A color postcard of Bisbee looking east. Tombstone Canyon and Oak Avenue are visible in the image. The front caption reads: “Bisbee, Arizona”. The back caption reads: “Residential area as seen from the new Skyline Highway 80 Bypass” The postcard is unused and was published by Petley Studios, Phoenix, Arizona. June Schuab Collection.

Tombstone Canyon housing lots began being offered for sale in March 1898, beginning a building boom in upper Bisbee. Among the new buildings was a cement-based house belonging to C.A. Overlock. The road overseer Hughes began managing the work on the road development in July 1898 in the Canyon. Among the business operating there at the time was the Pioneer Soda Works office owned by T. Metz who offered soda water, sarsaparilla and ginger ale among other products. The first school built in the canyon was a two-room building the Tombstone Canyon School which was later renamed the Lincoln School. Tombstone Canyon in time boasted a number of Bisbee institutions including the Cochise County Courthouse, the Horace Mann School, Saint Patrick’s Church and the Loretto Academy. Further up the canyon in 1914, a fire station was built for Company No. 2. and in the early years they drilled and fought fires with a horse drawn tank until April 1917 when their equipment was upgraded with motorized firetrucks. Contestants in the annual Fourth of July Coaster Race begin at the top of Tombstone Canyon and make their way down Main Street.

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