A black and white photo postcard showing the area of Bisbee from behind the courthouse looking down on Tombstone Canyon, circa 1940. The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Al Ring Collection.

The county seat of Cochise County was moved from Tombstone to Bisbee in 1929 necessitating the construction of a new courthouse on Quality Hill. The land was donated by the Phelps Dodge Corporation and Tucson architect Roy Place was hired. The construction was temporarily hindered by a strike of 30 workers on January 9, 1931. The design is an example of art deco architecture with white walls hinting at adobe buildings. Both the exterior and interior feature art deco art that was added as part of the WPA Federal Art Project. The interior was furnished by the Phelps Dodge Mercantile company. A small dedication ceremony was held on Friday, October 16, 1931 and was attended by a number of attorneys and judges. In 1935, the copper coated Iron Man statue sculpted by Raymond Phillips Sanderson was unveiled in front of the courthouse. - The Horace Mann school was built in Tombstone Canyon on Quality near where the Cochise Court House would be built in the following years. The other was the Bancroft Junior High School. The contractor was J.W. Tucker who won the contract in July 1917 and the school was designed by the architectural firm Trost & Trost and designed in the neoclassical revival style. The school cost $58,000 (1,138,000 in 2022) and had only six months to be built Construction finished in 1918. It students competed against Bancroft’s in track meets held at Vista Park in Warren. The Alumni association also held dances on the roof of the Horace Mann school. The building today serves the community as the Cochise County Aging Agency.

1995.1.6