By Karla Burkitt 

STEP RIGHT UP, LADIES AND GENTS! 
Dr. Acker's English Elixir, Boker's Stomach Bitters, Cooper's Magic Balm, Kickapoo Cough Cure, Roback's Blood and Liver Pills... 

Before the FDA and truth-in-advertising there was a time when anyone with an imagination and a bathtub or washtub could create a wonder drug and put it on the market. Following the Civil War hundreds of 'doctors' and experts sprang up, each with their special 'blend' of secret ingredients, to cure everything from hair loss to cancer. Patent medicine sales soared between 1870 and 1930 and most of those products were never patented at all. In 1905 a writer for Collier's Weekly estimated that Americans would spend about seventy-five million dollars purchasing patent medicines in that year alone.

By Jody Drake 

A friend introduced me to her. She was a petite woman in her nineties who still wore the beauty she had been born with. Her stories were full of the realness of life that strikes humor in all of us. For too few Thursday mornings I sat at her feet, looking up into those sparkling eyes, enchanted with the stories she was telling. "I changed the names," she said, "to protect the innocent." When I asked who the innocent were, she replied, "Why, me, of course!" 

By Norm Tessman 

This past week Prescott's home town hero, William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill, lived and died again. Turner Network's "Rough Riders" featured Sam Elliott as Buckey in the four-hour "Rough Riders" special. Only this time his name is spelled B-u-c-k-y O'-N-e-i-l, his wife wears striped pants (no proper Victorian lady ever wore trousers in that time), and he departs with the Rough Riders from a railway station called "Sidewinder" instead of the Prescott depot.

By Carolyn Bradshaw 

In February 1902, my great grandfather, Alfred Averyt Jr., fell off his bicycle on the icy Gurley Street hill in front of the Elks Theatre. The handlebar injured his lung, causing pneumonia. Seeking a change in climate, Mr. Averyt traveled by train to Phoenix. On his return to Prescott, he died in Wickenburg at the age of 33 on October 10, 1902. The Arizona Journal Miner reported, "He was an upright, conscientious young man, without an enemy in the world."

By Richard Gorby

On July 4th, 1864, Prescott held its first Fourth of July Celebration. Like all celebrations should be, it was happy and exciting, and like all Prescott celebrations should be, it was held in Prescott's Plaza. Prescott was only thirty-five days old, born at the May 30th meeting of Governor Goodwin and his staff just down the street (Montezuma Street) in a log building (now moved to the grounds of Prescott's Sharlot Hall Museum). In the southeast corner (across from the present downtown post office) of a Plaza covered with pines and junipers, a tall pine staff was erected for the Stars and Stripes.

By Danny Freeman 

The first formalized rodeo was planned and staged in Prescott, Arizona Territory, during the 4th of July celebration in 1888. Others may claim to be older but Prescott can prove when its rodeo started because it was written up in the local paper at the time. 

By Jack Suderman 

My mother recently fired up my memory when she handed me a small white pin in the shape of a bow. My great grandmother wore the pin from the 1880s through the period of 'prohibition' here in the United States. If you're like I am, the 'Temperance Movement' is a historical fact, bound to show up on a high school history final. It has been a long time since high school. The pin from my great grandmother peaked my curiosity.

By Jody Drake 

Back in the days when the railroad was connecting this great country, as a new section of rail was laid, a town would spring up nearby to service the needs of the rail workers. And, of course, the world's oldest profession was generally among those services. When a railroad employee was visiting one of these ladies, he would hang his lantern outside. That way if he was needed, he could be found. Now everyone knows the color of a railroad lantern. And the connection just sort of stuck. So as the pages of history began to turn forward we had 'The Red Light District'.

By Warren Miller 

In early Prescott the village smithy may not have stood under a spreading Chestnut tree, but his presence was vital to all building and commerce. The blacksmith's hand-forged iron was critically important on the frontier and in Territorial Arizona, where manufactured goods were difficult to obtain and expensive, and often unavailable at any price without the lengthy wait required for orders to travel to and goods be shipped from the manufacturing eastern states. The ability to make iron tools, implements, utensils and hardware, from wagon fittings to door latches to harness fastenings, on the spot and using available materials, aided the advance of civilization. 

By Pat Atchison 

Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was then called, was first widely observed in the United States on May 30, 1868. The original intent was to honor the Union soldiers killed during the Civil War by decorating their gravesites. 

Decoration Day was not mentioned in the local newspaper until May 27,1881. That brief announcement stated, "Next Monday will be Decoration Day, and it is to be generally observed in the States." Tuesday's edition said simply "Yesterday was Decoration Day."