by Stu Jordan

In Robert Groom’s 1864 survey laying out the town of Prescott, two entire but non-adjacent blocks fronting Gurley Street were set aside as public spaces, the Plaza and the Capitol Block. Both were to be connected by Union Street. The Capitol Block was designated for eventual civic buildings, including one to serve as the capitol. Meanwhile, the new territorial government had business to conduct.

For the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Legislative Assemblies (1864/1865/1866), the delegates gathered each autumn in Van C. Smith's “Legislative Hall,” a log structure erected on Gurley Street directly across from the Plaza, intended for future commercial purposes and the present location of the Union Block building. The 4th Assembly (1867) was held in the consolidated Montezuma-Exchange Saloon, the site behind the current sidewalk entrance to St. Michael's Alley adjacent Matt’s Saloon. Shortly thereafter, the territorial capital relocated to Tucson.

By the time the capital returned to Prescott in mid-1877, the 60-day-or-less legislative assemblies were only being scheduled every second January. A new Yavapai County Courthouse having just been raised on the Plaza, the 10th Assembly (1879) convened in the old courthouse on N. Cortez Street, the location of the Masonic Temple today. The 11th and 12th Assemblies (1881/1883) took place in the imposing City Hall Theatre owned by George W. Curtis and located on the west bank of Granite Creek. This site is now a parking lot adjacent to the only remaining Curtis Cottage at 125 S. McCormick Street.

For the first 20 years of Prescott's existence, the Capitol Block remained empty. That finally changed in 1884, when a large two-story red brick public building was constructed front and center facing Gurley Street, not only to serve as Prescott's new City Hall but also as the Arizona Territorial Capitol. For the next decade, it was the only structure to occupy the Capitol Block other than associated outbuildings. The territorial legislature met in the new Capitol for the entirety of the 13th and 14th Assemblies (1885/1887), as well as Prescott's portion of the 15th Assembly.

Early into the 15th Legislative Assembly (1889), the territorial government again decided to relocate, this time to Phoenix and, as it turned out, for good. With slim hope of regaining capital status again, in late 1891, the city sold the Capitol Block’s entire northern half, including the City Hall building, to the local public school district. By 1897 the same property was already being referred to as “Prescott High School.”

In the meantime (1893), the southern half of the Capitol Block was auctioned off to be parceled into individual lots, five of which were subsequently touted as the “Nob Hill” of Prescott. Union Street was extended eastward, separating the school property from “Nob Hill.” The following year, the school’s footprint was reduced by another third. Patton's (Dake's) Opera House was built immediately west of the schoolhouse, almost a decade later to be replaced by the Yavapai Club.

In 1904 the high school’s interior was remodeled and updated to better serve the students, but by 1914 the building, then 30 years old, had outlived its usefulness. It was demolished, and a new edifice raised on the same site, first to be used as a high school and then as a junior high. Finally, between 1973 and 1976, the entire northern half of the former Capitol Block was cleared for construction of the current Yavapai County Administration building at 255 E. Gurley Street.

None of the aforementioned structures that officially hosted the Arizona Territory’s legislative assemblies survive. Unlike the First Territorial Governor's Mansion, still in its original location at the Sharlot Hall Museum, the Territorial Capitol in Prescott exists now only in historical memory.

“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 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.