MI Printing : AZ History One City At a Time: Greer Arizona

Butterfly Lodge Museum

The first settler was reportedly Amberion Englevason, who built a small cabin. In a few short years, Mormons began to settle in the area, and it began to grow. Served by rail and known as "Lee Valley", after the Willard Lee family, Ellis Whitney Wiltbank and his family built the first sawmill and established and LDS ward. School was first taught in 1879 and continued to be taught in the same building until 1930.

The area became known as Greer (named after pioneer Americus Vespucius Greer) when the first post-office was established. In 1888 fencing, timbering, homesteading, fishing and hunting became regulated with the Forest Reserve Act, and Greer became a part of the Apache Forest and under USFS control. With the advent of the automobile, better roads, entreprenuers wanting to serve the area and the growing number of vacationers, began to come. James Willard Schultz built the first built a hunting lodge, Apuni Oyis (Butterfly Lodge) in 1913 across from the Riverside Ranger Station. Schultz went on to write 37 books of Indian adventures during his colorful career, and later gave the cabin to his son, Hart Merriam Schultz (Lone Wolf) who was recognized by the Los Angeles Times as America's first Indian artist. This historic structure is now Butterfly Lodge Museum.

Mollie Butler, the daughter of founder Ellis Whitney Wiltbank, was taking in guests as early as 1908 and her legendary hospitality continued until her death in 1964. Other enterprises conducted by year-round families in Greer, and many kin to each other, included a service station, grocery store that sold fresh vegetables grown in a garden beside the store, ice cut from the Greer Lakes, horse rentals, guide services, saw and shingle mills, carpentry, bakers, barbers, boot makers, a printer, fish hatchery, and the like. 

Many of these businesses are still in operation in one form or another, and this lends to a tapestry of history, and a lifestyle whose traditions are still honored to this day. With only approximately 90 full-time residents who work in tourist-related industries, and some retirees, both young and older, Greer attracts some 200,000 visitors each year, but still retains it's unspoiled beauty and a lifestyle that is unmatched.