Queen Creek, Arizona, United States

🇺🇸 Queen Creek is a town in Maricopa and Pinal counties in the state of Arizona. It is a suburb of Phoenix, located in the far south-east area of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. Earlier this year, a large battery factory was scheduled for 2025.

History From the Post Office form on file at the National Archives, Queen Creek was originally known as "Rittenhouse", the community growing up out of a railroad stop. In 1919 the Queen Creek Farms Company was formed by C. H. Rittenhouse, constructing that railroad stop to ship the goods from the farm. Its eponymous creek (now a usually dry arroyo), Queen Creek, flowed through Queen Canyon and was named for the Silver Queen Mine, but it was originally called "Picket Post Creek".

Geography The town of Queen Creek is primarily within Maricopa County, but the town limits extend into Pinal County on the eastern and southern borders. The town is bordered to the south and east in Pinal County by the unincorporated community of San Tan Valley.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Queen Creek has a total area of 40.8 square miles (106 km²), of which 0.02 square miles (0.05 km²), or 0.06%, are water.

Demographics As of the census of 2010, there were 26,361 people, 8,557 households, residing in the town. The population density was 167.3 inhabitants per square mile (64.6/km²). There were 8,557 housing units at an average density of 49.6 per square mile (19.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 82.1% White, 0.4% Black or African American, 6.5% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 14.3% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. 17.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,218 households, out of which 50.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.9% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.8% were non-families. 8.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.54 and the average family size was 3.77.

In the town, the population age spread was: 35.4% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 4.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $63,702, and the median income for a family was $65,679. Males had a median income of $45,000 versus $31,447 for females. The per capita income for the town was $21,592. About 6.0% of families and 9.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.0% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.

Education The town of Queen Creek is served by six public school districts, as well as public charter schools and a private school. Queen Creek Unified School District serves the greatest number of Queen Creek students. Other districts include: Higley Unified School District, Chandler Unified School District, Florence Unified School District, J. O. Combs Unified School District, and the Apache Junction Unified School District.

Elementary • Auxier Elementary • Cortina Elementary • Desert Mountain Elementary • Faith Mather Sossaman Elementary • Frances Brandon-Pickett Elementary • Jack Barnes Elementary • Katherine Mecham Barney Elementary • Queen Creek Elementary • Schnepf Elementary; Junior/Senior High • Casteel High School • Crismon High School • Newell Barney Junior High School • Payne Junior High School • Queen Creek High School • Queen Creek Junior High School • San Tan Foothills High School; Public Charter Schools • American Leadership Academy • Benjamin Franklin Charter School • Eduprize School • Heritage Academy-Gateway • Legacy Traditional School-Queen Creek.

Education: University • Communiversity at Queen Creek (Rio Salado College).

Historic properties There are various properties in the town of Queen Creek which are considered historical and have been included either in the National Register of Historic Places or listed as such by the San Tan Historical Society.

Rittenhouse Elementary School/San Tan Historical Society Museum The Rittenhouse Elementary School, now the San Tan Historical Society Museum, is a well-preserved historic school located at 20425 South Ellsworth Road at the intersection with East Queen Creek Road in Queen Creek, Arizona. It was built from 1924 to 1925 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, opened for classes in 1926, and closed in 1982, after which it was used for storage by the Queen Creek Unified School District.

In 1990, the building was placed on the Arizona Register of Historical Places. On June 21, 1994, the historical society signed an agreement with the school district, which allowed them to oversee the building's restoration and start a historical museum. The society immediately began the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination process for the building, while simultaneously raising funds for its restoration. This application was approved, and the building was listed in 1998.