It was the Vulture mine that first attracted people to the Town of Wickenburg.  By 1866, Wickenburg was one of the largest settlements in the Territory and was a rival for the location of the territorial capitol of Arizona, losing by only two votes to Prescott.  By 1865, the early mining camp tents were replaced with adobe dwellings and a post office was established.  By 1867 there were approximately 200 people living and working in a number of adobe structures associated with the Vulture Mine.  The original townsite was surveyed by Robert Groom in 1868; however the first plat was never officially filed.

Wickenburg also owes much of its prosperity to its highway location at the fork of the only road between Northern and Southern Arizona and the California road by way of Ehrenberg.  The California and Arizona Stage Company’s main office, repair shops and corrals were located in Wickenburg.  Long wagon trains drawn by mules or oxen arrived from Ehrenberg, Phoenix, Prescott and other points with goods, grains, lumber, etc.  In May of 1875, mail service to California by way of Ehrenberg was discontinued, and Wickenburg became only a way station on a semi-weekly line from Prescott to Phoenix.  By 1883, Wickenburg ‘became almost a ghost town’.  The Vulture mine was closed and population decreased to less then 10 people.  Fortunately, because Wickenburg was on the highway to California, and the addition of the railroad line, it managed to survive.  In subsequent years, ranching and tourism have replaced the early mining and farming activities as the basis of the economic life of the community.