Buckeye Valley Museum

Buckeye Valley Museum The Buckeye Valley Museum offers historical exhibits, programs and school tours. Visit the Buckeye

We’re Back! We’re excited to welcome you back to the Buckeye Valley Museum! As we open for a new season, we’re looking f...
09/05/2026

We’re Back!

We’re excited to welcome you back to the Buckeye Valley Museum! As we open for a new season, we’re looking forward to sharing local history, stories, and wonderful programs with our community.

📅 UPCOMING DATES AT YOUR MUSEUM

🏜️ Clay Keepsakes from the Desert
Friday, September 18 • 3 p.m.
Join us at the Buckeye Valley Museum to create desert-inspired ring dishes using air-dry clay. Supplies are provided, but registration is required.
Register: https://buckeye.libnet.info/event/16936343

👻 Haunted Arizona: True Ghost Stories
Thursday, September 24 • 6 p.m.
Join us with Jethro Blanch for an evening of true ghost stories from Arizona.

💀 Día de los Mu***os: Storytelling & Masked Characters
Thursday, October 8 • 1:30 p.m.
Experience the traditions and stories of Día de los Mu***os with Zarco Guerrero, featuring storytelling and masked characters.

🎨 Día de los Mu***os: Nicho Box
Thursday, October 16 • 3 p.m.
Create your own Nicho Box inspired by the traditions of Día de los Mu***os. Supplies are provided, but registration is required.
Register: https://buckeye.libnet.info/event/16936343

📍 Buckeye Valley Museum
116 E. MC 85
Buckeye, AZ

📞 623-349-6315

For more information and upcoming programs, visit buckeyeaz.gov/librarycalendar.

We’re proud to be your museum—a place where Buckeye’s history comes alive, stories are shared, and new memories are made.

We can’t wait to see you! ❤️

***os

09/03/2026

🎉 We’re Opening Our Doors for a New Season! 🎉

The wait is almost over! The Buckeye Valley Museum is reopening for the season on September 2nd, and we can’t wait to welcome you back! 🌾🏛️

Whether you’re a longtime Buckeye resident, new to the community, a history lover, or simply curious about the people and stories that shaped our valley, we invite you to come explore, learn, and discover something new.

From Buckeye’s rich agricultural roots to the stories of the families, businesses, and community that helped make our valley what it is today, there’s plenty to see and remember at the museum. ❤️

📅 Opening Day: September 2nd

⏰ Museum Hours: 10 AM – 3 PM

📍 116 E. MC85, Buckeye, AZ 85326

Bring your family, bring a friend, and come celebrate another season of Buckeye Valley history! We look forward to seeing you! 🎉🌾

🍂 The Buckeye Valley Museum is getting ready to reopen for the season! 🍂 We’re excited to welcome everyone back beginnin...
08/31/2026

🍂 The Buckeye Valley Museum is getting ready to reopen for the season! 🍂

We’re excited to welcome everyone back beginning Wednesday, September 2nd! And don’t forget—our First Saturday when we are open is right around the corner on September 5th!

We have some FUN things coming up this fall, and you won’t want to miss them. Some of our events happening in September and beginning of October include:

🏺 Clay Craft Class – Air-Dry Clay Ring Dishes
Come get creative with us and make your very own adorable air-dry clay ring dish!
⚠️ Registration is REQUIRED, and we are almost full already! Don’t wait to reserve your spot.

👻 Haunted – True Ghost Stories with Jethro Blanch
We are thrilled to finally welcome back Jethro Blanch, the Arizona author we missed having with us last season! Jethro will share his fascinating stories of true Arizona ghost encounters, including stories connected to local cemeteries. If you love local history, spooky stories, and the unexplained, this is one presentation you definitely won’t want to miss! 👻

💀 Dia de los Mu***os with Zarco – Coming in Early October!
We are excited to invite Zarco back for another entertaining and unforgettable presentation on Dia de los Mu***os! He’ll be bringing along—and wearing—many of his incredible handmade masks and costumes as he shares the traditions, stories, and meaning behind this beautiful celebration.

📅 Check out our upcoming dates and mark your calendars!

There’s always something interesting happening at the Buckeye Valley Museum, and we can’t wait to see you again this season. Come visit, learn something new, get creative, and enjoy the stories that make our local history so special! ❤️

❤️ This Month’s Buckeye Valley History: The Story of Grace Thompson Each month at the Buckeye Valley Museum, we dig into...
08/28/2026

❤️ This Month’s Buckeye Valley History: The Story of Grace Thompson

Each month at the Buckeye Valley Museum, we dig into the pages of the old Buckeye Valley News to uncover stories of the people, places, and events that helped shape our community. This month’s story is about a remarkable Buckeye woman whose name still lives on in the memories of local families: Grace Thompson.

Grace’s story is especially interesting because this month we were able to bring together several pieces of her history. Along with accounts from the Buckeye Valley News, we found a letter written by Grace’s granddaughter, preserved through the Three Rivers Historical Society. Her family’s recollections help fill in the gaps and give us a more personal look at the woman behind Thompson’s Maternity Home.

Born in Texas, Grace had already delivered a few babies before coming to Buckeye. She began working at a local sewing factory, where Dr. Ward came looking for a woman to assist in his office. Grace was chosen, beginning a career that would eventually make her known as the “Mother of Buckeye.”

We hope you’ll take a few minutes to read this month’s article and discover more about Grace Thompson, the little maternity home that became such an important part of Buckeye, and the woman who quietly helped shape generations of our community.

And if you or someone in your family was born at Thompson’s Maternity Home, we would love to hear your story. Your memories are part of Buckeye’s history, too. ❤️

Bringing Our Past to Life by Preserving Our Local History

🌱 Buckeye Agricultural Fun Fact: Cotton Country In the 1920s and 1930s, cotton was one of Buckeye’s most important crops...
08/25/2026

🌱 Buckeye Agricultural Fun Fact: Cotton Country

In the 1920s and 1930s, cotton was one of Buckeye’s most important crops. Thanks to the warm climate, fertile soil, and irrigation canals that transformed the desert into farmland, cotton fields stretched across the Valley.

During harvest season, families and workers filled the fields picking cotton by hand before it was taken to local gins for processing. The crop helped support farmers, businesses, and families, becoming an important part of Buckeye’s early agricultural story.

Do you have memories or stories you've heard about Buckeye’s cotton days?

🔍 Can You Guess It? Take a close look… any ideas? This object was once an important part of everyday life. It required a...
08/22/2026

🔍 Can You Guess It?

Take a close look… any ideas?

This object was once an important part of everyday life. It required a person to operate it, a little patience, and a very different way of communicating than we know today.

Many families and businesses depended on objects like this—but today, it might leave younger generations wondering, “How did that work?”

What do you think it is? 🤔

Drop your guess below!

📍Come see the answer in person at the Buckeye Valley Museum when we reopen in September.

Take a peek inside another one of our favorite storage spaces at the Buckeye Valley Museum! 📰 These boxes hold decades o...
08/19/2026

Take a peek inside another one of our favorite storage spaces at the Buckeye Valley Museum! 📰

These boxes hold decades of Buckeye Valley News—preserving the stories, milestones, and everyday moments that shaped our community. We’re fortunate to have most of the original hard copies, and many have also been digitized onto disks, making it easier to research Buckeye’s rich history.

Whether you're tracing family history, researching a local event, or simply curious about life in Buckeye through the years, this collection is an incredible resource. It's also one of our favorite places to lose track of time as we uncover fascinating stories from the past!

What piece of Buckeye history would you love to discover in these pages?

🛢️ Artifact Spotlight: Glass Oil Dispenser Imagine pulling into a Buckeye service station nearly 100 years ago as you ma...
08/16/2026

🛢️ Artifact Spotlight: Glass Oil Dispenser

Imagine pulling into a Buckeye service station nearly 100 years ago as you made your way along U.S. Highway 80 toward California.

Instead of grabbing a bottle of motor oil off a shelf, the station attendant would walk to a bulk oil tank, fill this reusable glass bottle to the embossed fill line, screw on the metal pouring spout, and carefully top off your engine. Afterward, the bottle was washed and used again for the next traveler.

Long before disposable containers became the norm, this was how America's highways—and communities like Buckeye—kept motorists on the road. It's a small artifact that tells a big story about travel, service, and a time when a stop for gas meant friendly service, a clean windshield, someone checking your oil, and a little conversation before you continued down the road.

Did you know the Gillespie Dam Bridge was once part of the historic U.S. Route 80? Completed in 1927, the Gillespie Dam ...
08/13/2026

Did you know the Gillespie Dam Bridge was once part of the historic U.S. Route 80?

Completed in 1927, the Gillespie Dam Bridge spans more than 1,700 feet across the Gila River, making it one of Arizona's longest and most impressive steel truss bridges of its time. Before modern freeways, this bridge carried travelers, tourists, military convoys, and commerce along U.S. Route 80—often called the "Broadway of America"—which stretched from Savannah, Georgia, to San Diego, California.

Located just south of Buckeye, the bridge became an important gateway for those traveling through the West and played a vital role in connecting communities across Arizona. Although newer highways eventually replaced Route 80, the Gillespie Dam Bridge remains an enduring reminder of the early days of automobile travel and the growth of Buckeye and the surrounding Gila River Valley.

Today, this historic landmark stands as a testament to the engineering, transportation, and local history that helped shape our community and remains a part of historic Old US 80.

As Buckeye continues to grow and welcome new neighbors, it's more important than ever to remember the agricultural roots...
08/10/2026

As Buckeye continues to grow and welcome new neighbors, it's more important than ever to remember the agricultural roots that shaped our community.

When the Buckeye Valley Museum reopens this September, we invite you to step back in time and explore the stories of the people who built our valley. Our collection includes historic farming artifacts like a hand plow, an early tractor, Long's Butter Boxes, and many other pieces that tell the story of Buckeye's farming heritage.

Whether your family has been here for generations or you've just made Buckeye your home, the museum offers a chance to connect with the history that helped our community grow into what it is today.

We look forward to welcoming you back this September. Come discover the people, the tools, and the traditions that helped build Buckeye!

Address

116 E US Highway 85
Buckeye, AZ
85326

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 3am
Friday 10am - 3am

Telephone

+16233496315

Website

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