Bisbee Residential Historic District
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Bisbee Residential Historic District | |
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| Location | Bisbee, Arizona |
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| Coordinates | 31°26′38″N 109°55′26″W / 31.44389°N 109.92389°W |
| NRHP reference No. | 10000233[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 2010 |
The Bisbee Residential Historic District is distinct from the Bisbee Historic District, and is located north and west of that district. It developed in the late 1880s and early 1900s, to support the booming mining industry. While it has some multi-family dwellings, commercial buildings, and a school, it is primarily composed of single family houses. It also has an extensive system of pedestrian walkways and stairways. Bisbee does not follow a grid pattern, rather its streets wind following the contour of the canyon and gulches. Developed prior to automobiles, it has narrow roads which are steep, and still remains a pedestrian-oriented town. It consists of over 500 contributing buildings and structures.[2]
Development of the town
Bisbee's development, like many western mining towns, was heavily influenced by local mining operations. The genesis of the town was the prospectors' camp, which was located near the entrance to the Copper Queen Mine and its adjacent smelter, to the west of the convergence of the Mule and Brewery Gulches. As the town expanded, it followed the natural topography of the area, following the natural drainage basins of the two canyons. The trail which followed Mule Gulch was called Tombstone Canyon Road, since that is where the trail headed. Tombstone was the initial seat of Cochise County, and the nearest neighbor to Bisbee at that time. That portion of the Tombstone Canyon Road directly west of its intersection with Brewery Gulch, came to be known as Main Street, and became the community's commercial street. It consisted mostly of two-story wooden buildings with arcades on the first floor and balconies on the second. There were several disastrous fires in the 1890s, after which the area was rebuilt with brick buildings, which gave it the appearance it continues to have to this day. A second commercial district, along the street named after the canyon, Brewery Gulch, containing restaurants, breweries, and Bisbee's first stock exchange. By the 1890s it had developed into the town's redlight district, with saloons, brothels, opium dens, and gambling houses. By the turn of the century the area contained a company hospital, company store, a company-built library, and the Copper Queen Hotel, built by and for the company in 1902.[3]
The area had become an unpleasant, smoky area due to the heavy industrial activity, especially the smelter. When the smelting activity was relocated to Douglas, Arizona, only the commercial and residential aspects of the city remained.[4]
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form". National Park Service. September 1, 2010. p. 2. Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
- ^ National Park Service 1980, page 4.
- ^ National Park Service 1980, page 5.