By Kristen Kauffman
Sharlot Madbridth Hall was a remarkable woman, championing women’s rights during the suffragette age as an essayist and poet, lobbyist, and in her work as Arizona’s first female territorial historian. At the risk of overstating, Hall left many lasting legacies, most notably the Sharlot Hall Museum, which opened June 11, 1928. 

Hall had always been a woman concerned with the preservation of history. As far back as 1907, she accumulated both relics from the ruins of Native American sites and the possessions of the territory’s first pioneers as they were passing away. Much of what she treasured of those early pioneers was non-material: Henry Fleury, a personal secretary for both Governor Goodwin and McCormick in the 1860s and one of the first residents of the Governor’s Mansion, was a pioneer who told stories which fascinated her.

Hall became the first territorial historian of Arizona in 1909, and it was in that work, which lasted for well over a decade, that she collected more artifacts and gathered more stories of the glory days of the wild west. She had her eye on saving the Governor’s Mansion. It was originally built at the location it resides today, but in 1895 its last occupant, Henry Fleury, passed away and it turned into a rental property. It was with Hall’s guidance that the State of Arizona purchased the Governor’s Mansion for $7,000 in 1917, and the deal was completed with the agreement that the City of Prescott would maintain it in perpetuity. Hall signed an agreement with the city in 1927 to move her extensive collection into the Mansion. She conducted extensive restoration on the mansion, attempting to bring it back, as close as possible, to its original state. These two tasks took her a year to complete. She also moved into the Governor’s Mansion as a full-time curator.

By Andrew Somerville
How much of modern bluegrass music would be familiar to early Prescott pioneers? Bluegrass is a modern style of stringed instrument music, but its main roots come from older Celtic music played by the settlers in Appalachia plus African-American traditions of gospel music, blues and the banjo. The genre also contains other smaller, but important, influences. 

Amber Johnson, who authored her master’s thesis titled “A Most Enjoyable Evening”: Music in Early Prescott and Flagstaff, Arizona Territory, ca. 1865-ca. 1890 for Arizona State University, points out that stringed instruments were available for purchase in Prescott by 1869, therefore the necessary stringed element of bluegrass was present in early Prescott. However, Johnson's thesis indicates Prescott’s town brass band and Fort Whipple's brass band were very influential in Prescott’s early 1860s’ music culture because of their involvement in balls, dances and other social events. 

By Marjory J. Sente
Born in Pine in 1907, Mary Isabelle Fuller Brown recalled that Arizona was only a Territory. “I was old enough to remember when Arizona was taken in as a state. I remember it was a great day for rejoicing when we got the word,” 

Isabelle, the third of four sisters followed by five brothers, could ride, rope and shoot as well as any cowboy. She initially rode bareback. Then her father fixed up a pack saddle with rope stirrups and a sheepskin thrown over the saddle, making her ride soft. “I must have been almost out of grade school before I ever sat on a saddle,” she said. 

Her family spent winters in Pine and summers at their ranch in Long Valley. When Isabelle was 12, she decided to learn to play the organ. So that summer she rode to Pine to take lessons. 
“I went by myself, 20 miles each way. Rode down one day, took my lesson, spent the night with one of my aunts, and rode back the next day,” adding that she never became a good organist, but enjoyed the ride.

By David Alfonse (outreach coordinator, Prescott Bee Club)

Residents and visitors love Yavapai County’s great outdoors and many experience the buzzing of our bees. Did you know Arizona and our central highlands are home to over 1300 native bee species? We dwell within diverse topography that gives rise to many different pollen and nectar sources for most of the year, creating a rich bounty of insects. Bees are small, but their contribution to local native indigenous cultures and early settlers in the Arizona Territory was immense. 

Before European contact, “stingless bees” (Melipona Beecheii) were utilized by indigenous Mayan and Aztec cultures in the Americas. Bee products were used for food, medicine and ceremonies, where a fermented drink like meade called balche was consumed. Wax was prized for use in burns. Major indigenous trade routes criss crossed central Arizona, making it possible that these bee products were traded and used locally by the Hohokam, known as “the ones who came before,” long before Arizona was a territory or state. Native bees were also important for the pollination and spread of squash, pumpkin and gourd cultivation in Arizona. Native bees are distinct from the now common honey bee species that came from Europe.

By Marjory J. Sente

Miners wanted to call the townsite Granite City. Others thought Goodwin City was an appropriate name for Arizona's territorial capital. John N. Goodwin was appointed governor of the Arizona Territory after original appointee, John A. Gurley, died in 1863 before the Governor’s Party left Ohio. Some wanted the town named Aztlan in honor of the Aztecs who were thought to have been in the area. Granite Dells, Fleuryville, Gimletville and Audubon were also suggested.

The first printed mention of Prescott as a name for the new town appeared in the May 25, 1864, Arizona Miner. “It is certainly an attractive locality and the name of ‘Prescott’ proposed for the town will be an appropriate commemoration of the great American authority upon Aztec and Spanish-American history.” 

By Ed Sipos

If you are a seasoned beer enthusiast, you might recall a slogan or two that spark memories of a favorite brand. If you or your family grew up in Arizona, you likely heard of A-1 Pilsner Beer, a brand considered by many as “Arizona’s Hometown Beer.” One of its most popular slogans, introduced during the 1940s, was “The Western Way to Say Welcome”. 

This tranquil expression signals “old west” imagery pointing to a time in Arizona when cowboy culture was still dominant in many parts of the state. Several years later, Arizona sports broadcaster Al McCoy, the “Voice of the Suns” for fifty-one years, popularized a new slogan, “That was Good like A-1 Beer,” following key plays by the Phoenix Suns basketball team.

By Marjory J. Sente

Hearing the words “Sharlot Hall,” one usually thinks ”museum,” because it is the most visible legacy of Sharlot M. Hall, who leased the Old Governor’s Mansion in 1927 and went on to establish a museum to house “Indian and historical objects and a library of Arizoniana”. Sharlot, however, has another enduring legacy, her poetry.

Composing poems at a young age, Sharlot admitted that, while attending a school near what is now Dewey, she spent her days composing verses rather than studying. Writing poems to please her mother, Adeline Hall, Sharlot dedicated the second edition of Cactus and Pine: Songs of the Southwest, published in 1924, to her. In it she noted the first edition of Cactus and Pine, published in late 1911, was hurriedly printed so her mother could enjoy it before she died. Mrs. Hall died on August 24, 1912.

By Worcester P. Bong
Since the founding of Fort Whipple in 1863 and the town of Prescott in 1864, local citizens and military personnel have enjoyed reading locally printed newspapers. Newspaper names ranged from Arizona Miner to Prescott Journal-Miner, and from Prescott Evening Courier to today’s The Daily Courier. Fort Whipple started printing the Arizona Miner in March 1864. Two other newspapers, The West’s Recall and The Whipple Echo, were also published locally.

The West’s Recall was published between March 1919 and January 1920, when Fort Whipple became Whipple Barracks, US Army General Hospital No. 20. After hospital operations were transferred from the US Army to the US Public Health Service in February 1920, a different monthly one-page newsletter was published, but was discontinued shortly thereafter. It was not until the Veterans Bureau took over hospital operations in April 1922 that the hospital again published a weekly newspaper. 

By Marjory J. Sente
Born in 1866 near Sacramento, CA, Frances (Fanny) Lillian Willard was the eighth child born to Joel and Mary Grace Vineyard Willard. Among her ancestors was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a gold miner and politician and temperance advocates.

In 1870 the family relocated to a ranch in Nevada, where access to educational opportunities was limited. For two years, Frances took the daily train to a more advanced school in Palisade and back, acquiring all the education available locally.   

Knowing her daughter thirsted for a good education, Mary sent Frances to live with an older sister and brother-in-law in Pittsfield, Maine. Attending the Maine Central Institute for four years, Frances was dubbed “The Nevada Wildcat” by her New England classmates for her strong will and independence.

By Worcester P. Bong
Books have been written and movies made about the Earp brothers, Virgil and Wyatt. Virgil lived in Prescott, and Wyatt visited here. This is a story about two other brothers, the Ainsworths, who also resided in Prescott. Although their lives were not as colorful as the Earps, the Ainsworth brothers moved on to successful careers.

The Ainsworth brothers, Fred Crayton and Frank Kenley, were born in Woodstock, Vermont. Their parents were Crayton and Harriet (Carroll) Ainsworth. Crayton was a machinist, Harriet a homemaker. Fred was born in September 1852, Frank in October 1856. Both brothers became doctors. Fred attended the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, graduating in 1874, then enlisted in the US Army Medical Corps as an assistant surgeon.