By Ben Allen

The "Allens Of Prescott" dynasty began in 1918 when Warner Hoopes Allen moved his family from Mesa, Arizona to Chino Valley. There he farmed and started a wholesale milk business. One of the older sons, Merle, decided that farming was not for him. He decided that a retail business in Prescott was a better way of earning a living. 

In 1920 Merle purchased the West End Milk Depot at 324 West Gurley (where the Book Nook is today) and in time bought the larger building just west of the West End Milk Depot known as Richard's General store.

By Mary Leavitt

(This is the second part of a two part article on the history of Humboldt, Arizona.)

A company owned mining town, Humboldt experienced rapid growth and prosperity in earlier years when the ore producing mines in the area were shipping ore to the smelter. All too soon, unforeseen factors came into play rendering Humboldt vulnerable to economic fluctuation.

By Mary Leavitt

(This is the first part of a two-part article on the history of Humboldt, Arizona) 

Iron King, DeSoto, McCabe and Blue Bell are but a few of the mines old timers in Humboldt remember, and the important roll they once played in the Humboldt economy.  Many rich veins of ore were discovered in the mountain ranges of Arizona during the late 1800s. Yavapai County was a hot spot of minerals, particularly in the foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains.

By Parker Anderson

In downtown Prescott, at the corner of Cortez and Union Streets, stands a marker commemorating that at that site, now a basketball court, once stood the old Goldwater department store. It is rare for historic markers to commend structures that no longer exist, but it is proper to do so here. Prescott is still haunted by the demolition of the building in 1978. However, the destruction gave momentum to Prescott's historic preservation movement, which continues to this day.

By Sylvia Neely

The first day of school is always an exciting time each fall for students, teachers, and parents, but think how excited the community of Prescott was in September of 1903. On this date the first elementary school building, Washington School, was opened to all of Prescott's students from kindergarten through eighth grade. In 1930, the school across the street on Gurley was made into a junior/senior high school and Washington School ended at grade six. The school still stands between Alarcon and Pleasant on Gurley Street looking just as beautiful as it did one hundred years ago.

By Nancy Kirkpatrick Wright

This summer Fort Apache, located on the White Mountain Indian Reservation, two hundred miles or so east of Prescott, made headlines in newspapers across the country. Real news. Journalists interviewed experts in Washington D.C. and some reporters even traveled the rough and winding roads to the reservation to interview Apache tribal officials.

By Linda Luddington

(This is the second part of a two-part article.)

In 1929, Lon and Garnet started their own ranch. They moved south up the valley towards Prescott. Their Stringfield Ranch was tucked into Bottleneck Wash, in the cedar, oak, and pinon-covered Granite Mountain foothills. To their original homesteads were added a number of small deeded parcels and the Burnt Ranch forest permit.

By Linda Ludington

(This is the first part of a two-part article) 

"The wagons rumbled and rattled and squeaked; the hoofs of horses and mules clopped endlessly upon the hard surface of the rocky, winding road. On every hand were mountains, canyons, vast abysses that seemed unreachable by the foot of man. It was wild, vast, fearsome." Thus did Clarence Kelland describe the newly-declared Arizona Territory. But in spite of the challenges, hearty pioneers poured through the inhospitable terrain to Prescott, lured by a keen sense of adventure, unbounded enthusiasm, and endless energy.

By Mona Lange McCroskey

An important part of Yavapai County's agricultural history came to Prescott with the arrival of Swiss immigrant John William Bianconi. He arrived in Prescott in 1880 at age eighteen at the urging of a friend who said there was a job for him in the United States. He pulled in via stagecoach with fifty cents in his pocket, unable to speak a word of English.

By Jim Byrkit

Some years ago, when I was still a professor at Northern Arizona University teaching various subjects related to the American Southwest, a young graduate student said to me, "Prescott, Arizona, is my favorite Southwest town because it reminds me so much of my native New England." In my own mind, I forgave her for this ingenuous colonial attitude. As a native-born Arizonan I have had to put up with such insensitive comments for many years.