Winter is here! ARTICLES. Sales are up at the Gift Shop! (p. 7)

Transcription

1 Sierra Vista Historical Society Newsletter SVHS NEWSLETTER Dec Volu m emb 200 er 9 e7 Issue Marion Margraf, editor President Tom Shupert Vice-President David Santor Treasurer Tim Doyle Secretary Ingrid Baillie 5 Winter is here! ARTICLES NOTES FROM THE CURATOR Curator Nancy Krieski explains the museum s goals and announces a fine new contribution to the museum. Continued on Page 3 Areas in green show property given to Sierra Vista by Margaret Carmichael NEW EXHIBIT AT LOCAL RESTAURANT The present Landmark Café is coordinating with the Henry Hauser Museum to feature a display of the old Landmark, says SVHS President Tom Shupert. Continued on Page 6 THE HEARST FAMILY IN SOUTHEAST ARIZONA Ed Riggs recounts the connection that this well-known family had in this area and its subsequent history. Continued on Page 4 J-N4 Dedication p. 5 : side he n i Also rt on t on he po A re er lunc te on b a mem an upd f radio and istory o h V. the in S svhsnewsletter@cox.net George Hearst Sales are up at the Gift Shop! (p. 7)

2 SVHS Newsletter! PAGE 2 Annual Luncheon The Sierra Vista Historical Society annual luncheon was held on October 16th, at Pueblo del Sol Country Club. SVHS President Tom Shupert thanked attending officials, including Sierra Vista Mayor Rick Strain and City Council Representative Carol Dockter. A special thanks was extended to all the gift shop volunteers. A bouquet was given to Jan Knowles in recognition of her years of support to SVHS. The auction of Jack Hein s highly regarded Early Sierra Vista: Its People and Neighbors was lively! Ed Riggs donated the book for auction. Jim Kidd made the winning bid--he got a fine book, and the Society made a nice sum. A slide presentation on the Historic Roads of Cochise County by engineer Benny Young, Director of Cochise County Highway and Floodplain Department followed a fine buffet. Mr. Young began by thanking Clara Walker Ernest and Kelly Luck for their help in preparing the slide presentation. Mr. Young took the audience on a tour of county roads, informing us of their history and current status. He noted that the first roads in this area were, of course, migratory trails made by indigenous inhabitants and animals. (His first grade teacher, Mona Dayton, found the remains of a mammoth in the 1950s. Maybe this is where his interest in roads started.) The county has been traversed by many throughout prehistoric times. The first European to walk through our area was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1540, coming down the San Pedro River. Father Kino, in 1687, came up the Santa Cruz. Some of these routes have become state highways. The presentation continued with fact-filled commentary regarding other county roads. In the question-and-answer period following the slides, Mr. Young acknowledged that county roads are a help to the Border Patrol, which may result in some federal aid to road maintenance. He also stated that gas tax collection supports county roads. Radio Update In Making Waves, which appeared in the last issue, Helen Gowen mentioned her radio program Bells of Home. This program was followed by From Germany with Love, hosted by SVHS member Christel Trusty. Ms. Gowan trained Ms. Trusty, who remembers how apprehensive she was about learning to spin records. She recounts an amusing anecdote: Jim Fergusson, owner of KTAN, was a teetotaler who did not accept advertising from products associated with alcohol. According to Christel, one day someone asked him why he let her play beer music. In defense of cultural differences, she replied that it was merely folk music. Christel also notes that one of the show s sponsors was Deutsches Eck, still in operation.

3 SVHS Newsletter! PAGE 3 Curator s Corner & The Corner Cupboard The Curator s Corner Curator s Corner December 2009 Wow! It s the end of 2009 and the holidays are upon us. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all of you for your support of the little museum that could! We couldn t do all of the many projects, events, and important daily operational activities without you. And, we appreciate your continued support in the coming year. Our goals for the next two years involve: 1) continuing to transcribe and summarize all of our 200+ oral history interviews for submission to the Arizona State Library & Archives Oral Histories in Arizona project for our state s centennial celebration in If anyone is interested in helping with this project, please call or and we ll get you started. This is a project you can do in the comfort of your own home which will also offer you the opportunity to get to know some of our area s most historical and interesting people, and 2) focusing on getting all of the museum s collections cataloged, marked, properly stored, and into our museum software database. We will also be working with the City of Sierra Vista s Marketing Department to develop an attractive user friendly website link for the museum. It s going to be a busy two years. We truly appreciate your support. Happy Holidays! The Corner Cupboard In 2006, as part of the city s 50 th anniversary celebration, we received a fabulous donation from Virginia Sherbundy Rogers (niece of Margaret Carmichael). The donation consisted of original documents showing the breakdown of property either sold or donated by Margaret Carmichael between 1954 and 1958 accompanied by a hand-drawn color-coded map of the properties. (See a copy of this map on first page.) When one really takes the time to study these items, only one conclusion can be drawn: Margaret Carmichael is the person responsible for laying the foundation of our city. It is striking how she knew back in the early 1950 s what major components make-up a community: 1) Subdivisions for housing (sold to Busby & Carroll); 2) Commercial land along the main corridors for all types of businesses (sold to NuWay Laundry, Paul Keating s Service Station, Marshall Transfer, and such folks as Joe Bellantoni, Roy Brockbank, and Emma Finley (Finley Tourist Cabins & Trailer Park); 3) Donated land for Social/Service Organization such as the USO Club, American Legion, Elks, and the YWCA; and 4) Donated land for a variety of Churches. Reproductions of these items are in our current exhibit and I encourage everyone to stop by and take a look. We ll even let you examine the original map if you d like. It s no wonder Margaret Carmichael has been called the First Lady of Sierra Vista. Nancy Krieski Nancy Krieski, curator, Henry Hauser Museum I can be reached at or me at nkrieski@ci.sierra-vista.az.us.

4 SVHS Newsletter! PAGE 4 The Hearst Family in SE Arizona by Ed Riggs George Hearst, Phoebe Hearst, William Randolph Hearst names associated with California in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth show up in Arizona, too. There are four Mexican land grants in what is now Cochise County, originally part of the northern frontier of New Spain and later the Republic of Mexico. Two of those grants, San Ignacio del Babocomari and Rancho San Juan de las Boquillas y Nogales, involve members of the Hearst family. George Hearst made his reputation in mining throughout the west and saw the Mexican land grants in Arizona as another opportunity. With several partners, he acquired an interest in the Babocomari grant from the heirs of the Elías family, the original grantees. This grant extends from the Elgin area in Santa Cruz County into Cochise County between Whetstone and Huachuca City. George s wife, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, and their son William Randolph Hearst, acquired title to and received the patent for the Boquillas grant, which extends along the San Pedro River from Charleston to the St. David area. Hearst had an interest in the grant for only a few years. He and his partners sold out to a former Confederate doctor from Alabama, who finally received the patent some years later. The property was not mined by the Hearsts, or any other owners, since the mineral rights were not included in the Mexican Land Grant. (That was normal for those grants. Title to the minerals passed to the United States, with a preference for the grant owners to lease those rights from the government). All of the grants in Cochise County were originally sold by Mexican authorities as sites for cattle ranching, in the hope that the presence of the ranches being Continued on next page

5 SVHS Newsletter! PAGE 5 established would aid in the elimination of the Apache problems. Instead, the raids by the Apaches killed many of the ranching employees and some of the family members of the owning families. Wild herds of cattle roamed the regions, which led to the incident now known as the Mormon Battalion's "Battle of the Bulls" at the crossing of the San Pedro River near Hereford during the Mexican War era. The resulting instability caused by the Indian raids led to abandonment of the grants by the original owners, and the subsequent acquisition at bargain prices by opportunists like the Hearsts. Unfortunately, by the time title to the grants was confirmed by the special Court of Private Land Claims (established by Congress in 1891), the great drought of the 1890s resulted in severe overgrazing and the virtual collapse of cattle ranching in the area. Most of the grants are still being grazed on a much lower scale, and some of the land has been sold off for development. That part of the Babocomari Grant east of Highway 90 (5,000 acres) was sold about 5 years ago by the Brophy family (only the second owner of the grant after the patent was issued) and split up for homesites. ~~~ George Hearst became a senator from California in 1886 and died in office in Phoebe Hearst became a major benefactor of the University of California at Berkeley and was a co-founder of the PTA. She died in the influenza epidemic of William Randolph Hearst, in addition to running his newspaper empire, served in Congress (from New York) for two terms in the early 1900s, and lived until ER On November 7th, Mr. Riggs gave a talk about the key figures of the shootout at Tombstone. He will relate some of this information in our next issue. The Jenny On November 3rd, a model of the JN-4 Jenny airplane was dedicated at the Sierra Vista Municipal Airport. It is on loan from the Ft. Huachuca Museum. The model, built by City Council and SVHS member Hank Huisking s father, was donated to that museum. The JN-4 is the best-known aircraft of World War I. A biplane, it was used to train pilots: it had two seats, one behind the other, and dual controls. It had a top speed of 75 mph, and a service ceiling of It was used primarily for surveillance. The Curtissbuilt JN-4 had a 90 hp Curtiss OX-5 V8 engine. The model will be on display at the airport for a year.

6 SVHS Newsletter! PAGE 6 Historic Landmark Café to feature Sierra Vista The Landmark Café, in conjunction with the Henry Hauser Museum, is redecorating and will feature displays from Sierra Vista s past. Landmark owner Pam Anderson recently met with Nancy Krieski, Henry Hauser Museum Curator; Amanda Baillie, who came up with the idea and is coordinating the re-launch of the restaurant; and Tom Shupert, President of the Sierra Vista Historical Society, to discuss plans to redecorate, featuring memorabilia from the past and photographs with captions. This display will serve as an extension of our museum and will hopefully lead more people to the museum in the Ethel Berger Center, as well as acquaint them with the plans for the new museum on North Garden Avenue. The restaurant s popular BBQ bacon hamburger will be renamed Hank s Western Barbeque Burger to remember Hank Hauser s famous barbeques, which he provided for a number of years. A $1 donation will be made to the new museum s building fund every time one of these burgers is sold. Landmark Café patrons will also be able to tuck into an Ethel Berger Burger, thanks to the former mayor graciously agreeing to a menu item being named in her honor. Customers will see the transformation, which involves the removal of the famous clowns, begin to take place from Monday, December 21st. A grand ribbon cutting will be held on Friday, January 8, 2010, at 12:00 noon. The Landmark Café has been serving our community since 1942 and we invite all to come visit, enjoy a fine meal and view some of our local history. This is a great cooperative effort which will promote our campaign to raise funds in support of the new Henry F. Hauser Museum. TS The Landmark Café on West Fry Blvd. Now Then

7 SVHS Newsletter! PAGE 7 Amazing Arizona Program After a tasty lunch, the Society hosted speaker David Santor at the Henry Hauser Museum on Saturday, October 24th. Mr. Santor gave pointers on how to do research for the historical plaque program. He encouraged everyone to try researching sites, noting that 55 places have been identified as historically significant, and that, of course, more are in the offing. Below is a photo of a map of the plaque sites available at the museum. It would be a fun challenge to visit each site, especially with visitors during the holiday season. Pick one up on your next visit! Jan. 6 Jan. 8 Feb. 19 Calendar First Genie Club meeting. Grand re-opening of Landmark Restaurant Luncheon with Dr. Rottweiler, president of Cochise College Hurrah for the gift shop! Plaque Map was provided by the Henry F. Hauser Museum. Debbie Mills hard at work at the gift shop. She is happy to report that sales for December are up almost ten-fold! Come on down and see what you can get for those last-minute gifts: puppets, books, hats, T-shirts, fine ladies tops, ornaments, and MORE!!!! The Genie Club--a genealogy club The Genie Club offers free workshops on how to get started with family research and how to organize information. The club meets at the Ethel Berger Center on the first Wednesday of every month from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., October through May. The first hour is devoted to sharing information and asking questions. Get tips on getting started, where to search, research tools, how to record information, interview techniques, and more. The first 2010 meeting is on January 6, Send inquiries to Genie Desk at geniedesk@mtmolehill.net Founder & Facilitator: Karol Childs The Genie Club and its workshops are a project of the SVHS.

8 Please consider the museum in your end-of-year planning! Photograph of new museum conceptual model by Tim Doyle