A black and white photo postcard of Madero Avenue in Naco, looking north toward Naco, Arizona. The front caption reads: “Av. Madero. Naco Son. Mex. (Madero Avenue)” The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Lupe Arreola Collection.

Naco, Arizona was created in 1898 after the Copper Queen bought out copper mining claims near Nacozari from Guggenheim and laid out a hundred miles of train rail to bring the ore to the United States for processing. In 1901, an extension of the Phelps Dodge Mercantile was built supplying the town. In that same year a well was dug in Naco and piped to Bisbee residents eliminated the burro delivery system that existed before. Three years later the system was expanded and bought by the Bisbee Naco Water Company that helped end Bisbee’s typhoid epidemics. When prohibition was enacted, Bisbee residents who wanted a legal drink in Mexico headed towards Naco. One of the more notable events was the accidental bombing of American side during General Jose Gonzalo Escobar’s rebellion. Patrick Murphy, a crop duster, was hired by rebels to drop small bombs on the Sonoran side of Naco. Many of them missed their targets and detonated in the United States, injuring American citizens and causing property damage. A Mexican officer left his car on the northern part of the border with the hope of keeping it safe, only for one of Murphy’s stray bombs to obliterate the vehicle. It came to be known as the Naco incident and marked the first time America had been bombed by a foreign entity. Buffalo soldiers were brought it from Fort Huachuca to prevent any further violence from spilling over the border.

1996.22.5