By Tom Schmidt

The construction of the Education Center illustrates how Sharlot Hall Museum has changed since it opened in 1928, although one consistent fixture is the Governor’s Mansion. Judge Henry Fleury occupied the Mansion until his death in 1895, when the building became rental property. In 1917, the State of Arizona acquired the Mansion for $7,000 due to the efforts of Tony Johns, and the City of Prescott agreed to maintain it for perpetuity. As plans were debated for the Mansion’s use (city park, museum or the headquarters of a veterans’ organization) the building’s physical condition deteriorated.
 

By Mick Woodcock

By 1871, there was a movement in the United States to manage the country’s fisheries. The creation of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries in that year marked the beginning of what would become the United States Bureau of Fisheries in 1903, which would then be merged into the newly created United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1940.
 

By Mick Woodcock

Not all of Arizona’s native fish reach an edible size. A number of varieties only grow to a few inches in length at maturity such as the Virgin spinedace, Lepidomeda mollispinus, as opposed to the Colorado pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus lucius, which can reach a length of six feet. In many historic reports, the word “fish” is used without referencing size or type, so it is difficult to determine much about the original species.
 

By Mick Woodcock

At one time, Arizona’s rivers and streams teemed with native fish species. Many of them were exotic-looking to immigrant eyes, such as the bonytail chub, while others like the Apache trout had a more familiar look.

By Mick Woodcock

Modern day downtown Prescott bears only a vague resemblance to its early territorial self. While the Plaza is still there and the streets run in the same directions, most of the buildings we see date from the 20th century. Most are brick and constructed as a result of a devastating fire in 1900, that burned the buildings on the west and north sides of the Plaza. Most of the buildings were wood and were easily consumed by wind driven flames.

By Carolyn O'Bagby Davis

Born in 1885, Willard J. Page grew up on a small farm in Whiting, Kansas. He had a talent for art and was awarded a scholarship to study painting at the University of Kansas. After school, Page found work as a performing artist, traveling with the Redpath-Horner Lyceum and Chautauqua. At this time in America, the Chautauqua circuit brought culture and entertainment to thousands of people in small towns who may not normally have had access to nationally known speakers, lectures, musicians, showmen, artists and preachers.
 

By Eric Jacobson

In June 1864, the townsite of Prescott sold property lots for the first time to the general public, with buyers’ names recorded on a map by surveyor Robert Groom. Surprisingly, one of the names was Quon Clong Gin. He bought a lot on the east side of Granite Creek on Granite Street between Goodwin and Gurley, which became the center of Prescott’s Chinatown. He was a later buyer of this lot as the May 29, 1869 Weekly Arizona Miner stated … “A veritable young Celestial arrived at Fort Whipple, a short time ago. Should he live long enough to become a man, Yavapai County will contain one chinaman”.
 

By Heidi Osselaer

Wayne Brazel was catapulted to notoriety on February 29, 1908, when he walked into the Doña Ana sheriff’s office in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and announced, “Lock me up. . . . I’ve just killed Pat Garrett.” Prior to that moment, Brazel was a nondescript cowboy living in the Tularosa Basin in the southern part of the territory, but the man he killed, Sheriff Pat Garrett, had left his permanent mark on history in the summer of 1881 when he gunned down Billy the Kid.

By Shane Murphy

Today, John Hance is widely remembered as the Grand Canyon’s famous storyteller. Even President Theodore Roosevelt called him the “greatest liar on earth.” But he also built the first road to the Grand Canyon where he constructed the first trail to the river, becoming the Canyon’s first permanent white resident and tourism entrepreneur. Not so well known today, but certainly as industrious, energetic and witty, John’s 11-years-younger half-brother George Washington Hance was the acknowledged “informal mayor” of Camp Verde for nearly half a century. Both were the patriarchs of their respective communities.

By Brad Courtney

Anyone who has lived in Arizona knows that eventually two topics are bound to come up: the heat and drought. In the early summer of 1900, these two subjects were more than just talk. When summer rolls into the central highlands and forests of Arizona, dry spells come with it. In 1900, several years of drought preceded it. Water was obviously needed for drinking, plumbing, irrigation and watering plants and animals. It was also needed to extinguish fires if they occurred. There was not a surplus of this precious element available.