By Dr. Ken Edwards
Brothers Michael and Joseph Goldwater (along with Michael's son, Morris) rented the newly built Howey Hall on the southeast corner of Cortez and Goodwin streets to establish their first J. Goldwater & Bro. mercantile store in Prescott in late 1876. Within three years, they were prosperous enough to build their own store on the southeast corner of Cortez and Union streets less than a block away. In 1880, Michael and Joseph dissolved their nearly three decade partnership and the store was given a new name: Michael Goldwater and Son. The son, of course, was Morris.
Morris was not the only son of Mike that was associated with the Prescott store. At various times, brothers Henry, Baron, Sam and possibly Ben also worked for the enterprise, although the latter two did not live here long. Both of them fell victim to tuberculosis after coming to Prescott for their health. Both died at relatively early ages, Sam at 41 and Ben at 33.
Henry had a very colorful career. He is best known for the so-called "Star Route Scandal," which began when he was a 19-year-old assistant postmaster in Yuma in 1878. In those days much of the mail in the less populated areas was delivered by private contractors. Henry blew the whistle on several of these Star Route contractors who were collecting large funds from the government and failing to deliver the mail. It turned into a major scandal and eventually involved some important senators. The case eventually went to trial in 1882 but resulted in no convictions.
From Yuma, Henry came to Prescott and, in no particular order, married a school teacher, built a beautiful Victorian home on Union Street, joined his brothers as a partner in the Goldwater store and opened a cigar store on Whiskey Row. His wife, Julia, is historically important for raising money from the Andrew Carnegie organization in 1903 for Prescott's first library. The Carnegie Library building still stands across Gurley Street from the present Hassayampa Inn. Henry had lots of ideas that didn't pan out and eventually moved to California.
Baron was the brother that worked most closely with Morris and the name of the store was changed to M. Goldwater and Bro. With the Prescott success, Baron strongly urged the family to again open a Goldwater store in Phoenix. He finally got the go-ahead in 1896. This time the venture was hugely successful. It was primarily a dry goods and ladies-wear enterprise and eventually expanded into several new locations. It was in Phoenix in 1909 that his son Barry was born. There's no need to detail Barry's political career here, but it should be noted that in many of his senatorial campaigns and his presidential run in 1964, he kicked off his campaign with a speech on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse. He had spent time here in Prescott with Uncle Morris during his growing-up years.
For more than 50 years, the Prescott Goldwater store prospered, and Morris became a local celebrity of sorts. When the depression hit in 1929, many businesses encountered serious financial problems and the local Goldwater store was no exception. In January 1930, the store closed its doors.
Their building at Cortez and Union streets remained in the ownership of Morris Goldwater and a new tenant was found. After some remodeling, the building became a grocery store owned by Clarence Saunders. In earlier years, Saunders had founded the Piggly Wiggly chain of grocery stores, which had innovative merchandising and were highly successful. Before the Piggly Wiggly chain, grocers would fetch items from the shelves for the customers. Saunders is considered to be the innovator of the modern self-serve grocery store. Each store was privately owned and was an early version of a franchise. Saunders got into financial trouble and lost his investment in the chain so he started out anew with a Clarence Saunders chain located in several western states. Alas, these stores also were victims of the Depression and the Prescott store was gone by 1933.
A new tenant was needed for the Goldwater building. Albert Stetson, one of the operators of the Studio Theatre in Phoenix, entered negotiations with Morris Goldwater in the summer of 1933 to convert the building into a Studio Theatre. At a cost of approximately $75,000, the building was remodeled and the new theater had a seating capacity of 550. It opened on September 29, 1933. For a time the theater was a direct competitor of the Elks Theatre on Gurley Street, but the competition was eventually eliminated when the two theaters went into common management. The Studio Theatre prospered for a number of years but, in 1966, the building was declared unsafe and was closed down. The following year it was purchased by the county and was going to be demolished to make room for a parking lot. In 1978, the vacant building was sold at auction and acquired by First Baptist Church located in the same block. In spite of some community effort to save the historic structure, it was demolished in November 1978. The entry doors, however, were salvaged and now are used in the Transportation Building at Sharlot Hall Museum.
The Goldwaters were not finished with Prescott. In about 1937, they went back into business in the Otis building on the northeast corner of Cortez and Union streets across Union Street from their old building (which had been converted into the theater). The new store was strictly a ready-made women's clothing store and is the store that most of today's Prescottonians remember. It continued in business until 1978, closing its doors on Oct. 14 of that year.
In Part 4 next week, we present the Morris Goldwater influence and accomplishments in Prescott until his death in 1937.
Sharlot Hall Museum/Courtesy photo<br>The Goldwaters bought the lot on the southeast corner of Union and Cortez streets in 1879 and moved their mercantile store to the new location, opening there in January of 1880. This photo was taken in 1890.