Maricopa has stood in three places, and it moved twice to be on the railroad. This map runs from Tortosa out to Sorrento and prints the Maricopa Amtrak Station, Desert Sunrise High School, Maricopa Elementary School, Maricopa Wells Middle School, the Copper Sky Multigenerational Center and Copper Sky Regional Park, with Santa Rosa Wash, Smith Wash and Copper Sky Lake giving shape to the land.
Maricopa is a city in the Gila River Valley in Pinal County.
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 land here is flat, with mountain ranges 10 to 20 miles off, and the city sits at an elevation of 1190 feet.
From the wells to the junction
The settlement began as an oasis around a string of watering holes eight miles north of today’s city and about a mile west of Pima Butte, Vii Vav in the Maricopa language. Travelers called it Maricopa Wells. The Gila, Santa Cruz, Vekol and Santa Rosa rivers kept it supplied with water, and the Pima and Maricopa farmers who lived nearby, irrigating their fields from the Gila, sold crops and supplies to the people passing through. Maricopa Wells became a relay station on the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line and then on the Butterfield Overland Mail, and at one time it was the main military telegraph post for all of Arizona Territory. Its busiest years were the 1870s, when James A. Moore, the proprietor at the wells, built roads to points north, Phoenix among them.
When the Southern Pacific built its line from Yuma to Tucson in 1879, Maricopaville sprang up to the south and west as the planned start of a branch to Phoenix, and men worked day and night putting up hotels, warehouses, restaurants and theaters. Then Tempe lobbied for the line, and the branch was never built from Maricopaville. In the early 1880s the town was rebuilt three miles to the east as Maricopa Junction, where the Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad would run north through Tempe, and the first train left Maricopa for Phoenix on July 4, 1887. Every east-west rail traveler had to stop here, and anyone heading north changed trains. The two-story station of 1887 was later replaced, and the station that followed now stands in the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale.
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 Smith Enke Rd, Sequoia Dr, Maricopa Rd, W Hillman Dr, W Shaver Dr, W Sunland Dr, N Powers Pkwy, Haley Dr, W Agave Rd, W Placone Ln, Desert Fairways Dr, Powers Pkwy.
More street names, A to Z
Alterra Pkwy, Andi Ln, Avra Ln, Bala Dr, Bello Ln, Cielo Ln, Curtis Way, Desert Cedars Dr, Desert Willow, Hartman Rd, High Desert Trl, Hiller Rd, Indian Rte 86, Indian Rte 93, La Brea Rd, Lago Dr, Manderas Ln, N Jericho Rd, Nola Way, North Ave, N Toledo Ave, N Williams, Orvieto Way, Pampolonia Ave, Parker Rd, Peters and Nall Rd, Porter Rd, Power Rd, Ray Ave, Red Rock Pass, Rosa Dr, Santa Rosa Dr, Terragona Blvd, W Applegate Rd, W Bowlin Rd, W Capri Ave, W Charity Pl, W Cowtown Rd, W Crane Dr, W Edwards McDavid Rd, W Farrell Rd, W Honeycutt Rd, W Jenna Ln, W Lavender Dr, W Lucera Ln, W Michaels Dr, W Montserrat St, W Nina St, W San Alvarez Ave, W San Capistrano Ave, W San Clemente Ave, W San Clemente St, W San Ildefanso Ave, W San Pedro Dr, W San Sisto Ave, W Santa Barbara Ave, W Santa Clara Ave, W Santa Maria St, W Somerset Dr, W Springtime Rd, W Steen Rd.
A new city on an old line
Maricopa incorporated on October 15, 2003, as Arizona’s 88th incorporated municipality. Its population grew from 1,040 in 2000 to 43,482 in 2010, and the 2020 census counted 58,125, passing Casa Grande to make it the most populous incorporated place in Pinal County. Part of the city lies within the Ak-Chin Indian Community, whose casino resort, cinema and golf course draw customers from Maricopa and the greater Phoenix area. John Wayne owned land in the area, and State Route 347 runs through the city as John Wayne Parkway.
Trains came back in 2001, when the Maricopa Amtrak Station opened as the closest stop to Phoenix on the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle. The first station office was a refurbished dome car, The Silver Horizon, once used on the California Zephyr, and it stayed on display at the station until 2019. The platform is just over 110 feet long, barely longer than one of the train’s cars, so crews make as many as four stops to load everyone. Maricopa Elementary School, Maricopa Wells Middle School and Desert Sunrise High School are among the city’s public schools, and the Copper Sky Multigenerational Center and Copper Sky Regional Park have their places on the sheet, along with Tortosa, Sorrento and Smith Wash.
This Maricopa 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 Maricopa home, from Tortosa out to Sorrento, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the city as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Maricopa map.
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