Why Is Buckeye Named After an Ohio Nut

You might wonder how Buckeye, Arizona got a name more linked to Ohio, the Buckeye State. That’s because among the first people to develop in the area was from Ohio and named the canal he built the Buckeye Canal.

That was led by Malin M. Jackson, who constructed the canal in 1884 for farming. Soon after, another 10 miles of it was built to run next to the homestead of Thomas Clanton, who then applied for a Post Office, which he named after the canal.

The town itself didn’t always have that name, though.

In 1888, Clanton and a Phoenix doctor subdivided 60 acres in the area and set up a business district between Sixth and Fourth streets and Centre Avenue. The town site they platted was named Sidney, for reasons lost to history, and it was renamed Buckeye in 1910 — two years before statehood.

A buckeye is a nut that grows prolifically in Ohio, and it gets that name because the nuts resemble the eyes of a male deer — a buck.

Another link to the name came via the famous Rough Rider, William “Bucky” O’Neil, who was a member of the group that created the Buckeye Canal Compa

The connection has been highlighted several times when the Ohio State Buckeyes wound up playing football in the Fiesta Bowl, and the town and Buckeye merchants would invite anyone with a Ohio driver’s license to come to the town named after them for a day of fun and a free T-shirt.

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