A black and white photo postcard circa 1920s featuring a view of Tombstone Canyon. The front caption reads: “Tombstone Canyon from Quality Hill, Bisbee, Ariz.” St Patrick’s Church, the Loretto Academy and the Horace Mann School can all be seen, but not the Courthouse. The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Ena Cain Donahue 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.

1991.20.3