By Michael Wurtz

In 1876 Samuel Baker and his crew began to build a modest house on the southeast corner of Gurley and Pleasant Streets. Almost 100 years later that same house, which had blossomed into a beautiful Victorian home, was raised up on to a truck and slowly rolled down Gurley Street to its new home as a museum artifact. On April 19, 1974, 30 years ago, the William Coles Bashford House was moved to the Sharlot Hall Museum.

William Coles Bashford was born in 1853 in Wisconsin as one of seven children to Coles and Frances Adams Bashford. Coles had first served as a senator for that state and in 1856 successfully ran for governor. His term ended in controversial charges of bribery only two years later. 

William's uncle Levi had joined the Arizona's "Governor's Party" in 1863-4 as surveyor general. Coles had tagged along as a private citizen, but shortly after the arrival of the party, Governor Goodwin appointed him as attorney general. Coles went on to serve in many capacities within the territorial government up until his death in 1878. As early as 1867 the Bashford Brothers had opened the Bashford Mercantile Store on Gurley Street across from the courthouse. They remained there into the 1940, when JC Penney moved in. One can still see elements of the original store while sipping a fresh beer at the Prescott Brewing Company. 

In 1873 Coles finally sent for his family and William Coles Bashford moved to Prescott a few years later. In 1878 William Coles Bashford and his wife, Louise Evans, bought the simple two story two room cottage and moved into it. 

The couple expanded and modified the house extensively. They may have modeled their new home after architectural styles from the East and the Bashfords ended up with a Victorian Melange style complete with fancy Victorian adornments such as decorative brackets, scroll work in the peaks of the roof, an all glass solarium, and two-story bay windows. There is also a wonderful moon gate with spindle work at the entrance to the front porch. The remarkable aspect of the house is that so many sections were added; yet they were added in a "pleasing and proportional" manner. The Bashfords remained in the house until 1904 when they moved to California. 

For years different folks lived in this fine house at the corner of Pleasant and Gurley. William Mays (who managed the Elks Theater for a run) lived there before 1920. The house appeared to be vacant in the early 1920s before Dentist J.A. Miller moved in. He remained there until the mid 1930s when Charlotte C. Miller seemed to have turned the place into a boarding house that eventually became the (Charles) Goodloe Apartments with as many as eight units. Goodloe seemed to have managed the place up and through the purchase by Delbert Pierce. 

During much of the early 20th century downtown was creeping eastward and some historic homes and businesses that line Gurley Street were being razed. As early as 1972 there were rumblings that the Bashford house would be destroyed and replaced by Ralston-Purina's Jack-in-the-Box hamburger restaurant. There was community concern almost immediately. In late November 1973, Delbert Pierce offered to donate the historic William Coles Bashford house to the Sharlot Hall Museum if the museum could raise the money (about $25,000) to have it moved in about 90 days. Many of Prescott's Victorian homes had already been destroyed, so moving the Bashford house to the Museum's grounds became a celebrated cause in Prescott. 

Funds alternatively poured and trickled in for the Bashford House move. In the first month, only "about $1300" had come in, according to the Museum Director at the time, Ken Kimsey. Money-raising dances, rummage sales, and art shows were dedicated to its preservation. The Prescott Antique Car Club halted Gurley Street traffic to fill a clothesline with donated dollar bills. School children collected and sold tin cans. Jack-In-The-Box even donated $2000 to the restoration. There were even some mock hangings of the Prescott Valley Plainsmen to raise funds to move the home. 

Finally, on April 19, with $19,000 in funds and considerable donated time and materials, the house was moved six blocks to the Museum grounds by a Phoenix house mover (not Bernie Fisher who had moved the Fremont House a couple of years earlier). Preparations were made to redirect traffic, but more importantly to redirect power, telephone, and cable TV lines. There were lots of difficulties at first as hydraulic lines broke and trucks sunk in the mud around the house. However, once they got the house on the street with three trucks the parade began. Watchers along the route cheered "Go, Bashford, Go!" as the house rolled slowly west on Gurley Street. After eight hours the Bashford house took a seat at the corner of Gurley and McCormick Streets. 

A few days later the solarium was brought down and reattached. After two-years of extensive restoration by Museum staff, specifically Museum President Howard Henson, Museum Director Ken Kimsey, and Museum maintenance staff Darrow Miller and Robert "Bus" Williams, the National Guard and the Seabees (part of the Naval Marine Corps Training Center), the house was dedicated and opened during Folk Arts Fair in May 1976. A couple of years later, there was an earnest attempt at matching the colors of the original building. Today the color is similar, but not identical to colors that the Bashfords had selected. 

Today, it serves as the Museum's store and is still the only Victorian home in Prescott that is open to the public with regular hours. If you would like to see it, the Museum's summer hours start May 1: Monday-Saturday 10-5 Sunday 10-2. Call the Museum at 445.3122 or visit sharlothallmuseum.org for more information. 

(Michael Wurtz is the Museum's archivist, but only for a few more months. Much of the material for this article was gleaned from articles by Sue Abbey, Norm Tessman, and conversations with Bob Fields, Nancy Burgess, Ken Kimsey, and Elizabeth Ruffner) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (bashford move 1974). Reuse only by permission.