Cordes
Cordes was founded in 1883 by German immigrant John Henry Cordes as a supply post for the California and Arizona Stage Company – along the historic stagecoach route between Phoenix and Prescott. The settlement quickly became a vital supply point for travelers, miners, and ranchers. In 1938, Charles Cordes handed the business over to his eldest son Henry. Two years later, fire broke out in the wooden warehouse behind the store and spread to the shop and post office. Miners from the nearby Golden Belt Mine as well as from Mayer and Turkey Creek rushed to help and saved all the merchandise. Henry immediately rebuilt the store with a cement block facade – that building still stands today.
When the new Black Canyon Highway bypassed the old route in the 1950s, Henry relocated the business to what is now Cordes Junction. The historic gas station in the old valley continued to serve the remaining ranchers until the early 1970s.
Today, the abandoned gas station and store stand as witnesses to change along a dirt road in the solitude of the rugged highlands of Arizona.


























