By Jenny Pederson

In August 2020, the Monday Club marks 125 years of service and dedication to the Prescott community. Since its inception, the organization has had a significant impact on Prescott and the surrounding area through various activities, conducting fundraisers on behalf of area organizations, supporting local schools, and much more. Aside from the club’s collective efforts, individual members also contribute to community dialogue, commenting on a range of local, regional, and even national issues.

By Eric Jacobson

On Dec. 3, 1853, Moses Hazeltine Sherman was born in Bennington County, Vermont. Growing up in Vermont and New York, at an early age Sherman decided to become a schoolteacher like his father. After obtaining a teaching certificate and gaining experience in New York and Wisconsin, he contracted tuberculosis (TB).  Standard treatment for TB at the time was relocation to a warmer climate; so, Sherman accepted a teaching position in Prescott in 1874.

By Worcester P. Bong

In February 1920, Whipple Barracks in Prescott was loaned by the U.S. War Department to the U.S. Public Health Service for hospital purposes, mainly for tuberculosis (TB) patients. With approximately 350 patients and 100 employees, a considerable number of people traveled to and from town.
 

Two entrepreneurs, A.A. Mathes and John “Jack” F. Sills, Jr., each independently made proposals to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) for a Whipple Barracks and Prescott Stage Line, later known as the Whipple Stage Line. This service would provide transportation between Prescott and Whipple Barracks. At the time, taxis were stationed in Prescott, had a variety of rates, and passengers at the barracks traveling to Prescott needed to telephone and wait for a taxi.
 

By Mick Woodcock

Early Prescott citizens were not immune to sickness and disease, as an article in the August 7, 1869 Weekly Arizona Miner titled “Sick Folks” revealed.  “Considerable sickness prevails here at present, most of which was contracted in other parts of the county.” It then went on to list five men who had been south of Prescott, come to town well, and were not now.

By Bob Harner

“The Greatest Medical Triumph of the Age…[O]ne dose effects such a change of feeling as to astonish the sufferer.” These quotes from an ad for Tutt’s Pills in the January 6, 1886 Arizona Weekly Journal Miner are not the most outrageous claims made by patent medicine manufacturers; in fact, they are typical.

By Susan Cypert

The hospital situation in Prescott when Dr. Florence “Pat” Yount was practicing was not good. In 1878 the sisters of St. Joseph built the first hospital in town for miners, but it only lasted until 1885 when Bishop Bourgade had them turn it into a school. In the 1890’s the Sisters of Mercy founded a small hospital in a vacant house, then built a larger, more modern facility in 1903, which burned down in 1940. Many women in town opened their homes to patients, especially pregnant women from rural communities who came into town close to their due dates. In fact, Florence herself gave birth to her son, John Edward Yount, at the home of registered nurse Catherine Lennox on September 6, 1940.

By Susan Cypert

Dr. Florence Brookhart Yount’s work as the first licensed woman physician in Prescott touched and shaped many lives for over 30 years.

According to Elisabeth Ruffner, her greatest gift was that “She received each person as if their interests were her only one… even in the most harried of times.” “Dr. Pat” is still remembered by many in Prescott as the lady doctor who delivered “Grade A” babies, eventually delivering whole families and subsequent generations of their babies.

By Stan A. Lehman
As told to his sister, Carolyn Lehman Elfelt

Stan Lehman grew up in a rodeo town, Abilene, Kansas, where the highlight of summer vacation was the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo. When Stan moved to Prescott in 1971 to practice law, he happily became involved in the Prescott rodeo—the World’s Oldest Rodeo®.    

By Dave Lewis

Previously, we discussed the eruption that formed Sunset Crater and disrupted the lives of native people living east of Flagstaff.
 

Scientists conclude the eruption occurred in the summer of 1085 during monsoon season (based on wind patterns driving ash and cinders) and just before the year’s corn crop was fully ripe (based on corn kernels embedded in lava). As fire, ash, cinder and lava destroyed homes and fields, the people placed fresh corn in the molten rock. Almost certainly, this was an offering to appease the unknown force causing the destruction, and there was little more precious natives could offer than corn.

By Dave Lewis

Normally, Sharlot Hall Museum and some 125 Indian artists would be getting ready for the annual Prescott Indian Art Market at this time of year. However, due to COVID-19, the market has been postponed to September 19-20. Since we are thinking about Indian art and history, Days Past would like to share this two-part story.
 

THE GROUND TREMBLED, A BIG BLACK SMOKE CAME.  And there were people here to witness it and to have their lives affected by it.