USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. VI > Part 11
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Judge William J. Berry, who purchased the first lot offered for sale upon the Phoenix town-
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site, was a well known resident of Prescott, to which place he had come in an early day. He was a member of the first Board of Supervisors of Yavapai County, which had as its other mem- bers, James Grant and George Coulter, the latter having come to Arizona with the Walker party. Judge Berry was the first register of the Land Office at Prescott, and in October, 1873, became editor of the "Yuma Sentinel," when the publi- cation was the property of Colonel James M. Barney.
In the "Miner" of December 10th, 1870, is the following letter in reference to the Phoenix Townsite :
"Scarcely a week passes that we are not called upon to chronicle something new regarding the growing settlements on the Salt River, in this county, all of which settlements are known and come under the name of 'Phoenix.'
"The Valley, one of the largest and most pro- ductive on the Pacific Coast, was once the seat of empire of the semi-civilized Indians of Ari- zona, as the numerous ruins of houses, water ditches, cooking utensils, etc., attest, and it may be that the seat of government of the Territory will soon be located there. Besides its agricul- tural resources, which are unexcelled here or elsewhere, it has great manufacturing resources, and, as manufactories must soon be established at proper points in this Territory, the founders of these settlements will be certain to pay due attention to the latent power of the immense volume of water which flows from Salt River, past Phoenix.
"In order to show how the Salt River Settle- ments are progressing, we print the following
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extract from a private letter recently received from J. T. Alsap :
" 'We are having our town of Phoenix laid out, and I shall probably send you an advertise- ment before long for the sale of lots.
"'Just now the farmers are pretty busy put- ting in their crops. The sweet potato crop is being harvested at present, and is turning out well. Some enterprising vines that were trying to get up a second crop of grapes this season, were nipped by the frost about a week ago. The crop, however, was good for a first one.' "
In the "Miner" of December 17th, 1870, ap- pears the following advertisement, which is the one referred to by Mr. Alsap:
"GREAT SALE OF LOTS AT PHOENIX, ARIZONA
ON THE 23rd AND 24th OF DECEMBER, 1870.
"One third of the purchase money will be re- quired at the time of the sale, the balance when the title is made.
"Phoenix, Arizona, December. 10th, 1870."
In a letter dated December 29th, 1870, to the "Miner" and published January 7th, 1871, is found the following :
"As your regular correspondent is absent on other duties, permit me, for once, to occupy, if I do not fill his place.
"Our once little settlement is becoming a populous region. We number now between 500
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and 600 souls, and the immigration does not yet abate. More than fifty people have arrived here within the last two weeks, and we hear of more yet on the road.
"Many of the new comers have located ranches and bought water rights and are commencing to put in crops. Others have bought town lots and are making ready to build. We have three mer- chants, one brewer and a hotel keeper, all pre- paring to build upon the new townsite.
"The sale of town lots which occurred last Friday and Saturday was very successful. Lots sold at prices ranging from $20.00 to $142.00. Sixty one lots sold averaged $43.50 each. Judge Berry of your town, had the honor of buying the first lot at $103.00. The Judge and Mr. Holstein have been very busy here the past two weeks, filing the declaratory statements of the settlers. He has now gone to the settlements on the Gila River, to give the people there an opportunity to file upon their land. He will stop here a few days on his return, to permit the people here, who have not already done so, to file their state- ments. Many of the new settlers will be pre- pared by that time to file their first papers. I am told by the Commissioners that there will be another sale of town lots in about a month, which will be duly advertised in your paper. I under- stand that Mr. Case, Civil Engineer, will be em- ployed by Mr. Hancock to finish the survey of the town and make the plats."
In the "Miner" of January 14th, 1871, is found the advertisement of the second sale of lots, signed at Phoenix on January 6th, by J. P. Perry as Secretary of the Salt River Valley
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Town Association. This sale took place at 1 o'clock P. M., on Saturday, January 21st, and the terms of the sale were stated as one-third cash, and the balance when the title was secured from the Government.
An advertisement in the "Miner" of January 21st, 1871, gives notice of the third sale, which took place on January 27th and 28th. This ad- vertisement is also signed by J. P. Perry as Sec- retary of the Association, and the terms of this sale were the same as those of the second sale.
Commenting on the above the "Miner" had the following :
"By advertisement in to-day's 'Miner' it will be seen that lots in the town of Phoenix, Salt River Valley, will be offered for sale on January 27th and 28th inst. Former sales have been very successful, and we learn that scores of anxious ones will be on hand to purchase lots at the forth- coming sale."
The number of lots sold at this sale is stated in the following letter :
"Phoenix, A. T., Feb. 14th, 1871. "To the Editor of the 'Arizona Miner':
"I have not kept the promise I gave you when I wrote more than a month since. The dearth of news has been such that I have not felt that I could make a letter interesting.
"We have had no earthquakes, waterspouts, hurricanes, or other physical phenomena that I could chronicle; neither have we had any weddings, balls, parties, or other amusements or gatherings of the people, to which the ladies come
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out with their Sunday finery, and the gentlemen with their 'store clothes.'
"We are, in fact, a very sober, industrious, hard working people, and we have been, at least the greater part of us, hard at work putting in our crops and taking care of them. We have, not without much constraint, arrived at the con- clusion that it requires hard work, and a good deal of it, to earn a livelihood in this Valley by farming.
"As we do not propose to starve, or to walk the world as our first parents originally did in the Garden of Eden, we must, perforce, knuckle down to it.
"Our valley never looked better or more pros- perous than it does today. Without some un- toward occurrence, that has no harbinger in the present, we shall harvest an immense crop of small grain the coming season. If our market does not fail us (and with the blessing of God and the help of our Good Uncle Sam, we trust it will not) we shall come out, after harvest, in good circumstances.
"Our town is improving, three new buildings being in course of erection, and others will be commenced as soon as the winter is a little more past.
"The last sale of town lots, though not as great a success as the first, was still as successful as was anticipated. Twenty-three lots were sold at good prices, and I understand that others have been, or will be, sold at private sale. Mr. Kirk- land, one of Arizona's pioneers, I hear has pur- chased a lot and will commence building during the coming week. The Association has given
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two lots for school purposes, one to the Masonic Association, and two lots to the M. E. Church, South. The Rev. Mr. Mckean is preaching the Gospel of Him of Nazareth, to quite large con- gregations for this benighted country. I saw more ladies together last Sabbath than I have seen in one house before in eighteen months." ("Miner," March 4th, 1871.)
Referring to the sale of Phoenix town lots which was advertised to take place at "9 o'clock A. M. on June 30th, 1871," the " Arizona Citizen" of Tucson, printed the following on June 3rd :
"Phoenix town lots, selected with care at this time, must prove good investments. A year or two ago the land there was vacant; now it is a county seat of what will eventually be a populous county. It has the best of gold and silver mines to the east and north of it, and within itself has all the elements of a most prosperous agri- cultural and manufacturing community. The great overland railroad may hit it, and cannot miss it many miles. In a few years the whole valley will teem with grapes, oranges, lemons, figs, in fact, with all the principal luxuries of food, and the homes of thousands will be sur- rounded by shrubs, flowers, and most of the necessities and superfluities of life. Read the notice of sale of Phoenix lots, and make a good investment by purchasing one or more."
Three weeks later and shortly before the sale, the same paper had the following:
"Good investments may be made in Phoenix lots, a public sale of which comes off as per notice in the 'Citizen.' We have heretofore called attention to this opportunity for safe
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speculation, and can only say again that we be- lieve no better investment of a few hundred dol- lars could be made than in Phoenix lots. It is always safe to buy real estate."
Public sales of town lots were thereafter held by the Commissioners at varying intervals, until succeeded by the Trustees in 1875, but never with as much success as the first sales.
On February 13th, 1872, an official filing was made in the U. S. Land Office at Prescott, for the tract of land upon which the Phoenix Town- site had been located, consisting of 320 acres. This land was taken up under the provisions of the Townsite Act of March 2, 1867, and the Amendatory Act of June 8, 1868, and for some reason, not yet very clear, the official date of settlement was given as February 5th, 1872. On the 10th day of April, 1874, John T. Alsap, the Probate Judge of Maricopa County, acting as Trustee for the Salt River Valley Town Asso- ciation, was granted a patent by the United States Government for the land occupied by the townsite, the total expenses in obtaining the same amounting to $550, of which Judge Alsap received for his services, $150.00.
In the early part of January, 1871, near the corner of Washington and First Streets, about where the Baswitz Cigar Store is now located, Captain W. A. Hancock began the construction of a small one-storied adobe building, which was the first structure of a permanent character built upon the townsite. It was completed in the month of February. Associated with Captain Hancock in this work was George E. Mowry, then assistant postmaster of the community.
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The manufacture of adobes for this building was started in the month of December, 1870, just three years after the coming of the Swill- ing party. After its completion the County paid Captain Hancock a rent of $10.00 a month for the use of the rear portion of this building, which was used for the assembling of the first County Officers. In this little house William Smith opened the first store in the town, in July, 1871. In November of the same year Holcomb & Hargraves rented floor space and opened the first butcher shop. The building was used for different purposes until the early eighties, when it was demolished to make room for a more modern structure.
Soon after the work on the Hancock Building started, ground was broken on the north side of Washington Street, about midway between First and Second Streets, for the construction of a small adobe building, which, when com- pleted was operated as a brewery by former residents of Wickenburg. The Central Hotel, owned by Joe Thalheimer, now stands upon this ground.
Next came the small adobe buildings erected by Johnny George, located on the south side of Washington Street, just west of Cactus Way, where the Ellington Building is now located. When Bichard & Company's flour mill at Phoe- nix was destroyed by fire, George sold his build- ings to that firm for use as a store and flour depot. From Bichard & Co. the property passed into the possession of George Loring, a watch repairer of the town, who started a small store there which was known as Loring's Bazaar.
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These were the first three buildings erected on the Phoenix townsite, and they were all com- pleted in the early part of the year 1871.
The mercantile firm of Murphy & Dennis were also among the early builders on the townsite, their property being situated on the north side of Washington Street between First and Second Streets, just east of the New York Store. Among the larger buildings constructed during this period was Bichard's flour mill, which was completed in July, 1871, and which, as nearly as can be ascertained, was on the south side of Jefferson Street, just west of Central Avenue.
The first county courthouse was erected by Captain Hancock and Jim Monihon, on the east side of South First Avenue, at a cost of a trifle over $900.00. When completed in the latter part of the summer of 1871, it was rented to the county authorities for the monthly rental of $45.00 and served as the seat of county gov- ernment for several years. The first public school was conducted in this building; the first District Court for Maricopa County held its initial session within its walls, and it became the civic center of old Phoenix, where the early resi- dents often met to discuss public questions. After its relinquishment as a courthouse in 1875, it was used as a Justice of the Peace office for many years. The old adobe walls were pulled down some fifteen years ago, and the building was completely demolished in 1914 to make room for the new two-story concrete build- ing, known as the Walker Building, which now stands upon this historic piece of ground. Other buildings followed in the wake of these pioneer
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structures, and it was not long before the village of Phoenix could boast of quite a little group of houses, mostly along Washington Street, in the vicinity of the City Hall Plaza.
The Prescott "Miner" of January 13th, 1872, contained the following letter :
"Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona,
"January 3rd, 1872.
"To the Editor of the 'Arizona Miner':
"The holidays are past and have left nothing but the remembrance of the good things that we enjoyed during their stay, and, with some of us, perhaps, a little heaviness in the 'upper story' or a slight invigoration of our hereditary enemies, gout and dyspepsia. Phoenix in- dulged in a ball, and, for a yearling, it did pretty well.
"One year ago, to-day, Mr. Hancock was mak- ing the adobes for the first house in town, now we have a flourishing village with three stores, one brewery, three saloons, two boarding houses, two blacksmith shops, corrals, and a great num- ber of private dwelling houses.
"We have a county jail (which in this county. is a good thing to have), and a very respectable building for a court house. We have a flourish- ing school, with an attendance of about twenty scholars."
William Smith, as before stated, was the first merchant in Phoenix. On the 9th day of July, 1871, he rented the front part of Hancock's adobe building for $25.00 a month. He came from California, and brought in his wagons a
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small stock of goods. Mr. Joseph Wasson, then connected with the "Tucson Citizen," a weekly paper owned by Surveyor General Wasson, met Mr. Smith at Wickenburg while on his way to the valley, and thus noted the incident:
"At Wickenburg I met a Mr. William Smith and family, with teams, en route from Los Angeles to settle on Salt River. He had a stock of goods with him. Stocks of goods are nowa- days quite a feature everywhere in Arizona." ("Tucson Citizen," July 7th, 1871.)
Mr. Smith continued in business until the latter part of the following year, when he sold out his stock, the major portion of which was purchased by the firm of Barnett & Block.
The next store established after that of Mr. Smith was by James Murphy and John T. Dennis, who had formed a business partnership in the early part of 1871 and erected a building and opened a store on East Washington Street.
The next business house established on the Phoenix Townsite was that of William Bichard & Company, whose business activities along the Gila have been heretofore noted. Soon after the destruction of their mill at Phoenix the firm opened a store and flour depot in the town, in the small adobe building which they had pur- chased from Johnny George. About this time they also opened a flour depot at Prescott under the management of Thomas Cordis, and, later, under the management of C. S. Adams, who, while on his way to Wickenburg, became one of the victims of the Wickenburg Massacre.
The Bichards conducted their Phoenix en- terprises until the early part of June, 1872,
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when they sold the contents of the store to the firm of A. Collas & Co., who continued the business until October of that same year, when they sold the stock back again to the Bichard Company. The Bichard Brothers, William and Nicholas, came West from Boston, Massachu- setts, and settled at an early day on the Gila. They were popular throughout Arizona, and did much for this portion of the Territory by furnishing its citizens with good and cheap flour. When hard times visited the Salt River Valley in the middle seventies, and trade be- came dull, Bichard & Co. closed out their busi- ness here, and the Washington Street build- ing, which they had occupied, remained vacant for many years, the rendezvous of freighters and transient travellers of every description. Grad- ually the adobe walls became weather beaten and dilapidated, and finally the roof caved in. William Bichard, the head of the firm, passed away, and his brother as administrator of his estate, endeavored to sell his Phoenix interests without success, money being scarce and town property a drug on the market. After settling his brother's estate as best he could, the younger member of the firm removed to San Francisco, California, where other members of the family then resided. Finally George Loring, without notifying the owners, took over the old building, repaired it, and opened his small store. Soon after his occupancy of the premises began, realty values in the town commenced to move upwards, and Loring communicated with the Bichards at San Francisco, making them a small offer for their entire holdings in Phoenix,
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which included the Washington Street lot; what was later called the Commercial Corral Block, and a couple of lots on Jefferson Street, just west of Center. The Bichards, anxious to get rid of the property, and not knowing that it was of any special value, accepted the offer, and Loring came into possession of the valuable holdings for a mere song. Later, meeting with business reverses, he borrowed money from his mother, giving these properties as security and they eventually passed out of his hands. In the late seventies, Loring's store became a sort of commercial center for the town, and contained the postoffice, Wells Fargo & Company's Ex- press, and, at its front entrance were deposited all stage passengers coming into the town of Phoenix.
By the end of the year 1871, the little village of Phoenix was well established. During the year 1872, however, really encouraging business activity became evident in the community. Many buildings were erected, and many new enterprises started giving to the townsite, for the first time, the aspect of permanency. Dur- ing the spring of 1872 many shade trees, mostly quick growing cottonwoods, were set out along the streets, and although some of these died, enough still remained to give the town a green and cheerful appearance. Water ditches, or small acequias, ran along each side of the prin- cipal streets to supply the necessary moisture, and as the years passed these trees, umbrageous by nature, grew to an immense size, giving a dense and welcome shade to pedestrians passing VI-12
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along the city streets. Their large and spread- ing roots, however, caused much damage to the sidewalks which were later constructed, as well as to the ditches alongside, and one by one they gave way before the march of progress until now but few of the old giants remain. It is said that James D. Monihon planted the first cottonwood trees upon the townsite on the 17th day of Jan- uary, 1871. Verifying the extensive tree plant- ing about this time, the following item appeared in the "Miner" of March 2nd, 1872:
"Phoenix is improving rapidly. Adobes are being made in all directions, and every person who owns a lot is planting trees around it, so that, if nothing happens, this will be a cotton- wood city in a couple of years."
Speaking of Phoenix, the county seat of Mari- copa County, a prophetic correspondent of the San Diego Union thus wrote his paper :
"Phoenix, A. T., March 5th, 1872.
"This is a smart town which had its first house completed about a year ago. Now it con- tains many houses; also stores, workshops, hotels, butcher shop, bakery, courthouse, jail, and an excellent school, which has been in opera- tion four months.
"Lately hundreds of ornamental trees have been set out, which, in a few years, will give the town the appearance of a 'forest city' and will add to its beauty and comfort. When it has become the capital of the Territory, which it will, undoubtedly, at no very distant day, and when the 'iron horse' steams through our coun- try on the Texas Pacific road, Salt River will
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be the garden of the Pacific slope, and Phoenix the most important inland town. The Indian is now a nuisance, and the Sonoranian a decided annoyance, but both of these are sure to dis- appear before civilization, 'as snow before the noonday sun.' "
The following brief review of business condi- tions in Phoenix and vicinity in the month of April, 1872, is found in the "Tucson Citizen": "But now let us take the improvements made within a year and less. A little over a year ago the town of Phoenix was projected. Now it contains four stores owned by Menassee & Co., Dennis & Murphy, Bichard & Co., and William M. Smith. Two saloons by John Roach and Cromwell A. Carpenter; a good hotel by John J. Gardiner, a brewery by Matt Cavaness, a bakery by Julius Bauerlein, two blacksmith and wagon shops, one by Ware & Ford, and the other by Frank Cosgrove, two carpenter shops, one by L. C. Kendall and another by Richard E. Pear- son. The professions are represented by Ed- ward Irvine and Captain Wm. A. Hancock, lawyers, the Rev. Franklin Mckean, of the Methodist persuasion, attends to the spiritual wants of the people. No physician has yet set- tled in the valley. The purity of the atmos- phere seems to prevent all malarial diseases, yet so large and growing a population requires medical services and, doubtless, a good prac- titioner would, at once, find encouragement here. Two free public schools are in operation, and the spirit, so far manifested, seems to assure their regular maintenance.
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"Improvements are now going on about as follows: W. D. Fruiter is erecting a business house; Barnett & Block a store and warehouse; Columbus H. Gray a two story building intended for a store below and a Masonic Hall above; George Bertran a dancing and concert hall; James D. Monihon and Jacob Starar a livery stable; S. M. French, M. H. Hamilton, Jesus Otero and Tom C. Hays, are each putting up dwellings, and several others are constructing buildings."
The building of Jesus Otero, an adobe struc- ture, stood on the northeast corner of Washing- ton Street and First Avenue, where the Fleming Block stands to-day.
On Friday, October 25th, 1872, the following was written from Phoenix :
"Times are not quite as lively as they were some time ago, yet Salt River Valley is improv- ing-the town of Phoenix is growing-and the people pursuing business and pleasure. In all parts of the valley new ditches are being made, old ones being repaired, and sowing has com- menced. In the town, building is being pushed forward rapidly, and improvement is the order of the day."
The management of the Village of Phoenix under three commissioners selected from the members of the Salt River Valley Association, continued for several years. Most of the time of the first officials was taken up in having the townsite surveyed and conducting the first pub- lic sales of lots. During part of the year 1871, and in 1872 and 1873, the commissioners were
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Martin P. Griffin, Chairman, John T. Alsap, and Captain William A. Hancock, who acted as Secretary. After the receipt of the Phoenix townsite patent, it became the duty of Probate Judge Alsap to devise ways and means for de- termining the ownership of the various lots which had been sold from time to time by the Town Commission since its organization in the latter part of 1870. To accomplish this result Judge Alsap, on May 30th, 1874, appointed a commission consisting of John P. Osborn, John B. Montgomery and Martin P. Griffin, which was to determine the ownership of, and place a valuation on, the different town lots. His order appointing the commission was as follows :
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