Thatcher is a town in Graham County,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 4,865. It is part of the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area. Thatcher is the home of

Eastern Arizona College Eastern Arizona College (EAC), is a community college in Graham County, Arizona, United States. The main campus is in Thatcher, with satellite locations in Gila County and Greenlee County. It is the oldest community college in Arizona and the ...

(EAC), a college that offers two year degrees and includes a nursing school.

History

Thatcher was originally settled by members of

the 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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

. The first settler was John M. Moody who arrived in Thatcher with his wife and children in 1881. The founding of Thatcher is attributed to Mormon pioneer Christopher Layton, who bought two thousand acres, named the acreage "Thatcher", divided them into lots, and sold those lots to Mormon settlers. Layton also bought a gristmill and built roads, canals and homes.

traces its history to the St. Joseph Stake Academy started by the church in nearby Central. Central is also the location of the Gila Valley Arizona Temple.

Geography

The town is centered in the Upper Gila River Valley with one of Arizona's famous Madrean Sky Islands towering to the south and the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...

to the north. 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 town has a total area of , including of water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 4,022 people, 1,281 households, and 927 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,427 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 84.7%

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 ...

, 0.8%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

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 ...

, 1.8% Native American, 0.5% 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 ...

, 9.9% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. 19.5% of the population were

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. There were 1,281 households, out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.6% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94 and the average family size was 3.37. In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.6% under the age of 18, 22.8% from 18 to 24, 18.9% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males. The median income for a household in the town was $32,412, and the median income for a family was $40,392. Males had a median income of $35,815 versus $20,964 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 town was $12,961. 17.2% of the population lives 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 ...

Emergency response

Emergency 911 services are provided by the 24/7 dispatch center of the Graham County Sheriff's Office. Fire services are provided by the all volunteer Thatcher Fire Department, which has the capability to respond with various types of equipment, including several fire engines and a ladder truck. Mount Graham Regional Medical Center is the medical services provider for the area. The Thatcher Police Department (TPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the town. It has an approximately 10-man uniformed division.

Transportation

San Carlos Apache Nnee Bich'o Nii Transit provides transportation from Thatcher to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, Safford and

Globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

serves Thatcher on its Phoenix–

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

via

route. The Arizona Eastern Railway operates rail freight through town on a branch formerly operated by the Southern Pacific. Traffic is primarily copper products on the route between Bowie and Miami, AZ.

Notable people

* Elliot Johnson, professional baseball player MLB * Spencer W. Kimball, former president of

. * Don Lancaster, early print on demand and personal computer pioneer, involved in the keyboard design of the

Apple I The Apple Computer 1 (Apple-1), later known predominantly as the Apple I, is an 8-bit personal computer designed by Steve Wozniak and released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976. The company was initially formed to ...

computer. * Jacque Mercer, Miss Arizona and Miss America, 1949. *

Jess Mortensen Jesse Philo Mortensen (April 16, 1907 — February 19, 1962) was an NCAA champion track athlete and coach. Mortensen is one of only three men to win Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship team titles as both an athlete and coach. ...

, former coach and

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

-champion track athlete from

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

and former world record holder in

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

. * Jeremy Nelson, award-winning visual effects artist. *

Frank Wanlass Frank Marion Wanlass (May 17, 1933, in Thatcher, AZ – September 9, 2010, in Santa Clara, California) was an American electrical engineer. He is best known for inventing, along with Chih-Tang Sah, CMOS (complementary MOS) logic in 1963. CM ...

, inventor of

CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss ", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary an ...

and pioneer in the field of solid-state electronics.

Historic Brinkeroff Hotel and Spencer W. Kimball Childhood Home

References

External links

Town website

County website
{{authority control Populated places established in 1881 Towns in Graham County, Arizona Safford, Arizona micropolitan area 1881 establishments in Arizona Territory