Silver City was founded in 1870 on the heels of discovering silver ore deposits on the farm of Captain John Bullard. A substantial crime rate marked the town during its early years; Bullard was killed in a confrontation with Apache raiders less than a year after the town's founding, and the notorious Billy the Kid (known at the time as William Bonney) was arrested twice for theft in Silver City. The nearby mining operations of Phelps Dodge are still the basis for the local economy to this day.
Silver City maintains a variety of attractions including: