Florence (O'odham: S-auppag) is a town in Pinal County, Arizona, United States.

[4] The area where the current town of Florence is located was once inhabited by the Hohokam, ancestors of the O'odham people.

[5] Prior to the establishment of the town, the Gila River served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico.

[6] Levi Ruggles, a veteran of the American Civil War, founded the town of Florence on the south bank of the Gila River.

Recognizing the agricultural potential of the valley, he found an easily fordable crossing on the Gila River and surveyed a townsite there.

[8] In 1870, Fred Adams founded a farming community two miles west of the original Florence townsite.

The farming town had stores, homes, a post office, a flour mill, and water tanks, It was named Adamsville.

Sheriff Pete Gabriel hired thirty-nine year old Joseph (Joe) Phy as his deputy in 1883.

She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States; her crime gained notoriety primarily because of her gender.

She was tried in 1899 and was acquitted, however the judge ordered a second trial and she was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison.

However, it resulted in her decapitation and influenced the State of Arizona to replace hanging with the gas chamber as a method of execution.

[12] Winnie Ruth Judd was a Phoenix medical secretary who was found guilty of murdering and dismembering her friends Agnes Anne LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson over the alleged affections of her lover Jack Halloran.

[13] Her death sentence was overturned after a ten-day hearing found her mentally incompetent; she was then sent to Arizona State Asylum for the Insane on April 24, 1933.

[16] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.3 square miles (21 km2), all land, situated in the lower Sonoran Desert.

[30] McFarland State Historic Park on Ruggles Ave. has a display and information on this period of Arizona history.

Florence is considered the hub of Pinal County filled with historic buildings and rich history.