A black and white photo postcard looking up at Opera Drive from Brewery Gulch, 1910. The front caption on the top right reads: “Opera Drive and Brewery Gulch, Bisbee, Arizona.” The houses are built practically on top of one another. There are lots of rock walls, some loose rocks, and some with mortar. The postcard is unused and was published by Central Pharmacy Bisbee, Arizona. Al Ring Collection.

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.

1995.1.16