By Juti A. Winchester

In May of 1876, the United States was gearing up to celebrate its centennial.  On the Plains, Indians struggled with the frontier Army for control of their hunting rights and their homelands, and George Armstrong Custer's demise at the Little Big Horn battle was still months in the unknown future.  William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody had just begun his stage career.

By Nancy Burgess

At the turn of the century, the neighborhood around the 100 block of East Carleton Street was fairly well established, with many Victorian Era homes on large lots.  South Cortez and South Marina streets were both lined with homes.  Judge Edmund Wells lived in a large Victorian Itanlianate home on the southeast corner of Cortez and Carleton.  The Queen Anne Victorian built in 1893, by Prescott attorney John Herndon was across the intersection on the northwest corner.  Another large Victorian home was on the northeast corner of Carleton and Cortez Streets.  The streets were dirt, and board sidewalks and picket and wire fences and stone retaining walls lined the streets and separated one property from another.

By Mona Lange McCroskey

The one hundredth anniversary of the Brinkmeyer House was observed on September 10, 1999, when Herman and Cookie Brinkmeyer hosted a Reunion Mixer there.  The gathering was held in conjunction with the "Half Century" reunion, held each September when Prescott High School graduates return to share memories and renew old acquaintances.

By Warren Miller 

Bear Creek, Chinese Breakdown, Soldier's Joy, Whistlin' Rufus, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Red Wing, Kentucky Waltz, Sweetheart Schottische, Soppin' the Gravy, Ragtime Annie--- the names of fiddle tunes evoke a past rich in the textures of country life.  These and other colorful old time fiddle tunes can be heard Saturday, October 2, at 1:00 p.m. when the Mile High Chapter of the Arizona Old Time Fiddlers takes the stage at the 21st Annual Sharlot Hall Museum Folk Music Festival.

By Danny Freeman

On August 7, 1913, the Northern Arizona Fair Association of the five northern counties was formally organized and the by-laws were adopted.  A membership fee was set at $2.50, and within ten days two hundred had signed up.  A board of directors of 25 was agreed upon, with five from each county: Yavapai, Mohave, Coconino, Navajo and Apache.

By Richard Gorby

The exact age of the Palace Saloon is somewhat of a puzzle.  1877, is used because of this item in the September 21, l877, Arizona Weekly Miner: 

"Mess'rs Shaw and Standefer have fitted up the Palace Saloon in the most superb style, and fitted it with choice liquors of every conceivable kind."  "Have fitted up the Palace Saloon" suggests that it was already there, but no earlier mention can be found.  Few records were kept and most of those were destroyed by Prescott's many fires.  The following two are interesting but doubtful: From the December 30, 1977, Courier:

By Anita Zellar

When you're ten years old a twig whistle makes a warm spring day a perfect spring day.  Where I grew up poplar was the wood of choice but willow can work equally as well . Whistle making is strictly a springtime task because you need a good deal of sap under the bark to make the project possible. 

By Sylvia Neely

A beautiful historic brick school building is clearly seen by Prescottonians traveling down East Gurley.  This is Washington School, built in 1903, and Yavapai County's oldest continuously used school and one of the oldest in the state.  Few people know that there was another beautiful brick school building on this same site.  It was known as the Prescott Free Academy, and was built in 1876.  It was Arizona Territory's first graded public school. 

By Mary Woodhouse

The world had hardly been introduced to aviation in 1924.  Charles Lindbergh was three years away from making his historic trans-Atlantic flight.  But the board of directors of the Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce could see what flying machines would mean to the remote community of Prescott.

By Ruby Schmieder

Before the Mountain Club existed there was the heat of Phoenix B.C. (Before Cooling).  It had a population of about 40,000 most of them suffering through the summer heat.  The more affluent mothers fled with the children to the California seacoast hoping to protect the small children from the (sometime fatal) summer complaints.  However, it was never a desirable situation to separate families for the summer.  Thus there was a need to correct this unhealthy exodus.