With a population growth rate of almost 192% between 2000 and 2006, Forbes Magazine ranked Buckeye as the 2nd fastest growing town in the U.S. Some projections show Buckeye as having more than 380,000 residents by 2030, while other projections see Buckeye with more than 2 million residents by 2050. Buckeye presently contains some 145 square miles of land but there are plans in the works that see annexations bringing the city up to 600 square miles in area. This is an area of "master-planned" communities and subdivisions, all of which are probably on the chopping block right now because of the mortgage and general economic crisis (early 2009).

Buckeye was founded by a group of folks from Creston, Iowa in 1887. Their leader was Thomas Newt Clanton, and he came to Maricopa County for his health. A big boost to the pioneer community was the completion of the Buckeye Canal in 1886. The fellow who planned and oversaw the construction was Malin M. Jackson, and he named the canal after his home state of Ohio (the Buckeye State). Clanton's group built 10 miles of the canal and then moved to what became the townsite in 1887. In 1888, Clanton, Jackson and William "Bucky" O'neil platted the townsite of Buckeye on Clanton's Homestead (10 years later, O'Neil became famous as one of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, but that's another story).

The first post office was established in 1887. Jackson had named the town Sidney but the importance of the Buckeye Canal overrode that and the town's name was formally changed to Buckeye in 1910. The Arizona Eastern Railroad built tracks into Buckeye in 1910, the first automobile arrived in 1911 and a state highway into Buckeye was designated in 1915. But that railroad was so important that the business district was moved to accommodate the train station.

These days, the old town is almost lost in all those brand new subdivisions...