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    Around Yavapai County: Celebrating Arizona's Centennial
    Around Yavapai County: Celebrating Arizona's Centennial
    Around Yavapai County: Celebrating Arizona's Centennial
    Ebook183 pages53 minutes

    Around Yavapai County: Celebrating Arizona's Centennial

    By Nancy Burgess, Karen Despain and Yavapai County Arizona Centennial Committee

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    About this ebook

    On February 23, 1863, Pres. Abraham Lincoln signed the bill creating the Territory of Arizona. The first Arizona Territorial Legislature established the capital at Prescott and met in September 1864. They divided the territory into four counties: Mohave, Pima, Yavapai, and Yuma. Yavapai County, the “mother county,” consisted of approximately 65,000 square miles and was believed to be the largest county in the United States. By the time Arizona attained statehood on February 14, 1912, there were 14 counties, and Yavapai County had been reduced in size to 8,125 square miles. Yavapai County has a rich history in mining, ranching, farming, military, and business. Today, Yavapai County is a thriving, growing county with nine incorporated cities and towns and numerous unincorporated communities, such as Ash Fork, Black Canyon City, Cornville, Mayer, and Skull Valley. Historic sites include Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, the town of Jerome, Fort Verde, Montezuma’s Castle and Well, and Tuzigoot.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 5, 2011
    ISBN9781439649800
    Around Yavapai County: Celebrating Arizona's Centennial

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      Book preview

      Around Yavapai County - Nancy Burgess

      RPPC.

      INTRODUCTION

      The history of Yavapai County is rich and vast, fully deserving of preservation for future generations. Yavapai County has the quintessential history of cowboys and Indians, miners and merchants, and shady ladies.

      The Yavapai County Arizona Centennial Committee was created by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors in January 2009. As a part of its purpose, the committee is to identify and assist with the development of projects focused on history and the Arizona centennial that bring attention to and participation from all parts of Yavapai County. Around Yavapai County: Celebrating Arizona’s Centennial is one of the Centennial Committee’s projects. We hope this book will encourage both residents and visitors to learn and appreciate the rich history of Yavapai County and to enjoy the spectacular scenery and historical places, together with the people and local characters who have made Yavapai County what it is today.

      The first known Anglo visitors to our area were Spanish explorers seeking gold and silver during the 16th and 17th centuries. Unlike in other parts of the Southwest, the Spanish adventurers had very little cultural impact in central and northern Arizona. Mountain men and trappers began exploring the area in the 1820s. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo brought the New Mexico Territory, including what became the Arizona Territory, into the United States in 1848.

      In 1886, the Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railway (SFP&P) arrived in Prescott, and it later continued on to Phoenix with connections to other parts of the territory. The railroads and modern highways, which replaced the old dusty, muddy, and rutted wagon and stagecoach roads, brought people to Yavapai County. Many travelers stopped, explored, and stayed or returned.

      The Arizona Organic Act, signed by President Lincoln, created the Arizona Territory, previously the western portion of the New Mexico Territory, as an official US territory on December 29, 1863. The new Arizona Territory was created with only four counties: Mohave, Pima, Yavapai, and Yuma. The county names reflected some of the Native American peoples who inhabited the areas.

      As one of Arizona’s original counties, Yavapai consisted of approximately 65,000 square miles and is believed to have been the largest county ever created in the United States. Yavapai County is known as the Mother of Counties because all or portions of five other counties—Apache, Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, and Navajo—were carved out of the original area of Yavapai. Today, Yavapai County consists of 8,125 square miles, which is similar in size to the state of Massachusetts.

      The territorial capital was established at Prescott in May 1864. The capital moved to Tucson for 10 years (1867–1877) before being returned to Prescott for a period of 12 years. In 1889, Phoenix became the permanent capital of the Arizona Territory, and later, the State of Arizona.

      The first Territorial Governor’s Mansion, built in 1864, still stands in its original location and is open to the public on the grounds of the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott. The museum is named for Sharlot Mabridth Hall, the first official historian of the Arizona Territory and the first woman to hold an official government post in Arizona Territory.

      The residents of Arizona Territory lobbied Congress for statehood for more than 40 years. In December 1911, territorial governor Richard Sloan sent a letter to Pres. William Howard Taft asking to have the statehood proclamation for Arizona signed on February 12, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Sloan’s request to have the proclamation signed was granted, but the date of the signing was delayed. Finally, on February 14, 1912, President Taft signed the Arizona Statehood Act with a delegation of dignitaries from the Arizona Territory present. Thus, the Valentine State was ushered into the union, making Arizona the 48th, and final, contiguous state of the continental United States of America.

      Since statehood, Yavapai County, with Prescott as the county seat, has continued to prosper and grow. The City of Prescott’s airport, Ernest A. Love Field, which is named for one of Prescott’s World War I fliers, was dedicated in August 1928. Today, it is one of the busiest airports in Arizona. No matter what the reason for coming to Yavapai County, its people have been hardworking and independent. Without their efforts, the county would not be what it is today.

      The communities in Yavapai County are numerous and diverse, and each one has a unique location and offers enriching opportunities, activities, and experiences. Today, tourism plays a major role in the economy and the sustainability of the county. Historic and prehistoric sites abound, with approximately 1,000 buildings (including the Yavapai County Courthouse), structures (such as bridges and a windmill), sites (such as archaeological sites), and objects (a clock and streetlamps) listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Prescott is a Preserve America Community, and Jerome is a national historic landmark. The Sedona Historical Society, at the historic Jordan Ranch, is a great place to see and learn local history. The mining towns of Jerome and Clarkdale, as well as the ancient American Indian ruins at Tuzigoot Pueblo, Montezuma Castle, and Montezuma Well, draw thousands of visitors every year. Arcosanti attracts visitors from all over the world to Paolo Soleri’s utopian community. Local, regional, and state parks, along with national monuments and spectacular scenery, provide visitors and residents with an amazing amount of civic and heritage tourism opportunities.

      The arts are an integral part of Yavapai County. Many communities celebrate arts and culture with museums, theaters, galleries, concerts, shows, resident artist studio tours, public art, and festivals.

      The communities described in this book offer their own unique histories, activities, locations, and attractions. We have highlighted each of the incorporated cities and towns of Camp Verde, Chino Valley, Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Dewey-Humboldt, Jerome, Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Sedona. Much of our rich history and colorful past still lives in the unincorporated communities of Ash Fork, Beaver Creek, Rimrock and Lake Montezuma, Bagdad, Black Canyon City, Congress, Cordes Station, Crown King, Mayer, Seligman, and Skull Valley. The Yavapai-Prescott and the Yavapai-Apache

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