By Dave Lewis

1857:  The land that would become Arizona was still part of New Mexico Territory, but the name “Arizona” was gaining popularity among citizens around Tucson. Tucson, Tubac, and Yuma were the only non-native settlements in Arizona and knowledge of the region was growing slowly.  Spaniards had been here since the 1500s.  Mountain men and prospectors had crossed Arizona; Army expeditions had traversed Arizona along the Gila River and along the Mormon Trail south of the Gila.  Lorenzo Sitgreaves, Amiel Whipple, and Edward Beale had surveyed possible wagon and railroad routes.  There was even regular river boat activity on the lower Colorado, between Yuma to the Sea of Cortez. 

By Barbara Patton

By mid-August of 1857, Lieutenant Edward Beale’s surveying party left Albuquerque, heading into Indian country.  Traveling ten to twenty miles a day, they arrived at Fort Defiance (just over the border in present-day Arizona) on August 25.  From there they closely followed the Whipple expedition's route toward the San Francisco Peaks, and on September 9, Beale recorded, “a plain of vast extent. The viewing of the rich green grass, the distant mountains and our moving camp wagons, sheep, horses and camels made a beautiful picture.”

By Barbara Patton

On April 22, 1857, Edward Beale, California rancher and former Navy lieutenant, reported to Secretary of War John B. Floyd in Washington D.C. By order of President Buchanan, Beale was appointed to direct a survey and construct a “military road from New Mexico Territory to California.” Thirty-five-year-old Beale was considered an American hero having served bravely with Commodore Stockton and, in 1848, trekking across Mexico to deliver news of California gold strikes to eastern authorities.  In 1853, he was appointed  Secretary of Indian Affairs in California.

By Jenny Pederson

Sharlot Hall, Sharlot Hall Museum’s founder, arrived in Arizona in 1882 with her family. Traveling the Santa Fe Trail from Kansas, they settled near Lynx Creek, about 20 miles from Prescott.  By 1890, the family was running Orchard Ranch where they raised pigs and cows, grew vegetables, apples, and pears.
 

By Barbara Patton

December 19, 1853, found the Whipple expedition encamped on the Little Colorado River.  The next day, the team left the river, heading west toward the San Francisco Mountains where Whipple and a small exploratory team had found Leroux Springs.  After several days traveling through deep snow, the expedition stopped at caves once inhabited by natives where they decided to remain through Christmas.

By Barbara Patton

In October, 1853, Army officer Lt. Amiel Whipple led a large exploratory party into Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Their mission was to explore and survey the 35th parallel in search of a railway route to the Pacific Coast. Starting in Washington D.C. in April, Whipple hired a cadre of surveyors and scientists.  From the nation’s capital, they traveled by boat and train to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Whipple completed his party with teamsters, herders and other necessary personnel.  When they left Fort Smith, there were 110 in the party, including a company of fifty soldiers of the Seventh Infantry commanded by Lt. John M. Jones.  They also had a herd of 250 mules, 13 wagons and two small carts.

By Addison Arnold & Jenny Pederson

The American Victorian Era (1837-1901) was defined by manners, virtue, character, respectability, and strict public morality. Named after Queen Victoria of England, the era inspired a generation of progressive reforms across the English-speaking world, including in the United States. Many of these reforms were based on the concept of Respectability or how to be proper, estimable and virtuous in society. Many reforms related to the family unit, with focus on the welfare and well-being of women and children.

By Addison Arnold

In the late 1800s, Western territories and states were in the forefront of progressive politics and social change. One significant and contentious issue of the period was women’s suffrage – a woman’s right to vote and hold public office. At this time, some felt women were too delicate to be faced with making such an important decision, that they were incapable of understanding the complexities of political or social issues, or that voting had little to do with a woman’s role as a wife or a mother. Like much of the United States, Arizonans were divided on the issue. Citizens of Prescott also held a range of opinions. For many residents, the idea of women being too fragile to vote did not ring true. The area already had a tradition of hard-working, decisive, and resilient women who endured twelve-hour days homesteading, operated businesses, raised families, or ran households.

By Tom Collins

If you visit the Pioneer Living History Museum, just off I-17 near Anthem, one of the first structures you will see is the old “opera house,” a two-story brick building reconstructed, the museum claims, from the original bricks of Levi Bashford’s opera house in Prescott. 

The original building stood where our City Hall stands today, on the southeast corner of Cortez and Goodwin streets, opposite the Post Office.  James Howey, Prescott’s blacksmith and wagon maker reportedly constructed the Romanesque Revival building in 1875-1876 for Michael “Big Mike” Goldwater, for whom Howey had worked at the Vulture Mine near Wickenburg. Goldwater had just closed two failing mercantile stores in Phoenix and Ehrenberg, so he and his brother Joe headed for Prescott. 

By Jenny Pederson

Known today as “Arizona’s Christmas City,” Prescott has long been a community that comes together to celebrate the holidays and uses the end of one year and the transition into the next as an opportunity to make memories with family and friends.
 

The family of fifth Territorial Governor John C. Frémont arrived in Prescott in October of 1878. The family consisted of Governor Frémont, his wife Jessie Benton Frémont, daughter Lily and son Frank. Lily kept a diary while she lived in Prescott, and after celebrating the Christmas holiday, she described preparing the house for New Year’s visitors, working on sewing projects, and taking a ride with a friend and two officers from Fort Whipple. Although she retired early in the evening, her father and brother attended a party hosted by a local theatre association.