STILL NOT AS OLD AS THE HILLS

PRESCOTT: STILL NOT AS OLD AS THE HILLS

150

Hotel St. Michael was one of Prescott's first modern hotels, designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style. Many illustrious visitors, including Theodore Roosevelt, have stayed there. Pah-Ute County was created in 1865.

In 1870, the population of Prescott was 666.

The Phippen Museum, named after the first president of the Cowboy Artists of America, features art from the American West. For information, call 928-778-1385.

Morris Goldwater, one of the most influential merchants in the Territory, arrived in Prescott in 1876.

Experimental telephones were installed at Fort Whipple in the 1870s.

The Sisters of St. Joseph arrived in Prescott in 1878 to establish a hospital and a school.

Thumb Butte (pictured, center), a prominent hunk of granite rising over Prescott, can be accessed via a 2.1-mile loop trail. The butte is closed to rock-climbing from midDecember to mid-July to protect nesting peregrine falcons, but the trail and nearby picnic center are open year-round.

In 1876, the Prescott Free Academy opened on what is now the campus of Washington Traditional School.

Prescott's first "Christmas Celebration" took place in 1954 on Courthouse Plaza.

Rocks as old as 1.8 billion years have been discovered in the Prescott area.

Watson Woods Riparian Preserve was established in 1995 after years of mistreatment of the area from livestock grazing, gravel withdrawal, unlawful dumping and other hazards. The preserve comprises 125 acres of land, starting at Watson Lake and extending southwest along State Route 89. For those who want to venture inside, there are plenty of hikes, interpretive signs and opportunities to see wildlife.

The Central Arizona Railroad arrived in Prescott on December 31, 1886.

The Hassayampa Inn was originally financed by hundreds of Prescott residents who bought shares for $1 apiece. The hotel, which was finished in 1927, is a member of the Historic Hotels of America.

For hikers, cyclists and horseback riders looking for a long haul, the Prescott Circle Trail, which loops around the city, should do the trick. Camping spots along the way offer respites for trekkers who would rather not complete all 45 miles in one day.

In July 1957, Prescott's second radio station, KNOT, took to the airwaves.

Tucked away in the trees, White Spar Campground is a short drive from the center of Prescott. Two trails start near the 57 campsites: Goldwater Lakes Trail and Schoolhouse Gulch Trail 67.

Because Yavapai Campground is a stone's throw away from the Granite Dells, Watson Lake and Granite Basin Lake, it's the perfect launching pad for numerous activities: water sports, hiking, picnicking, photography and more. For information, call 928-433-8000 or visit www.fs.usda.gov/prescott.

Sharlot Hall was a poet, an activist, a politician and, perhaps most importantly, Arizona's Territorial historian. Early on, she recognized the importance of saving Arizona's history, and thus, she began collecting documents and artifacts. She eventually started a museum, which grew into what we know today as Sharlot Hall Museum. It includes seven historic buildings, numerous exhibits exam-ining the history of Central Arizona, and a rose garden honoring women of Territorial Arizona. For history buffs, the museum's Library and Archives are a gold mine of rare and original books, documents, photographs and maps. The library is open to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, from noon to 4 p.m., and Saturdays, by appointment. For information, call 928-445-3122.

Granite Mountain rises from the 9,799-acre Granite Mountain Wilderness northwest of Prescott. The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe considers it a sacred site. Much of the wilderness was devastated in June 2013 by the Doce Fire, which burned 6,767 acres.

The Arizona Pioneers Home opened in 1911. It still serves its original purpose today as a continuing-care retirement home. The Arizona Pioneers Home began as the brainchild of three promi-nent Prescott citizens, A.J. Doran,Frank M. Murphy and Johnny Duke, to repay the faithful and longtime Arizona residents who helped pioneer and build the state.

Many woodland creatures inhabit the wilderness surroundingPrescott. Make noise while hiking wilderness trails to alert bears to your presence. You might also see mountain lions, coyotes, foxes or javelinas. The latter can weigh up to 65 pounds and live in herds that average eight or nine animals.

▲ Prescott's wild neighbor, the Prescott National Forest, encompasses 1.25 million acres of everything from desert landscapes to expanses of ponderosa pines. Originally called the Prescott Forest Reserve, it was established by President William McKinley on May 10, 1898. The next year, it was enlarged to protect trees from being illegally cut down. In 1908, it acquired its current name.

Wyatt Earp, famous for the gunfight at Tombstone's O.K. Corral, convinced Doc Holliday (who would be an accomplice in the shootout) and his wife, Mary Katharine Haroney, to move to Prescott in 1879.

An average of 20 inches of snow falls in Prescott annually.

In 1935, the U.S. government designated 75 acres of tribal land for the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe. Today, the tribe occupies about 1,400 acres surrounding Prescott.

From fresh tamales to homegrown tomatoes, the Prescott Farmers Market offers locally produced foods and crafts from more than 60 vendors. For information, call 928-713-1227.

Every year for more than a quarter-century, poets and musicians have gathered in Prescott to celebrate something they all love: cowboys. The Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering meets in August and works to preserve the heritage of the American West.

For more than 70 years, YMCA Camp Sky-Y has been the perfect summer getaway for kids ages 7 to 16: no parents and plenty of adventure. During their stay, campers can participate in archery, ceramics, rock-climbing, mountain-biking, canoeing and other outdoor and artistic activities. One week costs $555. For information, call 800-660-1385.

In the April 1964 issue of Arizona Highways, Prescott resident Pauline Henson described the Prescott National Forest as the perfect union of "adventure, solitude and refreshment." An average of 300 trees per acre populate the forest's 145,000 acres of ponderosa pines.

If Whiskey Row isn't your thing, perhaps Antiques Row is. North Cortez Street is packed with antiques shops. Prescott is home to two of the state's 11 official Witness Trees, which are trees that have withstood Arizona's entire statehood. The trees were dedicated during Arizona's Centennial in 2012.

Pets are allowed on the 28 miles that make up Prescott's Mile-High Trail System, as long as they're on leashes. At least 20 trails in the system are bike-friendly, and more than a dozen are open to horses.

More than 360 bird species have been spotted in the Prescott area since 1974. In particular, Willow and Watson lakes have been designated an Important Bird Area. To protect the multitude of birds that call the lakes home. the city restricts boat usage. On Watson Lake, there is a no-wake rule; boats must have limited horsespower. On Willow Lake, only kayaks or canoes are allowed.

If you spot a building in the middle of the city that looks like a Native American pueblo, that's the Smoki Museum. Constructed in 1935 of stone and wood, the museum focuses on Native American art and culture. For information, call 928-445-1230.

The nonprofit Prescott Creeks Preservation Association was established in 1990 to protect and restore waters in Central Arizona while educating communities about their importance.

The Prescott Elks Theatre wouldn't exist were it not for a fraternal order called the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1904, its Prescott members proposed the theater, then called the Elks Opera House, as an addition to their lodge, and city residents eagerly supported and funded it. The Elks Opera House opened on February 20, 1905, with a romantic play called Marta of the Lowlands. General admission cost $2.50.

of the Grand Canyon, and it's nearly equidistant from Phoenix and Flagstaff - 100 miles from Phoenix and 97 miles from Flagstaff.

The Groom Creek Loop Trail, a moderate hike a few miles from downtown Prescott, takes hikers to the top of Spruce Mountain.

The finest bar on old Whiskey Row was Bob Brow's Palace saloon, which opened around 1877 and was a haunt for cowboys and miners. In the 1900 fire, the Palace went up in flames. Patrons rescued the saloon's 24-foot-long carved-mahogany bar along with most of the liquor, took the treasures to the plaza and operated an improvised bar before the fire was extinguished. The Palace was reopened in 1901 and is in business today - with the same bar.

The Lynx Campground, which is 15 minutes from downtown Prescott, is open from April through October for $18 per night. The campgroundis a half-mile from Lynx Lake, which was created in the early 1960s, and features 35 spacious campsites surrounded by junipers, ponderosa pines and manzanitas. For information, call 928-443-8000 or visit www.fs.usda.gov/prescott.

▲ In 1878, the pink-brick courthouse was completed on Courthouse Plaza. It was torn down in 1916 and replaced with the neoclassical building that stands today.

The lowest temperature ever recorded in Prescott was -21 degrees on January 22, 1937. The highest temperature ever recorded was 105 degrees on July 17, 1925. Summer high temperatures are normally in the 80s, rarely the 90s.

▲ Junior Bonner, which starred Steve McQueen and was directed by Sam Peckinpah, was set in Prescott. The movie was released in 1972.

In the early 1900s, Arizonans voted for a statewide alcohol ban, which went into effect January 1, 1915. However, the people of Prescott basically ignored the new law. They continued drinking on Whiskey Row, mostly as usual, except the bars were moved to backrooms and basements.

▲ The 100 block of South Montezuma Street in downtown Prescott is known as Whiskey Row, a nickname that evokes the street's history of raucous saloons. The 1900 Whiskey Row fire, possibly started by a miner's fallen candle, ripped through Prescott and destroyed $1.5 million worth of homes and businesses, a considerable sum at the time. The city's denizens barely skipped a beat - they resumed business as quickly as possible and rebuilt a sturdier downtown by 1902. (See related story, Whiskey Row: Portrait of a Street, on page 24.) Prescott is roughly a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the South Rim

▲ The oldest planned community in Arizona is the Mountain Club, which was started in 1926 as an “experiment in resort living,” as a longtime resident, the late Ruby Schmieder, says in her book Prescott's Unique Mountain Club. The neighborhood, originally called the Hassayampa MountainClub, was a place where Phoenix residents spent summer months because of its cooler climate and relaxing location among pine trees a mile from Prescott's center.

More than 700 buildings in Prescott are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The gnarled, knobby boulders at Watson Lake, called the Granite Dells, were formed over millions of years of lava activity and erosion.

Prescott's municipal airport was named Ernest A. Love Field to commemorate a first lieutenant of the U.S. Army Air Service who was raised in Prescott. Love's plane was shot down in France during World War I.

Prescott's sister cities are Caborca, Mexico, and Suchitoto, El Salvador.

Prescott College was established in the 1960s with a mission to solve the world's social and environmental issues.

Prescott was designated “Arizona's Christmas City” by Governor Rose Mofford in 1989.

Celebrate the Sesquicentennial

Prescott is planning a series of events to mark its 150th birthday, including a Sesquicentennial Kickoff Celebration the weekend of May 30. For a full list of sesquicentennial events, visit the Prescott Office of Tourism at www. visit-prescott.com.

Prescott's Chamber of Commerce, located at 117 W. Goodwin Street, provides visitors with information, maps and things to do. For information, call 800-266-7534.