Graham County, Arizona: History
Joseph Knight Rogers, an early settler in the area, and a member of the Arizona Territorial Legislature, is known as the father of Graham County: he introduced the bill in the territorial legislature creating it. The new county was created from southern Apache County and eastern Pima County on March 10, 1881. Initially, the county seat was located in the city of Safford but was later moved to Solomonville in 1883. This change was undone in 1915, returning the county seat to Safford.
Graham County is named after the mountain of the same name which was, in turn, named after Lt. Col James Duncan Graham. The county was the first in Arizona to break the tradition of naming counties for Native Americans.