A black and white postcard featuring a view looking north to School Hill. Note the churches in the image. The back caption reads: “Bisbee, Ariz.” The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Gene Bendixon Collection.

The Methodist group in Bisbee formed in 1888, like many at the time they held their religious meetings in the Copper Queen Library. David Roberts was appointed as the first pastor in 1889. On February 14, 1900 they signed their articles of incorporation and a lot for the church building was bought by Roberts and given to the churches board of trustees. After raising $700 (about $23,000 n 2021) for construction, the Methodist Church was built on School Hill in 1902. Many parishioners, including David Roberts, worked on the project with their own hands. The church’s steeple was shortened in 1921 by a powerful windstorm. In 1923 after many people had moved from Bisbee to the surrounding areas, The Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church was built in Warren at the corner of Arizona and Hoatson Street. - Bisbee’s first residences were simple miners shacks assembled from the trees in the surrounding area. They sprang up around potential mining claims. As investment from the east poured in after viable ore bodies were found, the copper camp’s population rose dramatically leading to overcrowded wooden residences. These dwellings were vulnerable to flood and fire, especially those build lower in the canyon. The great October Fire of 1908 demolished most of these structures along Main Street in Bisbee. In the aftermath, many structures were rebuilt of brick and concrete. Many of Bisbee’s homes and boarding houses were built with porches that decades later were remodeled into sun rooms or mud rooms. After Phelps Dodge ended copper mining in Bisbee the population collapsed and houses went for cheap bringing in artists, hippies, and real estate speculators that permanently altered culture of the town. Today, many of the houses and other buildings in old Bisbee have been transformed into rentals, apartments, or otherwise including the former YMCA and more recently the Bisbee High School.

1990.46.3