A black and white postcard of Naco Hotel. The front caption at the bottom reads: "Hotel Naco on the Mexican Border Steam Heat and Cafe, Ideal Climate, Naco Arizona." The upper right corner is dog eared. The postcard is unused and was published by Artvue Postcards, 225 Ave. New York City. Fred McKinney Collection.

Naco, Arizona was formed in 1898 after the Copper Queen Mining Company bought out copper claims near Nacozari from Guggenheim. They laid out a hundred miles of train rail to bring the ore to the United States for processing. In 1901, an extension of the Phelps Dodge Mercantile was built to supply the new town. In that same year, a well was dug in Naco and piped to Bisbee residents eliminated the burro delivery system that existed before. Three years later the system was expanded and bought by the Bisbee Naco Water Company that helped end Bisbee’s typhoid epidemics. When prohibition was enacted, Bisbee residents who wanted a legal drink in Mexico headed towards Naco. One of the more notable events was the accidental bombing of the American side during General Jose Gonzalo Escobar’s rebellion. Patrick Murphy, a crop duster, was hired by rebels to drop small bombs on the Sonoran side of Naco. Many of them missed their targets and detonated in the United States, injuring American citizens and causing property damage. A Mexican officer left his car on the northern side of the border with the hope of keeping it safe, only for one of Murphy’s stray bombs to obliterate the vehicle. It came to be known as the Naco incident and marked the first time America had been bombed by a foreign entity. In the aftermath, Buffalo soldiers were brought it from Fort Huachuca to prevent violence from spilling over the border.

1972.59.16