Arizona Territorial Governor John Noble Goodwin selected the original site
of Prescott following his first tour of the new territory. Goodwin replaced
Governor John A. Gurley, appointed by Abraham Lincoln, who died before taking
office. Downtown streets in Prescott are named in honor of each of them.
Goodwin selected a site 20 miles (32 km) south of the temporary capital on
the east side of Granite Creek near a number of mining camps. The territorial
capital was later moved to the new site along with Fort Whipple, with the new
town named in honor of historian William H. Prescott during a public meeting on
May
