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.

By Linda Ludington

The current owner of the historic V7 Ranch, Betty Wells, is an energetic woman who is full of friendly good will and good stories about six generations of her family who have made Chino Valley their home.  You would not think that this demure Western woman had been named Rancher of the Year by the Kiwanis Club or had been a rodeo-winning team roper or had introduced the Team Penning event to the Prescott Rodeo.  You would not expect to find that, at the age of seventy-five, she still works cattle on young horses she trains herself, fixes fences and brands on the range, but all of these are true of Betty Wells.

By Al Bates

(Note: This is another installment from Al Bates’ “Remembered Names and Forgotten Faces of Fort Whipple” presented to the Prescott Corral of Westerners, a local organization which promotes interest in history and culture of Western North America.)

The party of Territorial officers led by Governor Goodwin arrived at the original Fort Whipple site on Jan. 22, 1864.

By Dewey E. Born

The second photoplay was called "Neighbors".  The story involves two ranch families who do not get along at all well.  The girl of one family, played by Mary Ryan, falls in love with the boy of the other family, played by Robin Adair, which creates a host of problems.  The two elope by taking a train out of town.

By Dewey E. Born

At the beginning of this century a frequent visitor to Prescott was the Medicine Man.  He would set up shop on a street corner at night and, with flaming torches and some entertainment to draw a crowd, sell his cure-all elixir.  In 1906, one of these potion purveyors arrived with a different attraction.  He had a motion picture projector which he set up in the second story window of a building and used the wall of a building across the street for a screen.  When it was dark enough, he showed "The Great Train Robbery" which was just eight minutes long.  This was probably the first movie shown in Prescott.

By Sandra Lynch

Back around 1600, an English jurist shed some light on the relationship between humans and their houses.  "The house of everyone is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defense against injury and violence as for his repose," commented Sir Edward Coke.