 SUBSCRIBE TO DAYS PAST The Sharlot Hall Museum Archives department edits the weekly "Days Past" column for the local newspaper, providing an opportunity to share the rich history of Yavapai County and its surrounding region. |
Prescott's Eagle Drug Store: 1918-1981 Part II February 06, 2010 
By 1933, the Eagle Drug Store had been relocated to the northwest corner of Gurley and Cortez Streets where it would remain until 1981. A collection of old medicine bottles, tins and tubes were saved and recently resurfaced when donated to the Sharlot Hall Museum. The majority of the donated bottles are well labeled, either by paper label or the glass bottle was embossed or both. The contents were "patent" medicines and not prescription medications. The manufacturers basically kept their ingredients secret and actually patented them.
morePrescott's Eagle Drug Store: 1918-1981 Part I January 29, 2010 
Recently, two boxes of what appeared to be old medicine bottles, tins, and tubes were donated to the Sharlot Hall Museum. They were collected several years ago from the building that the Eagle Drug Store occupied at 102 West Gurley Street, on the northwest corner of Gurley and Cortez Streets from 1933 to 1981. As it turns out, most of the original contents of the bottles were not prescription medicines, but "patent" medicines issued before and near the time of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Basically, this Act required ingredients, particularly dangerous and addictive ones, to be listed on the labels for tonics and other "medicinal" concoctions.
moreThe Hassayampa Country Club was Prescott's "Crown Jewel" Part II January 23, 2010 
The Hassayampa Country Club had its beginning in 1919 and quickly became a favorite social establishment despite its primitive conditions. Late in 1939, the club and 160 acres of surrounding area were purchased by Harvey Cory, who immediately began many improvements. The old clubhouse was torn down and a new one constructed. A pool was added as well as tennis courts. The sand and oil greens were replaced with cotton seed and were rolled three times a day.
moreThe Hassayampa Country Club was Prescott's "Crown Jewel" Part I January 16, 2010 
During its heyday, the Hassayampa Country Club was considered by many to be the crown jewel of Prescott's social life. From 1919 until 1969, it was a favorite destination for people from Phoenix to escape their scorching summer heat. In 1890, the 160-acre parcel that was to become Hassayampa Country Club was homesteaded to James W. Clay from Escondido, California. Seven years later, Clay and his business associates sold the property to H.M. Hartson and his wife, Mary, and it became the Hartson Ranch. The ranch was home to a local gun club during the early 1890s. more A life cut short: The 1887 murder of Reyes Baca January 09, 2010 
In 19th-century Territorial Arizona, county lines had been drawn, but not with the boundaries they have today. Coconino County did not exist until 1891, and that area, including Flagstaff itself, was part of Yavapai County. Yavapai officials, already stationed in the county seat of Prescott, had their jurisdiction extending almost as far as the Utah border. Every town in those days had a downtrodden Mexican community, whose inhabitants were shunned and avoided by the white community for the most part. It is difficult to trace the history of Latinos in Arizona because the existing records are either non-existent or pejorative. Mexican births were not recorded, and deaths were only recorded in cases of accidents or murders. The only news printed in the newspapers in those days about the Arizona Mexican community was crime news, much of it likely exaggerated. It is against this backdrop that we begin this story. more Old West Cowboy Detectives January 02, 2010 
In Santa Fe, NM, there is a place called Siringo Road. It was named for Charles A. "Charlie" Siringo who had a ranch in the area in the early 1900s. Charlie was born in Texas in 1855 and by age 15 was working on surrounding ranches as a cowboy, eventually becoming a trail driver and working the Chisolm Trail. In 1884, he quit the cowboy life, settled down and got married, becoming a merchant in Caldwell, Kansas. It was there he began writing his first book, "A Texas Cowboy; or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony." A year later, it was published to much popular acclaim - one of the first real looks at the cowboy life by someone who actually lived it.
moreProf. Ludwig Thomas: Territorial Prescott's "Music Man" December 23, 2009 
The year 1886 marked a significant turning point in Territorial Prescott's cultural life. Hon. Levi Bashford built an addition to Howey's Hall and installed upholstered chairs to make a first-class opera house of the existing theatre on the second floor. And a talented young German immigrant, Prof. Ludwig Thomas, arrived in Prescott in time to make the remodeled theatre ring with the sound of music. Under Thomas's baton, local singers and musicians flourished as never before, making Prescott the cultural capitol of Arizona.
morePrescott's Smoki Bomber, 1944 December 12, 2009 
In the archives at the Smoki Museum in Prescott, there is an unusual document: a copy of a letter addressed to the "Captain and Crew of the Smoki Bomber." It has no date or address given. Did such an airplane actually exist? If so, what role did the City of Prescott play in its creation? Did such an airplane see action in wartime? To find the answers to these questions we must first define who the Smoki People were. In 1921, Prescott's principal tourist attraction was its annual rodeo. In the aftermath of World War I, the Prescott rodeo was flat broke. Despite hard times, community leaders were determined to save it. Their solution was to stage a "Way out West" show at the fairgrounds as a money raiser. A variety of cowboy and Indian burlesque acts were scheduled, plus an event described simply as "The Smoki Snake Dance." more December 1864: First Christmas in Prescott December 05, 2009 
Sixty-six years ago the snow lay white over the hills; the tops of the high peaks were crystal white and cold; the pine and cedar and juniper trees were sparkling like trees on a Christmas card. Winter begun early in 1864, and by the middle of December the trails were mostly snowed under and lost - all but those often traveled which led to the placer gold mines on Lynx Creek, or to Walnut Grove and the camps on the Hassayampa.
moreHow the state of Arizona got its name: Part II November 18, 2009 
President Lincoln finally declared Arizona a separate territory from New Mexico on February 24, 1863. Other names, including "Gadsonia," "Pimeria," "Montezuma." "Arizuma" and "Arizonia" had been considered for the territory. However, when President Lincoln signed the final bill, it read, "Arizona." The importance of declaring it a territory of the United States was known shortly afterward, when the Walker party found gold in the Bradshaw Mountains, contributing greatly to the Union effort for the Civil War. The question that remained was whether or not our state was a Piman Indian word as put forth by many writers. A Western historian, Hubert Howe Bancroft, wrote in 1889 ("History of Arizona and New Mexico") that Arizona was a Pima-Papago (now Tohono O'odham) word. A number of place name books and travel guides stated that the name was Spanish for "arida zona" (arid zone) for the climate. This did not appear to be a convenient solution since the correct Spanish word would have to be "zonarida."
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