The government of the new Arizona Territory first set up at Del Rio Springs, north of today’s town. The springs are printed on this map of Chino Valley, along with Granite Creek and Sullivan Lake. In town you’ll find the Chino Valley Public Library, Chino Valley High School, Heritage Middle School, Memory Park, Allen Rothlesberg Park and Community Center Park, all printed too.
Chino Valley is in Yavapai County, 15 miles north of Prescott on State Route 89.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded relief of the landscape comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. The town sits at about 4,750 feet and covers 63.4 square miles, with the smaller Little Chino Valley just to its east. Chino Valley had 13,020 people at the 2020 census.
The first capital
In 1853 and 1854, Lieutenant Amiel W. Whipple led a survey for a railroad route along the 35th parallel. Passing through here, he saw fields of grama grass around Del Rio Springs and called the region “Val de China,” and the town page credits him with naming the community. Chino is the Spanish name for the curly grama grass that grows thick in the area.
On December 23, 1863, Major Edward Banker Willis and Captain Nathaniel J. Pishon set up an Army post at Del Rio Springs with Companies C and F of the First California Volunteers, and they named it Fort Whipple after the lieutenant, who had been mortally wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville that May. The post never had permanent buildings, only tents and huts. Even so, when Governor John Noble Goodwin and most of the officials of the new Arizona Territory arrived on January 22, 1864, he used the fort as the government’s temporary headquarters while he looked for a permanent capital. The town page calls Chino Valley the site of the first territorial capital of Arizona. In the middle of May 1864 the fort moved 21 miles south to the east bank of Granite Creek, and Prescott was named the capital. The old site at the springs was used by scouting parties as Camp Clark and later sold as Postle’s Ranch. A private cemetery at Del Rio Springs holds some of the early settlers, and a historical marker in town tells the story.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Names on this map
These names are printed on this map.
Streets and roads: W Gunsite Rd, Rolling Hills Rd, W Rolling Hills Rd, Rimrock Rd, W Frontier Rd, W Bethany Ln, Nighthawk Rd, Del Rio, E Rd 6 N, W Lame Acres Dr, Kessler Ranch Rd, Ranch Rd.
More street names, A to Z
1630 Rd, Auction Ln, Aztec Dr, Bm 4771, Bm 4882, Bm 5032, Bumblebee Dr, Dog Ranch Rd, E Center St, E Dawn To Milky Way, E Dog Ranch Rd, E Fargo St, E Fletcher St, E Gumtree Ln, E Perkinsville Rd, E Picacho Blvd, E Plum Creek Way, E Rd 5 N, E Saddle Horn Trl, E Spurr Ln, E Wade Ln, E Weekhaven Dr, E Wildhorse Way, Forest Service 641 Rd, Hawk Dr, Irwin Ranch Rd, Jerome Junction, Justray Ranch Rd, Longhorn Rd, Manor Dr, Outer Loop, Perkinsville Rd, Quechan Dr, Robertson Way, Rodeo Rd, Seven Bar Trl, View Dr, Wendigo Trl, W Nighthawk Rd, W Perkinsville Rd, W Rd 3 N, W Willow Breeze Rd.
Creek, lake and river
Granite Creek starts as an intermittent stream in the Bradshaw Mountains and runs 38 miles north-northeast through Prescott and the Granite Dells, past the town of Chino Valley, to meet the Verde River between Sullivan Lake and Muldoon Canyon. Sullivan Lake is an intermittent lake on Big Chino Wash, and the Verde begins below its dam, fed by Big Chino Wash and Williamson Valley Wash. From there it flows freely for 125 miles before it reaches the first of its two dams.
Jerome Junction to a town
In 1895 a narrow-gauge branch of the United Verde and Pacific Railroad was finished to Jerome, joining the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway, and Jerome Junction grew up at the meeting point. Chino Valley took over the junction’s business in 1923. The place stayed small for a long time: in 1960 it had an estimated 50 residents. Chino Valley incorporated as a town in 1970.
Chino Valley High School works with the Yavapai College Campus for Agribusiness, Science and Technology, in town, where seniors can enroll at both schools for advanced study. The high school’s aquaculture and biotech lab, greenhouse and livestock facilities support its FFA program. Heritage Middle School teaches sixth through eighth grade, and its faculty has included two county Teachers of the Year and two winners of Channel 3’s Silver Apple award.
This Chino Valley map is a good addition to an office, library or den, and it can help teach children the geography and history of the area. It’s made for anyone who calls Chino Valley home, from Del Rio Springs to the banks of Granite Creek, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the town as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Chino Valley map.
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