By Kathy Krause

It was July 1973 when the new Sharlot Hall Museum director, Dr. Ken Kimsey, came on board to lead activities for the next 17 years. Up until the early 1970s, the University of Arizona "museum studies" classes made field trips to visit Sharlot Hall Museum in order to observe "museum problems" and learn how not to run a museum! According to museum curator Norm Tessman, "It was Dr. Ken Kimsey's era, the fruits of his hard work and insight" that ended the field trips to Prescott. Under his leadership, "the quest for museum quality was to continue and accelerate in the years ahead." There was a new sense of professional pride, not only by the museum workers but by the community as well.

By Kathy Krause

Sharlot Mabridth Hall died on April 9, 1943 and accolades about her life achievements rolled in from across the state.  Dwight B. Heard, co-founder of the Heard Museum in Phoenix said, “In Sharlot Hall this country found the unusual combination of the sturdiness of the pioneer with the beautiful spirit of the poet.  She will be long remembered for both characteristics.”  For the previous 16 years she exhibited those traits in the museum she founded.

By Kathy Krause

Soon after the Territorial Governor's Party arrived in 1864, to what would later be named Prescott, a log house was built near the banks of Granite Creek to serve as both home and office for Governor John N. Goodwin and Secretary Richard McCormick. The rough-hewn log house was built hastily using oxen and mules to drag the logs to their position, the very position where they may be seen today.

By Lane Burkitt

Benjamin Henry Grierson (1826-1911) and Alice Kirk were married on Sept. 24, 1854, in Jacksonville, Ill. At the time, he was a musician and band director and she was a schoolteacher. The Griersons were married during the turbulent pre-Civil War years, and that conflagration shaped much of their lives. He enlisted in the Union Army at the outbreak of the war and was assigned to cavalry duty despite the fact that he had a fear of horses stemming from an incident in which he was kicked and nearly killed by a horse when he was 8 years old.

By Parker Anderson

As one of the first pioneer settlers on the south rim of the Grand Canyon in the 1890s, Ralph Henry Cameron, in addition to his mining interests in the canyon, decided money could be made by catering to the new tourism trade as well. He constructed the Bright Angel Trail, charging a toll for its use and built a hotel on the rim. But he was soon under siege from two entities: the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad. They wanted a share in the tourist dollars as well. In addition, the U. S. government was looking into turning the Grand Canyon into a national monument, which would negatively impact his mining claims and tourist business.

By Parker Anderson

As we approach the 100th anniversary of Arizona's statehood, it's an apt time to remember a man who was at the forefront of the battle for statehood during its final years, but who is seldom (if ever) mentioned anymore in connection with the subject.

Ralph Henry Cameron was born in Southport, Maine, in 1863, the son of a fisherman. He became a fisherman himself as he grew to manhood, but apparently heard the "Go West, young man" call and, like many others before and after, set out across the plains.

By Edd Kellerman

Born in 1915, George Phippen was raised on farms in Iowa and Kansas and had no formal art education. As a youngster he modeled clay figures of animals, eventually working his way up to lifelike images of the ranch hands and cowboys who came through on the Chisholm Trail cattle drives. While serving in World War II, he taught himself to paint and, soon after the war, he briefly worked with artist Henry Balink in Santa Fe, N. M. As he began to work in oil and watercolor, art became his life.

By Al Bates

Al Bates, local historian, has written several articles for Days Past (1999 and 2000) about the history of Fort Whipple. The following is the last of a two-part condensed and edited rendering of those articles by Kathy Krause.

In 1872, the original buildings and stockade of Fort Whipple were demolished and more permanent frame buildings were erected on higher ground about 70-feet above Granite Creek. The official guide to posts, camps and stations declared them to be excellent quarters "in all respects."

By Al Bates

Al Bates, local historian, has written articles for Days Past (1999 and 2000) about the history of Fort Whipple. The following is the first of a two-part condensed and edited rendering of those articles by Kathy Krause.

Fort Whipple was a U.S. Army post located originally in Val de Chino (Chino Valley) in December of 1863, moving in late May of 1864 to the banks of Granite Creek, on the site of the current Bob Stump Veterans' Administation (VA) Medical Center. The fort was moved in order to be nearer needed timber and the miner encampments a few miles south and west of the fort.

By Goodie Berquist

In 1921, Prescott was financially troubled and a group of white local businessmen decided to keep the annual Frontier Days Rodeo alive by staging a "Way Out West" show. They dressed up like cowboys and Indians using costumes, body paint and makeup. Their performance was such a success that the fictitious tribe, the Smoki, was born. In 1922, Sharlot Hall wrote a booklet titled "The Story of the Smoki People." The organization appealed to many Prescott residents who became affiliated in one way or another, and the yearly performances continued until 1990. Women and children also became involved.