Who Are the Yavapai-Prescott People?

The Yavapai-Prescott Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Yavapai people whose reservation sits within and alongside the city of Prescott. The Yavapai are among the original inhabitants of central Arizona, here long before the town was founded. The tribe's reservation was established in 1935 on 75 acres of the former Fort Whipple Military Reserve, and it has grown to roughly 1,400 acres today.

The Yavapai lived across a wide stretch of central and western Arizona for generations before American settlement. Their history in the 1800s includes forced removal and hardship, and the return of Yavapai families to the Prescott area is part of the fuller story of this place — one worth knowing for anyone who calls the region home.

In the early 1930s, Sam Jimulla and his wife Viola Jimulla, with community support, pushed the federal government to set aside reservation land for the tribe. In 1935, 75 acres of the former Fort Whipple were designated — the first reservation established solely for the Yavapai — and another 1,320 acres were added in 1956. Viola Jimulla went on to lead the tribe and is remembered as one of the first women to serve as chief of a North American tribe.

The Yavapai-Prescott Tribe is an integral part of the modern Prescott community, with land and enterprises woven right into the city. Understanding the area's full history — Indigenous, territorial, and modern — is part of truly knowing this place, and it's part of how we at Home Team Prescott help people feel at home here. When you're ready to learn more about the area, explore Prescott.