Tombstone, Arizona
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| City of Tombstone, Arizona | |
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona |
| County | Cochise |
| Founded | 1879 |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Don Aiton |
| Area | |
| - Total | 4.3 sq mi (11.1 km²) |
| - Land | 4.3 sq mi (11.1 km²) |
| - Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km²) |
| Elevation | 4,541 ft (1,384 m) |
| Population (2006)[1] | |
| - Total | 1,569 |
| - Density | 364.9/sq mi (141.4/km²) |
| Time zone | MST (no DST) (UTC-7) |
| ZIP code | 85638 |
| Area code(s) | 520 |
| FIPS code | 04-74400 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0012590 |
| Website: http://www.cityoftombstone.com/ | |
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then the Arizona Territory. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 1,569,[1] a decline from its early years.
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[edit] History
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In the summer of 1877 prospector Ed Schieffelin was working the hills east of the San Pedro River in the southeast portion of the Arizona Territory, when he came across a vein of very rich silver ore in a high plateau called Goose Flats. When Schieffelin filed his mining claim he named it "The Tombstone", after a warning given him by a passing soldier. While telling the soldier about his rock collecting experiences, the soldier told him that the only rock he was likely to collect among the waterless hills and warring Apaches of the area would be his own tombstone.
The town of Tombstone was founded in 1879, taking its name from the mining claim, and soon became a boomtown. Fueled by mineral wealth, Tombstone was a city of 1000 by the beginning of 1881, and within another year Tombstone had become the seat of a new county (Cochise County) with a population between 5,000 and 15,000, and services including refrigeration (with ice cream and later even ice skating), running water, telegraph and limited telephone service. Capitalists and businessmen moved in from the Eastern U.S. Mining was carried out by immigrants from Cornwall and Europe. An extensive service industry (laundry, construction, restaurants, fine hotels, etc.) was provided by Chinese and other immigrants.
Without railroad access the increasingly sophisticated Tombstone was relatively isolated, deep in a Federal territory that was largely unpopulated desert and wilderness. Tombstone and its surrounding countryside also became known as one of the deadliest regions in the West. Uncivilized "southern" gangs from the surrounding countryside, known as "cow-boys", were at odds with the "northern" capitalists and immigrant miners who ran the city and mines. On October 26, 1881 this situation famously exploded in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, leading to a continued family and political feud that resulted in multiple deaths.
During its heyday, Tombstone had an average of 20 violent deaths per week. This figure, which is equivalent to approximately 10,000 deaths per annum per 100,000, is probably the highest murder rate ever attained in a modern city not afflicted by war, famine, or other disaster.
Tombstone was at one time the largest city between San Francisco and Saint Louis, Missouri. Speculation was common that Tombstone would become a powerful metropolis.
Since Tombstone was in the desert, a company built a huge pipeline to supply the town with water. No sooner was this pipeline built than Tombstone's silver mines struck water.
As a result of relative lack of water and quick wooden construction, Tombstone experienced major fires in June 1881 and May 1882. The second fire was particularly destructive and signaled the end of the classic old boomtown mining city. After the mid-1880s, when the silver mines had been tapped out, the main pump failed, causing many mines to be flooded with deep groundwater, and Tombstone declined rapidly. The U.S. census found it had fewer than 1900 residents in 1890, and fewer than 700 residents in 1900.
[edit] Tourism
The 1900 census was a minimum, however, and Tombstone was saved from becoming a ghost town after the decline of silver mining, partly by its status as the Cochise County seat. Even the county seat was later moved by popular vote to nearby Bisbee in 1929. However, the classic Cochise County Courthouse and adjacent gallows yard in Tombstone is preserved as a museum.
Tombstone is home to perhaps the most famous graveyard of the Old West, Boot Hill. Buried at the site are various victims of violence and disease in Tombstone's early years, including those from the O.K. Corral. Boot Hill (also known as the old city cemetery) was also the destination for bad-men and those lynched or legally hanged in Tombstone. Admission to this historic site is free and donations are accepted.
The lot in which the historic gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred in 1881 is also preserved, but this has been walled off, and admission is charged. However, since much of this streetfight occurred in Tombstone's Fremont Street (modern Highway 80), much of this site is also viewable without admission charge.
According to Guinness, the world's largest rosebush was planted in Tombstone in 1885 and still flourishes today in the city's sunny climate. This Lady Banksia rose now covers 8,000 square feet (740 m²) of the roof on an inn, and has a 12-foot (3.7 m) circumference trunk. [1]
Currently, tourism and western memorabilia are the main commercial enterprises; a July 2005 CNN article notes that Tombstone receives approximately 450,000 tourist visitors each year. This is about 300 tourists/year for each permanent resident. In contrast to its heyday, when it featured saloons open 24 hours and numerous houses of prostitution, Tombstone is now a staid community with few businesses open late.
[edit] Historic District
The Tombstone Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District. The town's focus on tourism has threatened the town's designation as a National Historic Landmark District, a designation it earned in 1961 as "one of the best preserved specimens of the rugged frontier town of the 1870s and '80s." In 2004, the National Park Service (NPS) declared the designation threatened, seeking to work with the community to develop an appropriate stewardship program. The inappropriate alterations to the district cited by the NPS include:
- Placing "historic" dates on new buildings
- Failing to distinguish new construction from historic structures
- Covering authentic historic elevations with inappropriate materials
- Replacing historic features instead of repairing them
- Replacing missing historic features with conjectural and unsubstantiated materials
- Building incompatible additions to existing historic structures and new incompatible buildings within the historic district
- Using illuminated signage, including blinking lights surrounding historic signs
- Installing hitching rails and Spanish tile-covered store porches when such architectural features never existed within Tombstone
[edit] Geography
Tombstone is located at (31.715940, -110.064827)[2].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.3 square miles (11.1 km²), all land.
[edit] Demographics
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1880 | 973 |
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| 1890 | 1,875 | 92.7% | |
| 1900 | 646 | -65.5% | |
| 1910 | 1,582 | 144.9% | |
| 1920 | 1,178 | -25.5% | |
| 1930 | 849 | -27.9% | |
| 1940 | 822 | -3.2% | |
| 1950 | 910 | 10.7% | |
| 1960 | 1,283 | 41.0% | |
| 1970 | 1,241 | -3.3% | |
| 1980 | 1,632 | 31.5% | |
| 1990 | 1,220 | -25.2% | |
| 2000 | 1,504 | 23.3% | |
As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 1,504 people, 694 households, and 419 families residing in the city. The population density was 349.8 per square mile (135.0/km²). There were 839 housing units at an average density of 195.1 per square mile (75.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.37% White, 0.60% Black or African American, 1.00% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 8.18% from other races, and 2.53% from two or more races. 24.14% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 694 households out of which 20.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.6% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.5% were non-families. 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.73.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.3% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 19.9% from 25 to 44, 32.5% from 45 to 64, and 23.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,571, and the median income for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $26,923 versus $18,846 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,447. About 13.0% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under age 18 and 13.1% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Tombstone in popular culture
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- In the 1966 Doctor Who episode The Gunfighters the TARDIS arrives on the day of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
- In the Star Trek episode Spectre of the Gun an alien race, the Melkotians, imprison various crew members in an illusion that is Tombstone, Arizona, on the day of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
- Tombstone has lent its name to many Western movies over the years, including but not limited to Sheriff of Tombstone (1941), Bad Men of Tombstone (1949), Toughest Gun in Tombstone (1958), Five Guns to Tombstone (1960), and Tombstone (1993).
- Tombstone frozen pizza uses a desert scene and cactus in its logo that are obviously intended to remind the buyer of the southwestern desert, and by extension the town of Tombstone.
- The Brazilian countrycore quartet Matanza have a song named Tombstone City.
- Singer/songwriter Carl Perkins wrote a song titled "The Ballad Of Boot Hill", which focused on Billy Clanton's role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It was recorded by Johnny Cash for his 1965 Columbia Records album Sings the Ballads of the True West.
- Annual Cultural Reenactment Helldorado is Tombstone's oldest festival celebrating its rip-roaring days of the 1880s. Started in 1929, the festival is now sponsored by Helldorado, Inc. whose membership is composed of residents in Cochise County.
- Tombstone's Main Event: A Tragedy At The OK Corral (2007), a stageplay by Stephen Keith presents the cowboys' perspective of the events leading up to the shootout and is presented inside the actual OK Corral.
Helldorado is held on the third weekend of every October (loosely corresponding to the date of the O.K. Corral gunfight) and consists of gunfight reenactment shows, street entertainment, fashion shows and a family-oriented carnival.[2]
TOMBSTONE Arizona is a sim in the popular game of secondlife. The buildings in the sim are based on the actual builds. The town is set in 1898 and is roleplay for that era.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Annual Estimates of the Population for All Incorporated Places in Arizona (CSV). 2005 Population Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division (June 21, 2006). Retrieved on November 15, 2006.
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
[edit] External links
- Official website, City of Tombstone
- Official Tombstone Chamber of Commerce website
- Tombstone Historic District from a National Park Service website
- Tombstone Arizona Directory
- Tombstone Arizona History
- Library of Congress links
- Tombstone photo gallery from Western Mining History
- Tombstone, Arizona is at coordinates Coordinates:
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