Ash Fork was founded in 1882 by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later Santa Fé Railroad) as an alternative station. The name goes back to the Ash Tree (English name for ash). A year later, the mandatory post office was opened. After the town burned down completely in 1893, it was rebuilt on the other side of the railway line, where it can still be found today. The line to Phoenix was completed in 1895 and Ash Folk became an important railway junction. All passenger trains had longer stays so that travelers could dine in the Fred Harvey Company's Escalante Hotel and Restaurant, built in 1907. The hotel was closed in 1948 and demolished in 1970. In 1960 the Santa Fé built an alternative route from Williams to Seligman to avoid the uphill sections in the Johnson Canyon area. Ash Fork lost almost half of the population - all railway workers - who now had to move with the route. When through traffic was stopped when the motorway was completed in 1979, the decline was unstoppable.