A black and white postcard of downtown Bisbee. Central School, YMCA, the smelter stacks, Jakob Schmid Building, the Copper Queen store, and the Copper Queen warehouse are all visible in the picture. The front caption on the top left reads: “BISBEE, Arizona, looking East.” The postcard was postmarked October 6, 19?? 4:30 PM and was sent to Mr. C A Ramquist National Mine Marquette Co. Michigan. The message on the back is in ink, was written in Dutch and needs to be translated. The postcard was sent with a green one cent George Washington stamp. Carl Ramquist Collection.

Bisbee’s downtown district was the economic heart of the city. Multiple shops, hotels, restaurants, churches, library and post office provided rural Bisbee with a metropolitan lifestyle as comfortable as any bustling city back east. The most prominent among the buildings constructed were the Phelps Dodge offices for the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, the Phelps Dodge Mercantile, Copper Queen Hotel, the Copper Queen Hospital the YMCA, the YWCA, Presbyterian Church, Central School and the Bisbee High School. Of the buildings lost to time, the original Williams Douglas House, The Bessemer Hotel and the Orpheum Theater were among those demolished. The area survived devastating fires and monsoon floods that tore the district apart in the early decades, testing the mettle of its residents. As the copper ore had yet to give out, they still had the resources and determination to rebuild the town. Whereas countless other Arizonan boom town went bust and vanished into ghost towns, Bisbee remains as the nature of copper mining allowed it to do so. Visitors from all over the nation can come and appreciate Bisbee’s role in providing the metal that formed the backbone of our modern era. - In 1883, the Copper Queen Mining Company built Bisbee’s first school, a one room adobe building. As the population grew so did the need for more schools. The city first considered using the former cemetery for a new location, but determined that the area was too small and decided to demolish the older school to make way for a new modernized school house. The Central School was built in 1905 adjacent to the YMCA and was designed by the architect Franklin C. Hurst in the Italianate style. S.W. Clawson served as the city’s superintendent overseeing the schools construction. As part of the Central Schools plans, it was also intended that the building also be used for City Hall and fire departments functions. Charles F. Philbrook , another superintendent of Bisbee’s schools, served as Central School’s first principal. The school received a playground in 1906 that was installed in front yard. Today, the building houses the Central School Art Project. The Central School Art Project began in 1982, formed by a tenants association of artists. In 1985, they were incorporated and received their 501 IRS status in 1986. The former school was purchased from the school district in 1994 and the Central School Project made renovations on the building. It remains a home for the art community in Bisbee.

1983.18.22