By Worcester P. Bong

If you’ve visited the Bob Stump VA Medical Center campus (formerly Fort Whipple) in Prescott the past few years, you probably noticed a flurry of ongoing construction. This is not the only time significant construction has taken place.
 

By Ricky Erway

The Grand Canyon National Park is celebrating its centennial this year.  Prescott’s own Sharlot Hall visited the Grand Canyon even before it became a national park in 1919.
 

By Tom Schmidt

The construction of the Education Center illustrates how Sharlot Hall Museum has changed since it opened in 1928, although one consistent fixture is the Governor’s Mansion. Judge Henry Fleury occupied the Mansion until his death in 1895, when the building became rental property. In 1917, the State of Arizona acquired the Mansion for $7,000 due to the efforts of Tony Johns, and the City of Prescott agreed to maintain it for perpetuity. As plans were debated for the Mansion’s use (city park, museum or the headquarters of a veterans’ organization) the building’s physical condition deteriorated.
 

By Mick Woodcock

By 1871, there was a movement in the United States to manage the country’s fisheries. The creation of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries in that year marked the beginning of what would become the United States Bureau of Fisheries in 1903, which would then be merged into the newly created United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1940.
 

By Mick Woodcock

Not all of Arizona’s native fish reach an edible size. A number of varieties only grow to a few inches in length at maturity such as the Virgin spinedace, Lepidomeda mollispinus, as opposed to the Colorado pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus lucius, which can reach a length of six feet. In many historic reports, the word “fish” is used without referencing size or type, so it is difficult to determine much about the original species.
 

By Mick Woodcock

At one time, Arizona’s rivers and streams teemed with native fish species. Many of them were exotic-looking to immigrant eyes, such as the bonytail chub, while others like the Apache trout had a more familiar look.

By Mick Woodcock

Modern day downtown Prescott bears only a vague resemblance to its early territorial self. While the Plaza is still there and the streets run in the same directions, most of the buildings we see date from the 20th century. Most are brick and constructed as a result of a devastating fire in 1900, that burned the buildings on the west and north sides of the Plaza. Most of the buildings were wood and were easily consumed by wind driven flames.

Frieda Margaretha (Schuerman) Loy, daughter of Johann Georg Heinrich and Karoline Dorotte Schuerman, was born April 12, 1898, at Oak Creek Ranch near present-day Sedona, Coconino and Yavapai Counties, Arizona Territory. Frieda’s parents were German immigrants who had limited English-speaking abilities.

Arenetta “Nettie” (Rand) Kennedy, daughter of Charles Jefferson and Juanita (Herrora) Rand, was born April 8, 1892, in Cripple Creek, Teller County, Colorado. She came with her parents to Light, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, in 1902 and attended school through the eighth grade.

Mary Ruth (Payne) Todd was born on March 23, 1899, in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory, the only daughter of Edwin Clement and Maris Anna (Wing) Payne. Her grandfather, Thomas Wing, who moved to Prescott in 1882, coined the name “Granite Dells,” which has become a popular colloquialism for the entire area that was once called, "The Point of the Rocks.”