde, took its new name in 1905 to honor the German explorer Baron Alexander von Humboldt. The two incorporated together as one town on December 20, 2004.

Let's walk through how each half got its name, and why neither namesake likely ever saw the place.

The town's own history page puts it simply: Dewey was a ranching town that provided the food, and Humboldt was a mining town that earned the cash. Between them, they tell the story of two of the biggest industries in early Yavapai County.

The page also points out a fun detail. Like Prescott, both Dewey and Humboldt were named for people with no evidence they ever laid eyes on the towns that carry their names.

Dewey went through a few names first. According to the town's history page:

• 1872: Darrel Duppa opened a stage station here called Agua Fria, meaning cold water, after the nearby river.
• 1875: A post office opened, and the town was named Agua Fria Valley.
• 1892: The name was shortened to Agua Fria, and shortly after, the post office closed.
• 1898: When it reopened, the postal service wouldn't allow the old name. The railroad station name, Cherry Creek, was considered and turned down too.

So the town needed a brand-new name, and the timing turned out to matter.

In the spring of 1898, the United States and Spain went to war. George Dewey commanded the U.S. Asiatic fleet, and he sailed from Nagasaki, Japan, to attack the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines. A Sharlot Hall Museum Days Past article says the Spanish surrendered in two days, and Dewey became a national hero.

Back here, Fred Hiltenbrandt was getting ready to open the new post office, and he chose the name Dewey to honor the hero of Manila Bay. The museum notes that Dewey was a commodore at the time, though he's remembered as Admiral Dewey. The Dewey post office opened on July 18, 1898.

Was the town really named for the admiral? There's been some hearsay that it might have been someone else. But the museum's research found no residents with the Dewey surname at the time of the naming, and the 1900 census lists no one by that name.

Humboldt grew up around a smelter, a plant that melts ore to pull out the metal. The first one here was the Val Verde smelter, and that's where the area got its first name. A Sharlot Hall Museum Days Past article says Cecil Fennell acquired the land and water rights for the smelter in the 1880s, and Val Verde became a company-owned town with a post office from 1899 to 1905.

Then came a setback. On September 28, 1904, the smelter was destroyed by fire. The remaining buildings were sold to the Arizona Smelting Company, which built a new, bigger 1,000-ton-per-day smelter and finished it in 1906.

With the old Val Verde smelter gone, the town needed a new name. The town's history page says the name was changed on November 7, 1905, to honor Baron Alexander von Humboldt, the German naturalist, explorer, and traveler. The page also shares the story behind the choice: von Humboldt had predicted that the riches of the world would be found in the center of the Great Peck mining company area.

He was famously well traveled. Still, both the town page and the museum say it's quite unlikely he ever came to this part of Arizona.

The new name marked the start of Humboldt's boom. The Days Past article describes a Labor Day tradition called Agua Fria Days that began in 1907, with parades, marching bands, burro rides, and contests. By 1916 the town had grown to about a thousand residents, with restaurants, hotels, a hospital, a railroad depot, and a movie theater. In 1917, more than 2,000,000 pounds of copper and lead left the smelter each month.

Like most mining towns, Humboldt saw hard times when the mining slowed. The museum credits its spot on the well-traveled highway between Prescott and Phoenix with keeping it from becoming a ghost town.

Here's a connection we love. Sharlot Hall, the poet and historian whose name is on the museum in Prescott, grew up on her family's Orchard Ranch on Lynx Creek, near today's Prescott Valley and Dewey. If you'd like her whole story, here's who Sharlot Hall was.

For about a century, Dewey and Humboldt were neighbors with very different backgrounds. On December 20, 2004, they incorporated together as the Town of Dewey-Humboldt. The town's history page describes it as a wedding, with ranching Dewey and mining Humboldt finally sharing one name.

Part of what makes the Quad Cities feel like home is knowing the stories under your feet. Dewey-Humboldt sits along Highway 69, on the eastern side of the area, next to Prescott Valley. If you're curious about the area, we'd be glad to show you around Dewey-Humboldt and the rest of the Quad Cities.

And if a move is on your mind, you don't have to figure it all out at once. We'll help you build a timeline that fits your life, from your first visits to the day you get the keys, so it never feels overwhelming. For more local history, see how Prescott Valley got its start and how Chino Valley became Arizona's first capital.

Who was Dewey, Arizona named after?
Dewey was named for George Dewey, the naval hero of Manila Bay in 1898. Fred Hiltenbrandt chose the name when the Dewey post office opened on July 18, 1898.

Who was Humboldt, Arizona named after?
Humboldt was named in 1905 for Baron Alexander von Humboldt, the German naturalist and explorer. Local history sources say it's quite unlikely he ever visited the area.

What was Humboldt, Arizona called before?
It was known as Val Verde, after the Val Verde smelter. The name changed in 1905, after the original smelter burned in 1904.

When did Dewey and Humboldt become one town?
Dewey and Humboldt incorporated together as the Town of Dewey-Humboldt on December 20, 2004.

If Dewey-Humboldt's story has you picturing life in the Quad Cities, let's talk. A no-pressure conversation is a simple way to compare the towns, their settings, and the homes that fit how you want to live. No pressure, just a clear picture.