A black and white photo postcard of the Phelps Dodge Mercantile building site, after fire, prior to construction of second mercantile in 1938. The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Marion de Booy Wentzien Collection.

The Copper Queen Mercantile, later the Phelps Dodge Mercantile, was one of the main businesses in Bisbee. Their locations expanded to Lowell, Warren, and Douglas. The Mercantile functioned as the Super Wal-Mart of its day. Anything the miners or their families needed could be found here fruit, vegetables, dry goods, clothing, furniture, children’s toys and hardware. If their was a need, the Mercantile could usually supply it. The employees at the Copper Queen Mine could have credit extended to them at the store. This service had no extra fees or interest attached. The Mercantile began in 1886 after the Copper Queen purchased a small business from Mary Crossey. The first manager was William H. Brophy who formerly worked as the clerk for Mrs. Crossey, his employment at the Mercantile was from 1886 until 1918 when W.A. Mayer took over the position. In 1904 the mercantile was renovated and in 1909 the adjacent fireproof warehouse was built along the rail line to manage incoming merchandise. Starting January 1st, 1912 ownership and management of the Mercantile transferred from the Copper Queen to the Phelps Dodge Corporation. The first mercantile suffered a terrible fire on the night of September 23rd, 1938 that destroyed much of the merchandise and damaged the building. During the construction of the second Mercantile, Phelps Dodge temporarily ran the grocery store out of the mercantile warehouse and another location for the other merchandise was opened on main street next to the Texaco store. The new mercantile was built by Del Webb in the Streamline Moderne style that was popular in the era and built to be as fireproof as possible with concrete and steel. Webb later built several buildings in Fort Huachuca during World War II and developed the retirement community Sun Cities. The Phelps Dodge sold wholesale to other businesses in town and kept their prices competitive. The Wholesale Grocery Division operated at the back of the Mercantile until the 1956 when it moved to Bakersville near Warren. In the same year the old Phelps Dodge Warehouse was torn down in 1956 to make space for a parking lot. The second Phelps Dodge Mercantile closed in June 1976 after mining operations ended in Bisbee. The building immediately afterwards was renovated into a convention center. In 1980, the former mercantile was purchased by the Industrial Development Authority to transform the building into a convention center. The Industrial Development Authority green lit the sale of the Mercantile to the Collier - Craft Development Company in late August 1984. The selling price was $750,000. The budget for the hotel’s development was $4.5 Million from the Cochise County Industrial Development Authority. The plans included 6o rooms in a three-story building and at the exact height of the original building. The hotel was planned to be in the same style as the mercantile, Streamline Modern, and for the Mercantile to serve as the lobby. The hotel has yet to be built due to zoning regulations and the proposed area remains a parking lot. The former mercantile building today houses a number of businesses including, the Bisbee Coffee Company, Mel’s Bisbee Bodega, the Table, and Bisbee’s Books and Music. - Bisbee’s downtown district was the economic heart of the city. Multiple shops, hotels, restaurants, churches, library and post office provided rural Bisbee with a metropolitan lifestyle as comfortable as any bustling city back east. Most prominent among the buildings constructed were the Phelps Dodge offices for the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, the Phelps Dodge Mercantile, Copper Queen Hotel, the YMCA, the YWCA, Presbyterian Church, Central School and the Bisbee High School. Of the buildings lost to time, the original Williams Douglas House, The Bessemer Hotel and the Orpheum Theater were among those demolished. The area survived devastating fires and monsoon floods that tore the district apart in the early decades, testing the mettle of its residents. As the copper ore had yet to give out, they still had the resources and determination to rebuild the town. Whereas countless other Arizonan boom town went bust and vanished into ghost towns, Bisbee remains as the nature of copper mining allowed it to do so. Visitors from all over the nation can come and appreciate Bisbee’s role in providing the metal that formed the backbone of our modern era.

2002.18.1