Before the Great Fire of July 14, 1900, the Courthouse Plaza was described as a “desolate and neglected waste.” The white rail fence surrounding it was beyond repair, and the Weekly Journal-Miner called for its removal five years earlier.
It was the Great Fire that brought an end to the fence. Not by burning, but by being knocked down and tossed aside as businesses set up shanties and other temporary structures upon the Plaza while the destruction was cleared away, and the downtown buildings familiar and historic to us today were constructed.
Perhaps the most temporary of these buildings was Wooster’s Stationery store. It was neither well built nor well anchored, and an October gust of wind sent both the shanty and the store’s stock airborne. The newspaper declared the ill-wind "guilty of shoplifting”, but come the first weeks of 1901, the store moved into their permanent and “elegant new quarters in the Cook building.”
Some of these temporary stores were built with some integrity, and when one temporary building was vacated, it would be purchased, rented, or simply taken over by a new proprietor. “The temporary town on the Plaza does not seem to decrease any,” the paper observed. “No sooner is a building vacated than it is occupied by someone else.” Several of these were brand-new businesses seeking to locate in the high-traffic areas in and around the Plaza. Indeed, Prescott was poised to bounce back even healthier economically than before the conflagration.
One of the best temporary buildings on the Plaza was built by RH Burmister and Sons. Once they moved into their permanent location, they allowed the use of their temporary building for broad ecumenical purposes. The ladies of the Methodist church used the building for a rummage sale. “Any parties having articles which they have no further use are requested to donate them to the ladies,” the paper requested. “It will continue for 3 or 4 days and will be open all day and evenings.” Items donated included “furniture, crockery, dishes, bedding, clothing, millinery, [homemade] eatables,” and more.
Once that was over, a missionary from Hawaii and the South Sea Islands (Rev. Peck) provided what the paper described as a unique entertainment. “[It] will be in the form of an exhibition of 1000 silkworms spinning silk,” the paper wrote, and “one hour each evening will be devoted to lectures on Hawaii and the South Sea Islands, illustrated by a powerful lantern, there being nearly 300 views to be shown.” Many curios from those locales were also on display. The cost was 25 cents (worth around $20 today) for adults, and 15 cents for children. The Sunday school of the M.E. Church sponsored it, and it seemed to be a rousing success.
In late May 1901, the county started removing some of the abandoned shanties off the Plaza “without any official notification from the authorities,” the paper noted, and the Supervisors gave notice that “all tenants of the Plaza must vacate…by June 10."
"Accordingly, all are preparing to move, and with a few exceptions, the Plaza will again be the same scene as of yore," the paper continued. "It has well served its purpose, and ‘with all its faults we love it still.’” Undoubtedly, the Supervisors had Frontier Days in mind when they made this decision, and all the brand new businesses situated on the Plaza would have to move to a street address.
“Prescott has grown to such an extent that to get in 'around the Plaza' is a thing of the past, and business is fast branching out in all directions, but more especially on Cortez street, which, ere long, will be a handsome business thoroughfare,” the paper proclaimed. Perhaps the most surprising result of the Great Fire was that the number of businesses actually increased in the aftermath.
“The shacks are rapidly being moved off the Plaza, and soon all will be gone, and we can then commence on the improvements that are planned,” the Journal-Miner reported.
Those improvements would be supervised by Professor (of horticulture), JA Kusche, who travelled to Prescott to take the job. “The work of improving the Plaza in front of the county courthouse is progressing… Plants, indigenous to the territory and showing what can be done in the improvement of them by cultivation, will be [planted, including] native flowers,” the paper wrote. “The proposition is in part to make the Plaza a living illustration of some of the oddest and also some of the most beautiful productions of the territory.”
First, trenches were dug “for the piping of the water for the courthouse and the grounds,” the paper explained. The future horticulture would receive the necessary irrigation to thrive. Labor for this project came largely from those convicted of petty crimes. Those who could not afford the fine imposed were required to work it off on the Plaza, usually at a rate of $1 credit per day. One man, convicted for participating in a drunken fight, was sentenced to $150 or 150 days of “hard labor on the Plaza.”
The following May (1902), the Journal-Miner admonished people to be patient with the process. “Prof. Kusche is making an excellent showing…considering that prison labor is employed,” the paper pointed out. “The Plaza will soon be reclaimed, and when finished, will be a resort.” Gravel walks were being laid, “and inside 30 days, there will be something to admire… The [County] Supervisors are certainly to be commended.”
Kusche enjoyed the work and simultaneously fell in love with the city. "He has sent for his family and will make this his future home,” the newspaper announced.
By the end of June, things were growing nicely. “Yesterday, [Kusche] cut the bluegrass from one plot, while in others, all character of flowers and trees are beginning to bloom and grow. In a year’s time, we will have the prettiest Plaza in the universe,” the paper declared.
In 1903, Kusche had executed a completely different plan. He obtained 2500 cacti “from different parts of the territory,” the paper reported. Many were planted on a pyramidal mound. “Once completed, the mound will…be beautiful. Other extensive improvements are now underway on the Plaza grounds, and it will not be long until the spot will be the city’s chief attraction.”
However, that would be the last year Kusche held the job. Some believed he had ultimately gone too far. “Kusche was the courthouse gardener who planned those beautiful(?) rock borders and soul-inspiring rock piles,” the paper later quipped, “which only cost the taxpayers the insignificant little trifle of $9000” (almost $350,000 today). The newspaper wasn’t the only one that had soured on Kusche. The same paragraph noted that Mrs. Kusche was granted a divorce.
Other hired gardeners would replace Kusche, but the expense was soon considered too costly, and the position was discontinued. Eventually, the Plaza became a shaded plot of grass watered, in part, by the infrastructure Kusche first installed.
The Plaza would undergo several more changes over the years, principally the Rough Rider Monument in 1907, several other bronze statues, and the current courthouse. But never again would the Plaza be the bare, desolate, and neglected ground it was in the late 19th century.
It turns out that Yavapai County did not own the Plaza until 6 years after the Old Courthouse was built.
*********************************
CLICK HERE for all the disaster stories
on #PrescottAZHistory
*********************************
(Daily pics and featured articles.)
Drew Desmond is on Facebook (For the latest article and posts about Drew's writing.)
SOURCES:
Weekly Journal-Miner:
5/21/1902, Pg. 4, Col. 4.
3/13/1895, Pg. 2, Col. 2
10/24/1900, Pg. 2, Col. 6.
1/16/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 6
10/24/1900, Pg. 3, Col. 1.
11/7/1900, Pg. 3, Col. 3.
11/21/1900, Pg. 3, Col. 1.
4/17/1901, Pg. 4, Col. 1
4/24/1901, Pg. 2, Col. 6.
5/22/1901, Pg. 4, Col. 1.
5/29/1901, Pg. 4, Col. 2 & Col. 3.
5/29/1901, Pg. 2, Col. 3.
6/12/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 3
12/18/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 5.
1/22/1902, Pg. 3, Col. 5.
1/29/1902, Pg. 3, Col. 2.
12/25/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 4.
2/26/1902, Pg. 3, Col. 2.
6/25/1902, Pg. 3, Col. 3.
1/21/1903, Pg. 2, Col. 6.
1/6/1904, Pg. 3, Col. 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment