By Nancy Burgess

The primary purposes of the Homestead Act of 1862 were twofold: to make government owned land available to citizens and to open up the western United States to settlement. This act paved the way for United States citizens of any means to obtain land at no cost other than the fee to file the paperwork. 

Homesteading in Arizona Territory was slow to develop as much of the territory was completely undeveloped, and therefore inaccessible – a “wilderness.” Even the territorial capitol of Prescott was established in a wilderness in 1864.

By Marjory J. Sente

An early proprietor, H. (Henry) C. Vincent, and his family experienced the full circle of life at the hotel. Moving back to Prescott from Williams, he took over the Congress House on October 10, 1901.
 

Early ads boasted “Everything Strictly First-Class.” However, the January 29, 1902 Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner announced the hotel would soon be remodeled, adding ten rooms and other improvements. During the renovation, Vincent changed the name from Congress House to Hotel Congress.
 

By Marjory J. Sente

When the Congress Hotel burned down on July 12, 1923, a Prescott landmark was gone, but its history and the memories of the people who lived and visited there were not extinguished.

Built in 1878 by Fred W. Williams, the hotel was called the Williams House and then the Congress House until it was renamed the Hotel Congress in 1902. Located at 124 - 126 E. Gurley Street (present site of the Hassayampa Inn), it was close to the Plaza and downtown. It became a popular place for women traveling alone, Phoenicians looking for cool summers and travelers from around the US seeking mild winters.

By Bradley G. Courtney

There’s a touching legend that has been shared for decades along Whiskey Row that speaks of a baby who was won in a gambling game after being abandoned atop a bar counter of a prominent Whiskey Row saloon. The tale has been featured in newspapers, magazines, books and poetry. Of the hundreds extant, it’s perhaps Arizona’s best and most famous saloon story.

By Worcester P. Bong

On November 19, 1919, the historic Hassayampa Country Club (now Capital Canyon Club) opened for the first time as a 2,820-yard, par 37, nine-hole golf course. But in July 1919, another little-known golf course for U.S. Army personnel, convalescing patients and other golf enthusiasts existed.
 

By Tyler J. Elsberry

The genesis of the World’s Oldest Rodeo can be traced to the development of early Prescott. Founded in 1864, Prescott grew as miners and cattlemen flocked to the area. The cattlemen capitalized on the area’s remoteness to establish numerous ranches. These ranches attracted cowboys who brought new blood to Prescott and supported the town’s economy. Ranches held biannual roundups (rodeos) during which cowboys engaged in long, arduous work. Afterward, they reveled in comparing their skills. These cowboy contests initially provided opportunities to establish bragging rights on who was the best roper or best bronc rider. Outside spectators and participants alike would root for and bet on their favored competitors.

By Bob Harner

Although the popular image of Prescott in the late 1800’s may be of a wild frontier town centered on Whiskey Row, with drunken cowboys and miners engaging in frequent bar brawls and shootouts, the reality was far different. While the town had its wild west aspects, it also had a thriving and active “high society,” with the same kinds of community activities, sophisticated entertainments and social conventions as more “civilized” Eastern cities.

Oral History
Interviewee:  Daniel Torgerson (b. 06/11/1958 - d. xx/xx/xxxx)
Interviewer:  James "Jim" McCarver - SHM Volunteer
Audio Number: 1635
Duration: 01:11:48
Date:  June 30, 2022
Topics Discussed:   Torgerson discusses meeting, "hanging out"  and his youth experiences with Hollywood star and actor Steve McQueen during the filming of Junior Bonner in Prescott, 1971. Torgerson family history; Parents Lewlyn Telford Torgerson and Irene Delores Gangelhoff; Senator Highway; Granite Dells; Erickson’s Road House; “Timber”; Dr. Scholl’s orthopedic shoes; Torgerson Boot and Shoe Service; Rodeo grounds; Siblings; Riding the rails; Whipple Hospital: Dexter School; Taylor Hicks School; Miller Valley School; Prescott Downs racetrack; Shoeshine boy; Whiskey Row; Steve McQueen; Sam Peckinpah;”Bad Boy”; “Junior Bonner” movie; Frontier Days Rodeo; Horse racing season; “Lucky Leprechaun” and “Mark T-Bar”; Yavapai Indian Reservation; “Adventureland”; Simpson’s Market; Ida Lupino; Silent Giant Aquarium Pump factory; Racing on Highway 89A; Slaughterhouse Motocross track; Senator Drive-In; Chad McQueen; Arnold Cox; Bob Cox; Freddy Fender; Rod Hart; Studio Theater; “On Any Given Sunday”; Joe Don Baker; Big Brothers and Big Sisters Organization;
Hiking through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Grand Canyon; Hard Banning Drill Pipe Company; American Freedom Train; GED; Granite Lake, City Dump; Watson and Willow Lakes; Iron Springs; Stuart Rosebrook; Robert Preston; Stanley Kramer; “Bless the Beasts and the Children” film; “Gumball Rally” “Wanda Nevada”; Spirit Walk; US Navy; NASA; Tactical Support Center; Bermuda; Cordova, Alaska; Inventions; “The Pretender” television program; Fred Wandos; Datalink II; Stuart Rosebrook’s book.

By Nancy Burgess

This is Part 2 of a true story about an automobile – a 1913 Studebaker SA25 “machine” and the people who took it on an approximately 1,000-mile tour of Arizona in 1913.

“An Arizona Auto Adventure: Clarence Boynton’s 1913 Travelogue” is the story of the excitement, sights, experiences, trials and tribulations of a road trip in the early days of automobile travel in a place and time when the “Wild West” of Arizona was still in evidence. The book includes all of Clarence Boynton’s journal of the trip, which he titled “An Account of the Watkins-Boynton 1,000 Mile Tour Through Northern Arizona, August 28 to October 3, 1913.” It is a treasure, and gives today’s traveler an eye-opening glimpse of travel in Arizona just one year after statehood.

By Bob Baker

The title is only one of John Hance’s outlandish claims made to fellow travelers and visitors to the Grand Canyon from the late 1800s to 1919. He and his brother George arrived in the new town of Prescott in the Arizona Territory in December, 1868 and purchased land to farm along Granite Creek. The following year, John sold his share of the farm and homesteaded Orme Ranch, living on his earnings as a teamster. While hauling wood and hay for Fort Whipple and Camp Verde, he often entertained his fellow teamsters and travelers with tall tales of the old west. When the military business dropped off, he went bankrupt.