The Tuba City area was the territory of indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The community was first documented by Spanish explorers: Father
Francisco Garcés visited the area in 1776, and recorded that the
Hopi were cultivating crops. European-American migrants came as part of the
Mormon movement to the West in the late 19th century. They named the town after
Tuuvi, a Hopi man who converted to
Mormonism circa 1870. He had invited the Mormons to settle near his village of Moenkopi without requiring them to gain individual permission. The Tuba City Trading Post was established in 1870. It dealt with the Navajo and
Paiute who came to the area for the natural springs, as well as the Hopi already in the area. European-American Mormon emigrants claimed to found Tuba City in 1872. In 1956, uranium mining began near Tuba City and the
Rare Metals Corporation established a regional office and uranium processing mill. The
Atomic Energy Commission had an office here as well. The mill closed in 1966, before environmental regulations were passed to protect the local people and resources. Reclamation of the mill site and tailings pile was completed in 1990 in response to the high radioactivity and environmentally hazardous waste products left behind. The
Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation hospital is located in Tuba City. It is a non-profit, Native American-run health care corporation that employs 1,200 people. The next nearest hospital is in
Flagstaff. In 2023, the Tuba City Entrepreneurship Hub opened, sponsored by Change Labs, a Native-led nonprofit supporting entrepreneurship on tribal land through free work spaces for entrepreneurs, vendors, and artists within Native communities. It features community gardens raised by local farmers in the Change Labs program. ==Geography and climate==