By Bob Baker
In September 1874, Theodore W. Otis (locally known as T.W.), wife Pamela and daughter Mary arrived in Prescott, Arizona Territory, from California with a wagon load of household goods and merchandise. By December T.W., along with his partner, H.V. Cram opened the Variety Store on the Courthouse Plaza. T.W. and Pamela sold groceries, fruits, confectionery, cigars and tobacco. 

On September 7, 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed T.W. as Prescott’s Postmaster, based on his Civil War service and reputation for honesty. T.W. scrupulously followed postal regulations even when dealing with the 12th Territorial Legislature. For example, he refused to accept their warrant (a promise to pay) for $250 worth of postage stamps, insisting on cash. He served as Postmaster until April 5, 1884, earning on average $2100 annually. T.W. proudly noted that, “I was known all over Arizona as the Psalm singing Postmaster of Prescott.” in his later memoranda.

On July 14, 1876, H.V. Cram announced in the Weekly Journal-Miner that he was dissolving his partnership with T.W., Otis. However, T.W. continued to operate the store as sole proprietor. 

On September 26, 1880, T.W. and Pamela hosted the initial meeting of the First Congregational Society of Prescott in their home at 113 N. Pleasant Street. They wholeheartedly participated in church and community matters. They both regularly taught Sunday School. One of Pamela’s students was Sharlot Hall, who would become Arizona’s first woman state historian and the founder of the Sharlot Hall Museum. T.W. started a school to teach English to Chinese immigrants. When a young Chinese girl fled to their home seeking refuge, they readily took her in and became her legal guardian. 

On July 1,1888, two burglars broke into T.W.’s Variety Store. They planted explosives around the safe and covered them with burlap bags, hoping to dampen the noise. When the explosion was quite loud, they fled the scene to avoid discovery. After the explosion, the burlap bags caught fire, but the townsfolk did not discover the fire until early the next morning. By that time, the fire had spread to adjoining buildings, destroying fourteen more. This became known as the Great Fire of 1888. 

Despite the tragic fire in 1888, T.W. Otis continued to operate the Variety Store until 1907, when he closed due to a declining local economy. By 1910 he was the Resident Director of the Logan Copper Company. Theodore Welk Otis died on January 25, 1916, in Mesa, Arizona. 

Pamela Otis, a former schoolteacher, was a community leader in her own right. In 1876 the Literacy and Library Association elected her President. She was a central figure in founding the Arizona Federation of Women’s Clubs and an early member of the Sunday Club. She strongly believed in the dangers of alcohol and was an ardent supporter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. On September 19, 1911, Pamela Libby Otis passed away. The Weekly Journal-Miner wrote of her passing, “Mrs. Otis was a woman of exceptional ability who was recognized as a leader in any movement that had for its purpose the uplifting of the downtrodden....”  In 1993 Sharlot Hall Museum honored Pamela by including her in the Territorial Rose Garden.

In April 2025, Eric Gibson, T.W.’s great, great grandson, visited Sharlot Hall Museum. He recalled that, as a young boy in Prescott, he had seen T.W.’s store sign bearing the motto “Groceries way up, Prices way down.” He also recalled family stories about the grocery store burning down, his great grandparents being founding members of the First Congregational Church, and the work they did with the Chinese Community.

“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.