In January 1948, the property owners of Patagonia voted (76 to 6) for incorporation at a special election. In February 1948, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors appointed Leland Wilson, William Waggoner, Frank Lamma, R C Blabon and Charles Mapes as the first aldermen for the newly incorporated city of Patagonia.
The Board elected William J. Waggoner as Patagonia’s first mayor. Waggoner had moved to Patagonia from Tucson sometime between 1940 and 1942. He ran a grocery store in town for 55 years.
In the 1960s, when Waggoner was serving his second term as mayor, he was instrumental in establishing the sewer and municipal water system in Patagonia.
A longtime resident of Arizona, Waggoner was born in 1901 in Pueblo, CO. and died at age 99 in Mesa, AZ. He served twice as Mayor of Patagonia, and was a Past Master of the Masonic Lodge in Nogales.