The Great Fire Changed the Plaza Forever

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.

Memories of Gurley Street in 1970 Prescott

In 1970, Prescott, Arizona, was still a small town. According to the Census Bureau, the population that year was 13,631--an increase of 770 from 1960, or roughly, just one new family every four weeks. Similar to other towns this size, one of the great weekend pastimes for teenagers was cruising, and in Prescott, that meant driving up and down Gurley Street. 

The businesses on Gurley then were largely different from those today.

The Embezzling Yavapai County Treasurer

Prescott was aghast when the Yavapai County Treasurer, James P Storm, was found bound and gagged in the county’s vault by his daughter, who heard him kicking the vault door when she arrived for work there on the morning of November 9, 1904.

Let's Visit 1870 Prescott

Diana Saloon on the left, Gurley St. on the right,
(Thumb Butte in the Middle).

When the capital moved to Tucson in 1867, many scoffers believed Prescott would wither away. Instead, in just three years, the town would be in the midst of its first big growth spurt.

1913 Frontier Days Gasoline Events

 

It was only 10 years after the first automobile, a 1903 “Curved-Dash” Oldsmobile from Jerome, which actually only drove from Jerome Junction after taking the train there.

Still, “much interest [was] created” when the Frontier Days Committee announced that it was increasing the cash prize money for the automobile race to $250 for first, and $150 for second place (approximately $8000 and $4800 in today’s money). The Weekly Journal-Miner explained that the extra prize money would ‘guarantee the entry of at least two cars from Tucson, two cars from Phoenix, and one car from Jerome,  to race against a lone entry from Prescott.

How Did Prescott's Plaza Become Yavapai County Property? UPDATED

How is it that the very heart of Prescott—its downtown Plaza—happened to become property of Yavapai County? 

When queried, even local historians were unable to explain why. One former county supervisor suggested that the beautifully-shaded, rectangle-shaped parcel always belonged to Yavapai County. However, research shows that nothing could be further from the truth…

The Mystery of Prescott’s Mineral Fountain

Before the Plaza fountain we know today was constructed in 1910, the Plaza had a “Mineral Fountain” (pictured above).  Along its outside boundary were a number of what the Weekly Arizona Journal-Miner described as “peculiar red rock[s]…about which there has been much speculation as to what [they are].”

“The rock is peculiar in that it is susceptible of a good polish and it contains practically no grit," the paper continued, and is very soft, as it can be whittled with a knife like a piece of chalk. When the fountain was being built, this rock attracted general attention from all who saw it, but no one seemed able to classify it.”

Then, in April 1903, two investigators identified the source of these peculiar rocks, not too far from Prescott. They gathered samples to take to several different assayers, and what they found was a great surprise to everyone.

Teddy Roosevelt in Arizona and Prescott

Roosevelt speaking in Phoenix, Sep. 1912 

The day the Buckey O’Neill Rough Rider monument was unveiled on the Plaza (July 3,1907,) it was hoped that Teddy Roosevelt, the field commander of said group, would come to see the world-class sculpture for himself. After all, he donated an undisclosed amount toward its creation himself!

1898: The Railroad Roundhouse Disaster

MH Dodge and Captain Donaldson were visiting in front of the Catholic Church around 2PM Tuesday, August 16, 1898. Dodge was facing toward the rail yard when he witnessed an immense piece of iron rise 200-300 feet into the air. Immediately, the concussion of a huge explosion reached the men’s ears. Even more disturbing, this giant, rotating projectile was heading straight toward them! 

1921 Rodeo Had Several More Attractions

In anticipation of the great 1921 event, Grace Sparkes wrote: “Oh boy!  Can’t you hear the grinding of the old chute doors, the smell of clean horse flesh and the general atmosphere of the town just percolating with Frontier Days?"

However, just the year before, it was thought that the World’s Oldest Rodeo had run its course. There wasn’t enough profit in 1920 to hold the show in '21, but a group of businessmen and townspeople started a new fraternal organization which would be called the Smoki (Smoke-eye) People. They held a fundraising fair called the Way Out West Show May 26, 1921 to raise money for the rodeo.

Not only did the rodeo go on, but it was able to upgrade. This was the first rodeo to utilize a public address system. The “electric announcer…carried [one’s voice] to every part of the grounds,” the Weekly Journal-Miner revealed. It involved the latest technology of the day costing “several hundred dollars,” and the same style was being utilized by US President Wilson.

What It Was Like to be an Extra in "Junior Bonner"

Sam Peckinpah was in Prescott directing the 199th movie made in Yavapai County, “Junior Bonner, when he noticed a nude painting titled “Olympia” by Earl MacPherson. Peckinpah thought it would be perfect hanging behind the Palace bar for some scenes he would shoot there. When asked if the movie could use his painting, MacPherson bargained that they could if he was hired as an extra. Peckinpah was happy to agree. Thus began an interesting, four-day, behind-the-scenes experience for the painter.

1922: Prescott Turns the Page on the Old West

From its beginning and for the better part of a century, Prescott desired to be a modern city in stark contrast to the surrounding wilderness. Come 1922, people had grown weary of streets that were either dusty or muddy, and the desire was strong to dust off Prescott’s cowtown image and replace it with a modern, 20th-century city. As a result, 1922 would see the biggest infrastructure improvements the city would ever experience, as well as Prescott’s first big growth spurt.

William Randolph Hearst brings 15 Congressmen to Prescott

(Forgive the typo!)

In 1903, William Randolph Hearst was a 40-year-old newspaper baron and US Congressman from New York who was under serious consideration for the Democratic nomination for President the following year. He desired statehood for the southwestern territories of Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona and took a delegation of other congressmen and their wives on a whirlwind trip through those three large land masses to find evidence that they were worthy of statehood to bring back to Washington.

On the 17th of October, the special train would stop in Prescott, and he would be completely surprised at what he found.

1921: A Christmas Season Bright

Christmas 1921 in Prescott would see several dances, children’s events, charitable acts, and a new set of street lights for downtown. It would prove a season bright in every way.

The History of the Horribles

Due to their over-the-top, Mardi Gras-quality costumes, pictures of “The Horribles” often appear around Halloween in Prescott. However, their activities actually surrounded the Fourth of July as a comedic alternative to Independence Day with hints of Confederate sympathy and mourning.

The Plaza Gazebo: A Fixture Since 1895

(Courtesy Tim Gronek)

Originally, the Plaza “gazebo” (as many call it today) was the Prescott Bandstand. It was constructed in 1895 and has enjoyed a rich and colorful history—even at its genesis. The June 26 issue of the Weekly Journal-Miner reported: “The construction of the bandstand on the Plaza has not had a very quieting effect on the nerves of Loske and Shultz, who have been convicted of the murder of McNary. The other prisoners told them that it was the gallows scaffold which was being erected, right in plain view of them.”

Obligatory Clean-Up Days Heralded Tourist Season

“Prescott has a splendid record with respect to cleanliness of the city and its environs,” the Weekly Journal-Miner noted in 1922, “but in order to keep that reputation, clean-up will be observed to the letter. Those not complying with the orders of the city health officer will, of necessity, report to the chief of police.”

NEWSFLASH: Small Town Prescott Still Exists!

After a thorough search, lasting twenty years, this author and observer found a treasure that many have been missing for some time: Small-Town Prescott. 

Where is it located, you may ask? I found it in the reflection of an equally small cup of coffee!

The Old Courthouse Became a Living Wreck

Note: This was originally written as a "Days Past" article in June 2018. However, since the Sharlot Hall Museum website was hacked, it's been unavailable to read. Therefore, it is republished here. 

UPDATE: A week after this post was published, the author received word that the situation had been remedied. However, this article posting is being retained because it includes the sources used. The address for the original article is this: the-old-courthouse-became-a-living-wreck

As Yavapai County grew at the turn of the last century, the Old Courthouse had become too small. For $6000, an addition was constructed, but the old building never had the structural integrity to support it. 

Christmas Shopping in 1897 Prescott

The Christmas of 1897 was a bright one for Prescott. “It is only two days until Christmas, yet the very air breathes of the coming event,” the Journal-Miner noted.

After a nationwide economic slowdown, the economy was finally rebounding. The Postal Service reported that money orders “evidently intended as Christmas presents, [indicated] a tremendous increase… These conditions are accepted as a pronounced indication of the return of better times and improved financial affairs,” the paper reported.

Yet, there was something else that had recently transformed the downtown business district into a virtual box of consumer eye candy.