St. Johns (, )Wilson, A. ''Navajo Place Names'' Audio Forum 1995 is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Apache County, Arizona Apache County is a County (United States), county in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. Shaped in a long rectangle running north to south, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 66,021. The county ...

, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 180, mostly west of where that highway intersects with U.S. Route 191. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 3,480.

History

The location was originally called Tsézhin Deezʼáhí in Navajo, a reference to its rock formations. The site of a useful crossing of the Little Colorado River, it was later called El Vadito (Spanish for "the little crossing") by Spaniards as they first explored the area. Starting in 1864, a trader named Solomon Barth began crossing the area as he moved salt from a salt lake in Zuni territory to

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, r ...

. In a poker game in 1873 Barth earned enough money to purchase cattle and enough land in St. Johns to start a ranch with his brothers Nathan and Morris. He changed the name from El Vadito to San Juan. There is some controversy as to whether this was in honor of the first woman resident, Maria San Juan Baca de Padilla, or of the feast of San Juan. William R. Milligan arrived in 1866, followed by Frank Walker in 1870. By 1872 a Spanish-American agricultural community had developed. A stone cabin was erected by Juan Sedilla in 1874. Solomon Barth sold out to Mormon Ammon M. Tenney in 1875 or 1879. A

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

community named Salem and led by David King Udall was established just north of the town under the direction of Wilford Woodruff on March 29, 1880, and then moved to higher ground by Erastus Snow on September 19 of the same year. St. Johns has been the county seat for almost all of Apache County's history. When the county was created on February 24, 1879,

Snowflake A snowflake is a single ice crystal that is large enough to fall through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. 1, pp. 100–107.Hobbs, P.V. 1974. Ice Physics. Oxford: C ...

was designated the county seat.Official website
of

After the first election in fall 1879,

county government A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) ''Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denotin ...

was set up in St. Johns, though it was moved again in 1880, to Springerville; in 1882 St. Johns again became the county seat, and it has remained so ever since.

Geography and climate

St. Johns is located in the White Mountains in northeast Arizona.St. Johns, Arizona
from the Travel & Explore section of ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

'' website According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.68%, is water. The climate is

humid continental Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

(''Dsb'') with cold, snowy winters and warm summers with relatively greater precipitation via erratic

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

s. Large

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

s are typical, so warm days are often followed by freezing nights.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,269 people, 989 households, and 805 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,392 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 80.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.4%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 6.2% Native American, 0.3% Asian, <0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 9.1% from other races, and 3.5% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 23.2% of the population. There were 989 households, out of which 44.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.6% were non-families. 15.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.19 and the average family size was 3.55. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 35.5% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $35,215, and the median income for a family was $37,478. Males had a median income of $38,477 versus $24,009 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $13,331. About 12.5% of families and 15.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 18.2% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.

Attractions

St. Johns is home to the Apache County Historical Society Museum and has four

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

: * Isaacson Building * Lower Zuni River Archeological District * Lyman Lake Rock Art Site * Rattlesnake Point Pueblo St. Johns is near the Placerias Quarry, the site where dozens of '' Placerias'' fossils were discovered in 1930 by Charles Camp and Samuel Welles, of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. Saint Johns is along the shortest and most scenic route from Phoenix to

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. Within an hour's drive from St. Johns are Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest,

Petrified Forest National Park Petrified Forest National Park is a national park of the United States in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about , encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as wel ...

, the Painted Desert, and Lyman Lake State Park, as well as

Indian reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

s such as the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

, Fort Apache Indian Reservation, San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, and Zuni Indian Reservation.

Annual events

* Pioneer Days sponsored by the St. Johns Arizona Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints * San Juan Fiesta sponsored by St. Johns Catholic Church * Apache County Fair * Christmas Light Parade

Education

Primary and secondary schools

St. Johns is served by the St. Johns Unified School District. The city is served by Coronado Elementary School, St. Johns Middle School, and St. Johns High School. The city is home to the St. Johns Center of

Northland Pioneer College Northland Pioneer College (NPC) is a public community college serving the communities of northeastern Arizona. Campuses are located in four of the largest Navajo County communities: Holbrook, Show Low, Snowflake, and Winslow. Five centers are l ...

Public libraries

The Apache County Library District has its headquarters facility and the St. Johns Public Library in St. Johns.

Economy

The Salt River Project operates the Coronado Generating Station near St. John's.

Transportation

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

serves the Coronado Generating Station on its Coronado Subdivision.

Notable people

* Albert Franklin Banta, territorial politician and newspaper editor * Rachel Allen Berry, first woman elected to Arizona Legislature * Jack A. Brown, Arizona state legislator and rancher * Rex E. Lee, U.S. Solicitor General, founding Dean of BYU Law School, President of BYU * Eric Shumway, President of BYU Hawaii * Brady Udall, writer * Don Taylor Udall, state legislator and judge * David King Udall, state legislator and politician * Ida Hunt Udall, diarist and homesteader * Jesse Addison Udall, Chief Justice of Arizona Supreme Court * Levi Stewart Udall, Apache County Attorney, Apache County Supreme Court Judge and Chief Justice of Arizona Supreme Court * Morris "Mo" Udall, politician, one time candidate for President of the U.S. *

Stewart Udall Stewart Lee Udall (January 31, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was an American politician and later, a federal government official who belonged to the Democratic Party. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary ...

, politician, U.S. Secretary of Interior

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Johns, Arizona Cities in Apache County, Arizona Cities in Arizona County seats in Arizona Populated places established in 1873