By James F. Vivian

In 1864, the town of Prescott was named in honor of Massachusetts-based historian William Hickling Prescott, who was already deceased at the time and had never set foot in the west. Even in the 19th century it was unusual for towns to bear the names of people who were not involved with their founding, and thus the question has been raised as to which of our earliest territorial pioneers suggested the honor for Mr. Prescott.

By Linda Ludington

The country is not a gentle land. Huge boulders strewn about like a naughty child's toys appear to have catapulted one another to balance themselves capriciously on sheer ledges. Rocks trap and concentrate precious moisture in clefts to nourish Saguaro and desert grasses. Above the Santa Maria River, steep ridges reveal still higher crests to the north. The elevation climbs from 2,000 to over 5,000 feet. The desert gives way to vast mesas covered with pinon, oak, and mountain grasses.

By Judy Stoycheff

In response to the Depression that hung over the nation in the early 1930s, newly-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt created many programs designed to put Americans back to work. One of those programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It was designed to bring together the nation’s young men and the land in an effort to save them both.

By Sandra Lynch

(Note: This is a reprint of the original Days Past Indian Art Market article printed October 18, 1998).

Today marks the final day of Sharlot Hall Museum’s Tenth Prescott Indian Art Market featuring over 100 American Indian artists. The idea of Indian art, as a market commodity, evolved within a history both Native and American. Long before Spain’s galleons put to shore in the Caribbean, American Indians had established art markets. Pacific shell pendants, etched by acid and wax, crossed Arizona deserts in human caravans.

By Mick Woodcock

Arizona was a violent place in 1870.  The November 19, 1870, Weekly Arizona Miner detailed seventeen killings around the territory.  One headline, “Out On Bail,” referred to a shooting reported in the previous week’s paper.

Ruth Sylvania “Sylvia” (Reed) Reuter was born on February 15, 1906, in Triplett, Chariton County, Missouri, the daughter of Albert Ora and Virginia “Jennie” May (Scott) Reed. (The Prescott Courier obituary on May 6, 1981, erroneously designates “Albert and Jennifer Ora” as her parents, and other sources designate Southfork (South Fork), Howell County, Missouri as her place of birth.) She was the fourth of six children.

Ada Belle (Eldred) Rigden was born August 30, 1884, in Montana to Thomas D. and Rose E. (Badger) Eldred.  Her father was a carpenter by profession.  She attended Michigan State Normal College in the summer of 1903 to obtain a degree in education, and she is listed in the 1903 and 1904 City Directories of Battle Creek, Calhoun County, Michigan, as a teacher.  She came to the Arizona Territory in either late 1904 or 1905 to teach school in Kirkland, Yavapai County.

By Brad Courtney

Prescott is the bearer of several well-known legends. One wonders why an event that happened on Whiskey Row on June 28, 1896, is not one of those widely told stories.

Minerva (Denney) Scarborough was born in Jackson City, Madison County, Tennessee, on February 4, 1837, to Charles Crockett and Mary Polly (Bryan) Denney.  Nothing is known of her childhood or teenage years.

She married William B. Scarborough (b. 1827 in North Carolina) in 1858 (no record of the marriage exists), and the couple settled in Spencer, Van Buren County, Tennessee, where William was a merchant by profession.

Esta Maria (Miller) Redden was born on February 5, 1877, in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory.  She was the daughter of Leroy “Roll” Daniel and Rachel Catherine Maria (Wiebrecht) Miller and the great niece of Sam Miller, after whose family Miller Valley, Yavapai County, was named.

Esta was elected Secretary of the newly founded Epworth League Society (a youth group of the South Methodist Church) in Skull Valley, Yavapai County, in August 1894.  She graduated from Prescott High School in 1895, took the county examination for teachers, and taught one year in Williamson Valley, Yavapai County.