By Worcester P. Bong

If you’ve been to the Prescott campus of Yavapai College attending a performance at the Performing Arts Center or taking a walk through the sculpture garden next door, you will notice the original south gates to Fort Whipple. When construction of  Yavapai College began in 1968 in Prescott, the planners had the foresight to retain these gates as a historical marker for future generations to see. So what was it like traveling past the south gates and what historical buildings were in place before Yavapai College opened in September 1970?
 

By Mick Woodcock

The courthouse was still new when the first event was held in the courtroom, and it was not a term of court. On Christmas Eve there was a town gathering to celebrate the holiday. Harriet Turner held this event the previous year in the old territorial legislative building, but now that a larger room was available, she took advantage of it.

By Mick Woodcock

When Yavapai County was created in 1864, it had no government buildings and few employees. All counties needed a form of self-government, as legislated in the bill “AN ACT Creating a Board of Supervisors in the several Counties of the Territory.” Signed into law December 30, 1865, it provided for counties to elect boards of supervisors and conduct business, stating the board could meet after election day, 1866.

By Eric Jacobson

The remarkable Isabella Greenway King was born in Kentucky in 1886 into a family of wealth, fame and social standing. The family lived briefly in North Dakota, where they were neighbors to future President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1901, she and her mother Martha moved to New York City so Isabella could attend Spence School and Miss Chapin’s School, private schools for upper class young ladies. At Chapin’s School she became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt, and in 1905, was a bridesmaid in Eleanor’s wedding to future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR).

By Mick Woodcock

What would a person do if they were transported back in time to 1867-1868 in Prescott, Arizona? A great many things would be very strange, with no cell phones, internet or Netflix. Worse than that, there would be no electricity. In fact, there would be no electricity anywhere in town and there would not be until the 1890s.

Culture shock would be in full effect. What to do? Back then, people talked and read books, periodicals and newspapers for a way to pass the time and keep up on what was going on. Those who wanted actual “entertainment” would have to wait for something to happen, or join a local club.

By Ricky Erway

Cleator lies at 3,501 feet in the Bradshaw Mountain foothills between Crown King and Mayer, seven miles southwest of Cordes on Forest Road 259 (formerly Prescott & Eastern Railroad line). The town depot, Turkey Siding, was along Turkey Creek.
 

By Brad Courtney

Like the modern day “big one,” when the San Andreas Fault finally makes that dreaded big slip and wreaks its long-predicted devastation, a fire of frightening magnitude was not a question of “if” but “when” in young nineteenth-century Prescott.

In April 1888, a Prescott Courier editorial described the unrelenting danger: “The people of Prescott can look back and thank the gods that fire has not ‘devoured’ a great deal of their property. We now tell our people that the hot, dry season which may last until next July is upon us; that there will be windy days and nights when, should a fire get a good start, it would be hard to check.” So it was that hot, dry night of July 14, 1900.

By Bob Harner

Charlie Meadows toured Europe with Buffalo Bill Cody’s wild west show from August through mid-October, 1892, during which Cody reportedly gave him his new nickname, Arizona Charlie. Returning to Vancouver, Charlie discovered that his wife, Marion, had made good her threat to disappear, along with their unborn child.
 

Undeterred, Charlie returned to Arizona and used the money earned on his Asian and European tours to form his own wild west troupe, Arizona Charlie’s Historical Wild West. The show opened March 25, 1893 at the Phoenix racetrack, where 2500 spectators saw bronc riding, trick riding and roping, steer roping, bull riding, trick bicycle riding, bola throwing and either a stage coach robbery or an Indian attack on a settler’s cabin (depending on the show time).
 

By Bob Harner

While Buffalo Bill Cody’s wild west show remains famous, in his time Cody faced competing western showmen. One largely forgotten today is Arizona Charlie Meadows.
 

Born Abraham Henson Meadows, March 10, 1860 in Visalia, California, his father (a Confederate sympathizer) changed his name to Charles when Lincoln was elected. In 1877, the family moved north of Payson to Diamond Valley. In 1882, Charlie (then 22) was asked to guide an army detachment to the Mogollon Rim. In his absence, Apaches attacked his homestead, killing his father and wounding two of his brothers, one of whom later died.
 

By Worcester P. Bong

Between 1931 and 1950, the Veterans Administration (VA) built and renovated numerous rural hospitals, and in 1931, it acquired the old hospital/sanatorium complex on the former Fort Whipple grounds in Prescott as part of that effort. Until then, the complex served as a U.S. Army hospital and U.S. Veterans Bureau hospital.