By Marjory J. Sente
When Miss Agnes B. Todd opened her millinery shop in Prescott in 1910, she had a wealth of experience in the trade. Born in Missouri in 1872 to Scottish immigrants Robert V. and Jessie N. Todd, she moved with her family sometime after 1880 to southern California. Agnes visited the Grand Canyon on August 25, 1898 and by 1900 she resided in Flagstaff and worked as a milliner. In 1902 she sold her millinery stock and went to work for Babbitt Brothers Dry Goods Store. Her tenure with Babbitt Brothers was punctuated with buying trips for the store, as well as visits to Los Angeles to see her family. In 1908 she left Flagstaff, returning to California. However, the June 25, 1909 Coconino Sun noted that Agnes had spent the past year in Boston and was passing through Flagstaff, visiting friends, on her way home to Los Angeles.
Early in 1910 she leased rooms vacated by the Prescott Electric Company in the Bank of Arizona Building. A profile of Agnes in the September 1917 Yavapai Magazine noted that, in 1910, a woman tenant was unheard of, and the bank could not rent to a woman. However, a male acquaintence from Flagstaff, who happened to be in the bank at the time, stepped in and advised them to rent to Miss Todd, because “She is sure to make good.” She received the keys to the rooms. The March 2, 1910 Weekly Journal-Miner announced that Miss Todd’s millinery parlor on Gurley Street would soon open.
Agnes’ business in Prescott got off to a rough start. The April 22, 1910 Coconino Sun reported the store was partially destroyed by fire. Damages amounted to $500 with no insurance. The article stated, “The fire started under the back door in some unaccountable way. She saved sufficient [inventory] to continue business until new stock arrives.”
Her business acumen, high regard in the Prescott community and willingness to go twice a year on buying trips to procure the latest fashions made Agnes’ exclusive millinery a huge success. “There is one window which only a blind woman could pass and that is the one where Miss Agnes B. Todd is showing her new fall hats,” wrote Sharlot M. Hall in the September 17, 1919 Weekly Journal-Miner. A member of the Chamber of Commerce, Business and Professional Women’s Club and Y.W.C.A., she also joined the Hassayampa Country Club when it opened in 1919.
Besides traveling for business and to visit family in California, Agnes traveled abroad. In 1916 she vacationed in Honolulu, returned to San Francisco and then went East on a buying trip. A New York City trip was extended to Italy in 1923 and three years later, she took another trip to Europe. She visited Shanghi in 1931 and five years later, was off to Sydney, Australia, to visit family.
After 38 years at the same Prescott location, Agnes sold her shop to Mrs. Fay Gillis of El Paso, Texas. Commenting on the sale in the March 29, 1948 Prescott Evening Courier, Agnes noted, “There is no place in the world that has such wonderful, friendly people as Prescott and I sincerely appreciate their loyality, which remained faithful even during the depressing years.”
She sold her home on north Mount Vernon and moved to Hermosa Beach, California, to live with her sister and brother. Living in Pasadena by 1950, Agnes entertained visitors from Prescott, such as her long-time friend and traveling companion Miss Mata Dexter. Agnes died in 1957 in Los Angeles and was buried in the San Gabriel Cemetery.
“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1 The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.