Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of brushy, pine-dotted ridges in the Bradshaw Mountains, with dirt roads meeting near the Goodwin site and a cluster of buildings to the east

Goodwin

A mountain post office on the Senator Highway, open from 1894 into the 1940s. Old maps and directories hold most of what we know, and only a few foundations are reported at the site.

34°21′21″N 112°22′48″W · ≈5,640 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).

Remains not verified

The Goodwin site is on Prescott National Forest land beside the Senator Highway (Forest Road 52), and the forest listed no closure here on October 19, 2026. The Forest Service does close this road in wet weather, as it did in March 2025. An undated listing reports only a few sparse foundations, and we found no dated field report to confirm them.

Overview

A post office on the mountain road

Goodwin was a small camp and post office on the Senator Highway, the mountain road from Prescott to Crown King. It sits a few miles south of Palace Station, the 1870s stage stop. Postal records list a Goodwin post office from 1894 to 1943, and a 1905 business directory put it 24 miles south of Prescott. The USGS still marked "Goodwin P O" beside the road in 1947. By 1974 its map said "Goodwin (Site)."

Little else is on record. Goodwin first shows up on the 1903 USGS map at a junction of roads and trails, with Pine Flat to the east and the older Bueno post office a short way south. Bueno's office closed in 1893, the year before Goodwin's opened, and one compilation says it was moved to Goodwin. Wikipedia and an undated listing say the camp was named for John N. Goodwin, the first territorial governor of Arizona. We found no record of the naming itself.

Today the site is national forest land beside the Senator Highway, less than half a mile west of where Mayer-Bolada Road comes in from Mayer. An undated listing reports only a few sparse foundations.

Timeline

What we know

Goodwin P O beside the road south of Palace Station, USGS Mt Union sheet, 1947
Goodwin P O beside the road south of Palace Station, USGS Mt Union sheet, 1947 · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. A post office called Bueno operates a short way south of the later Goodwin site.
  2. The Goodwin post office opens. One compilation says Bueno's office was moved here.
  3. The USGS Bradshaw Mountains sheet marks Goodwin at a junction of roads and trails, with Pine Flat to the east and Bueno to the south.
  4. The Arizona Business Directory lists the Goodwin post office 24 miles south of Prescott.
  5. The last year of the Goodwin post office in the postal records we checked.
  6. The USGS Mt Union sheet still marks "Goodwin P O" beside the road, with Palace Station and Dandrea Ranch to the north.
  7. The USGS Battleship Butte sheet marks "Goodwin (Site)" on the Senator Highway.
  8. The Forest Service closes the Senator Highway through the site for two weeks of wet weather.

Site map

Where the post office stood

The GNIS point for Goodwin sits on the Senator Highway (Forest Road 52) about 0.4 mile west of its junction with Mayer-Bolada Road. Forest Road 84, the Betty Mine road, branches north just west of the point. By the Forest Service's road data, Palace Station is about 3.5 miles back up the highway to the northwest; an undated listing puts it at five. We haven't been able to confirm what's left on the ground.

The historic maps below show the post office come and go. The 1887 sheet shows Bueno and the Hassayampa camp to the north but no Goodwin. The 1903 sheet marks Goodwin at a junction of roads and trails, with Pine Flat to the east and Bueno to the south. The 1947 Mt Union sheet marks Goodwin P O beside the road, with Dandrea Ranch and Palace Station to the north. The 1974 Battleship Butte sheet calls it Goodwin (Site), and the 1981 sheet leaves it off.

USGS topographic map of the Goodwin site beside Forest Road 52, with Turkey Creek to the east
USGS The National Map, topo. The Goodwin label sits just south of Forest Road 52. Forest Road 84 branches north, and the road to Mayer, marked 67, leaves to the east.
Aerial view of pine-covered slopes with a pale dirt road winding through the middle
Aerial imagery, same area. The Senator Highway winds through the pines from the top left and passes the site at the center of the frame.

Historic maps

Goodwin on USGS maps, 1887–1981

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Goodwin, 1887
Prescott sheet, 1887, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Prescott is the nearest city. Both routes below come in from the east through Mayer on Mayer-Bolada Road, which meets the Senator Highway just east of the site. The last 0.4 mile comes from Forest Service road data. We haven't driven either route. From Prescott you can also take the Senator Highway south past Palace Station, about 20 miles of mostly dirt road, but our router doesn't use it.

USGS topographic map of Prescott, Mayer and the northern Bradshaw Mountains, with the route through Mayer to Goodwin drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Prescott38.4 miabout 1 h 24 min
  1. From downtown Prescott, take Gurley Street east. It becomes AZ 69.26.6 mi
  2. In Mayer, turn right onto Central Avenue, left on Miami Street, then left at the end of the road on Jefferson Avenue.1.8 mi
  3. Jefferson Avenue becomes Mayer-Bolada Road (marked FR 67). Follow it west into the mountains to the Senator Highway.9.9 mi
  4. From Forest Service road data: continue west on the Senator Highway (FR 52) to the site.0.4 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The Forest Service's motor vehicle map rates the Senator Highway at Goodwin as maintained for high-clearance vehicles, open all year. An undated listing calls the road 2WD.
  • Mayer-Bolada Road isn't a Forest Service system road, and we found no current description of its surface. Turn back if it gets worse than your vehicle can handle.
  • The Forest Service closes the Senator Highway from Poland Road south to Crown King and Horsethief Basin during wet winter storms and heavy monsoon rain. The last order we found ran March 14–27, 2025. Check the Prescott National Forest alerts page before you go.
  • If you take the Senator Highway from Prescott instead, note that in July 2022 the Forest Service warned that a washout between the Venezia site and Palace Station made that stretch unsafe for low-clearance vehicles. We found no notice that the repairs are finished.
  • There are no services at the site. Carry water, and expect winter snow to make the mountain roads much harder.

Photos

Have photos of Goodwin?

We haven’t added more photographs of Goodwin yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Goodwin?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Nearby

Other sites near Goodwin

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arizona index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Goodwin": fact sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, remains, distance from Palace Station). Its legal description, T11N R1W, differs from the BLM survey grid's T12N R1W, which we use.
  2. Wikipedia, "Goodwin, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation (GNIS 29416), the namesake.
  3. Jim Forte Postal History, Yavapai County post offices: Goodwin (1894–1943) and Bueno (1881–1893).
  4. Northern Arizona Genealogical Society, "Post Offices 1905–1906", transcribing the Arizona Business Directory: Goodwin's distance from Prescott.
  5. AZGenWeb, Yavapai County "Ghost Towns" (an unsourced compilation): Bueno's post office moved to Goodwin.
  6. USDA Forest Service, Motor Vehicle Use Map data, road data and surface ownership data, October 2026: Forest Roads 52 and 84, distances along FR 52, and national forest land at the site.
  7. Prescott National Forest, weather-related road closure, March 14, 2025: the closed stretch of Forest Road 52 and future closures.
  8. Prescott National Forest, Senator Highway warning, July 8, 2022: the washout south of the Venezia site.
  9. AZOffroad.net, "Senator Highway" (updated May 2021): Prescott to Palace Station mileage and road condition, the 37-mile length, 2 to 4 hours to drive it, 21 miles from Crown King to Palace Station, narrow sections.
  10. Prescott National Forest, "Prescott to Crown King" (updated February 2025): no drinking water on the route.
  11. crownking.com, "Directions" (a Crown King lodging business, 2023): no auto services between I-17 and Crown King, what to carry.
  12. Crown King Saloon & Eatery, as of October 2026: opening time and closed days. Cleator Bar & Yacht Club, as of October 2026: hours.
  13. USDA Forest Service, recreational drone use: FAA rules apply, and drones are banned in wilderness.
  14. Sharlot Hall Museum Library & Archives, "Palace Station & Spence Family": the stage stop on the road south of Prescott.
  15. Prescott National Forest, alerts, checked October 19, 2026: no closure posted for this area.
  16. Township: BLM survey grid via the Forest Service. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query (about 5,640 ft) and GNIS (5,660 ft). Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026; not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Record5 of 10
  • Coordinates
  • Post office years
  • Site on USGS topo
  • Historic maps, 1887–1981
  • Road status (Oct 2026)
  • Founding date
  • Population
  • Field report
  • Photos of the site
  • Source for the name
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.