The Rim country and its prehistoric people are named for Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon, a Spanish colonial governor - hence the name of the Mogollon Rim, the key geographic feature of the northeastern and eastern mountain belt.

Prospectors came to the Payson area in the late 1800s, although little gold was found. However, the area's rich grazing land attracted cattlemen, and its pine forests led to logging and milling industries. Payson soon became a supply center. The community, nestled in the rolling mountains south of the Mogollon Rim, was first known as Green Valley, but, because of its size and shape, was sometimes called Long Valley or Big Valley. When the town was platted in 1882, it was called Union Park, population 40.

In 1884, the town's name was changed to Payson in honor of Congressman Louis Edward Payson of Chicago, who helped the settlement obtain a post office. (There's also a Payson, Utah, named after the congressman for the same reason.) Western author Zane Grey came to the area in the early 1920s and built a cabin. Several of his novels, including "Under the Tonto Rim," were written there.

Today, tourism is the primary industry of the area, although ranching, mining and smelting remain important elements of the area's economic base. Payson sits at the edge of the world's largest stand of Ponderosa pine. The clean air, mild climate and outdoor recreation in the Tonto National Forest attract visitors year-round. And retirees, attracted for the same reasons, are an important part of the community's population.

Globe, the county seat of Gila County, is 80 miles southeast of Payson. The Tonto Apache Tribe, which has a reservation located 1/2 mile south of Payson, operates the Mazatzal Casino, which has become a major employer in the Payson area. Over 270 people were employed by the casino as of January 1998.

The name "Mazatzal" comes from the Mazatzal mountain range, located just southwest of Payson. The word means, roughly, "place where deer gather," and is Aztec Indian in origin. It is unclear how the word came to be used as the name of these mountains.