| Apache Wells, Arizona | |
| Settlement Type: | Populated place |
| Pushpin Map: | Arizona |
| Pushpin Label: | Apache Wells |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Apache Wells in Arizona |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Arizona |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Maricopa |
| Established Date: | 1962 |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 1 |
| Population As Of: | 2010 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | auto |
| Timezone: | Mountain (MST) |
| Utc Offset: | -7 |
| Timezone Dst: | MST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -7 |
| Elevation Ft: | 1427 |
| Elevation M: | 435 |
| Coordinates: | 33.4594°N -111.7108°W |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
| Postal Code: | 85205 |
| Area Code: | 480 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
Apache Wells is the name of both fictional and real locations in southern Arizona.
In fiction, particularly in Western movies, "Apache Wells" is a common name for a fictional location in the Old West, generally a remote stagecoach way station, typically in southern Arizona. It first came into conspicuous public use in John Ford's classic 1939 western movie Stagecoach,[1] the film that elevated John Wayne to stardom. (The film also had remakes in 1966 and 1986).
Subsequent westerns set partly, or chiefly, in or around the fictional "Apache Wells" have included:
At the time that the fictional "Apache Wells" first came into use, there was not any actual town of Apache Wells in Arizona, but there were two small, remote settlements in southern Arizona with closely related names: Apache Junction, and Desert Wells — both of which had existed since the 1800s, when they had been sites of stagecoach way stations.
Today, Apache Wells is a populated place and retirement community situated within the boundaries of the city of Mesa (a major suburb of Phoenix, part of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area) in Maricopa County, in the state of Arizona, in the United States.[8] Apache Wells was established in 1962 and developed by the Hughes family.[9] It has an estimated elevation of 1427feet above sea level, and is approximately one square mile in size.