By Parker Anderson

Someone recently asked me what Prescott's historic Elks Opera House did to mark Statehood Day on February 14, 1912, when Arizona was officially admitted to the Union as the 48th state in America. 

As remarkable as it may seem today, there is no record of the Elks doing anything significant that day. In 1912, the Elks operated as a vaudeville house, hosting small-time traveling vaudeville acts and showing short movies - all movies were shorts at this time. On February 14, 1912, a vaudeville act called "Mack and Hastings" was playing, while regular Elks violinist professor Stanislaus Scherzel also performed. An ad for the Elks in the Journal Miner on Statehood Day also announced: "3400 feet of Licensed Association Pictures Nightly. First class orchestra. Theater thoroughly steam heated."

The evening of February 14, 1912, did not go completely as planned at the theater. The following day, the Journal Miner reported: 

"Owing to the wreck on the Santa Fe line between Del Rio and Cedar Glade, the film for the motion pictures portraying "The Mystery of the Maine," that was to be shown last night at the Elks Theater was delayed, and the large audience that gathered to see the spectacular feature had to be disappointed, but realized it was no fault of Manager (Ed) Dillon, who, had he been notified in time of the wreck, would have sent an automobile for the pictures and the men who travel with them. Endeavoring to give the crowd a bigger program, Manager Dillon changed the entire picture program and Mack and Hastings added more to their act, and everyone was satisfied." 

So it went at the Elks Theater on Statehood Day. 

If one wishes to dig a little deeper, one can find a role for the Elks in the Statehood story. For that, we need to turn back a few years before statehood. Ralph Henry Cameron was one of the fathers of Coconino County and the man who forged the Bright Angel Trail into the Grand Canyon. But Cameron is not well remembered today, largely due to his thirst for power and glory. In 1908, when Arizona was still a Territory, Ralph Cameron audaciously entered the race for election as Territorial Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Few gave him any chance of winning; but Cameron was a first class orator and had a knack for making the common people think he was one of them. In those days, all party candidates for state offices usually traveled together and made campaign appearances together, unlike today. And so it was on October 16, 1908, that the Republican candidates held a big rally in the Elks Opera House. 

Because of his ability to awe audiences with his oratory, the GOP made Cameron their main drawing card for the campaign. The Journal Miner, an avowed Republican newspaper, reported on the Elks rally with glee and perhaps some exaggeration. The newspaper reported that the Elks Theater was "packed from pit to dome, the aisles were crowded, and many were unable to gain admittance. Prescott never saw anything like it before and it will not see it again until Cameron returns from Washington bearing with him the great and priceless gift of statehood." 

Ralph Cameron was elected as Territorial Delegate to the U.S. House, and as such, he was involved in the battle for statehood. But after statehood was achieved for Arizona, Cameron would spend the rest of his life trying to claim credit for it, insisting his efforts single-handedly made statehood a reality. It is a claim rejected by historians, who view Cameron as little more than a figurehead in the battle. 

When President Taft signed the Arizona Statehood Bill on August 21, 1911, it next fell to Arizona to elect its first official state officeholders, including Governor, U. S. Senators, and Congressmen. Ralph Cameron, seeing his position as Territorial Delegate ending, entered the race to become one of Arizona's first U.S. Senators. As usual, candidates traveled around Arizona in packs, and on October 28, 1911, the Republicans held another big rally at the Elks Opera House in Prescott. 

The Republican Journal Miner once again reported that crowds packed the Elks like sardines in a can. Candidate after candidate got up and spoke. When Ralph Cameron ascended the Elks stage, he thundered: 

"Who got you statehood? I will not bore you by telling you how in 1908 you elected me to Congress on my promise to bring you statehood. I leave it to the people of the territory whether or not I have fulfilled my pledge. When the Constitution arrived, I took it to President Taft and to the Attorney General and I asked them to approve it as it came from the people. One day I asked the President if he would approve the Constitution as it stood, and he put a hand on each of my shoulders and looked me square in the eye and said 'Mr. Delegate, I have carefully read the Constitution of Arizona, the Attorney General has carefully inspected the Constitution of Arizona, and I have come to the conclusion that I will pass the constitution with the exception of the recall of the judiciary!" 

Riding high, the Republicans would hold another rally in the Elks on December 2, 1911. Once again, the Journal Miner insisted that the Elks held "the largest crowd which has ever attended an indoor political rally." 

When Cameron spoke to the Elks Theater audience this time, he promised that, if elected to the U. S. Senate, he would appropriate 50,000 acres of land for the Pioneers Home. But this time, rhetoric such as this was not enough. On December 12, 1911, Henry Ashurst defeated Cameron to become Arizona's first U.S. Senator. On February 14, 1912, when statehood took effect and its officials were sworn in, Ralph Henry Cameron was nowhere in sight. 

He lay low for a few years and returned to mining. He also waged a futile legal battle to prevent the U.S. Government from declaring the Grand Canyon as a National Monument (he had extensive mining claims in the Canyon, which he knew he would lose if the Grand Canyon were to be preserved). 

However, the lure of political power beckoned to Cameron once again, and in 1920, he boldly entered the race for the U.S. Senate. Few took him seriously (his claims of single-handedly securing statehood were already being derided) but once again, his ability to connect with the average citizen served him well in his campaign. Times had changed, and candidates no longer traveled together. On October 21, 1920, the Elks Theater hosted a rally for Cameron alone. He spoke, but few details have survived. 

Because he said things the common people wanted to hear, Ralph Cameron was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1920, but he served only one term, marred by charges of corruption and cronyism, as well as charges of using his new position to try to get the government's taking of the Grand Canyon declared illegal. Fed up, voters did not re-elect him in 1926, choosing Carl Hayden instead. 

During his failed re-election bid in 1926, Ralph Cameron returned to the Elks Theater for the fifth and last time on October 1st. It was a meager affair, and Cameron's declining reputation had taken its toll. Senator Cameron and his entourage were only allowed to hold their rally at 8:30, following the evening's regular movie showing, a Hoot Gibson western called, "The Texas Streak," which Manager Charles Born did not cancel. It was perhaps the ultimate indignity for Ralph Cameron, a man who insisted, and perhaps sincerely believed, that Arizona statehood was achieved solely because of his efforts, to be reduced to playing second fiddle to Hoot Gibson at the Elks. 

Cameron tried and failed to return to the Senate in the elections of 1928 and 1932, but he never returned to the Elks Opera House. Bitter and dejected, Cameron left Arizona and spent the rest of his life dividing his time between Los Angeles and Philadelphia. 

Ralph Henry Cameron died in 1953 at the age of 89 without ever returning to politics. In what appeared to be a final gesture of defiance toward his enemies, Cameron's family laid him to rest in the American Legion Cemetery at the Grand Canyon. His tombstone reads: "Obtained Statehood for Arizona Feb. 14, 1912." 

I began this piece by pointing out that no celebration of Arizona's birth as a state took place at the Elks in 1912, but that is not the case today. The Elks Opera House is still with us and its Foundation invites you to celebrate Arizona's 94th anniversary and the 101st birthday of The Historic Elks Opera House, February 17, 2006. Enjoy dinner and dancing at the Hassayampa Inn (a short red-carpet walk away, across Gurley Street), followed by a special show on the stage of The Historic Elks Opera House. Call Susan Hampton at 443 8541 for details related to the Dinner/Dance/Show package ($149) or tickets for the show only ($20). Credit Card purchases can be made at the Hassayampa Inn or at Prescott City Hall. Support The Historic Elks Opera House and the continued efforts to restore it to its former glory. 

(Parker Anderson is the Official Historian of The Historic Elks Opera House and an active member of The Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theater.) 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(bub8021pb)
Reuse only by permission.
The Elks Opera House Foundation invites you to celebrate the 94th birthday of Arizona Statehood and the 101st birthday of the Opera House on February 17, 2006. Please call Susan Hampton at 443 8541 for more information.