A black and white photo postcard of Bisbee. The Loretto Academy is visible on the right side. The photo is titled: "Continental Divide and Residential District." The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Barbara Lockard Collection.

The Loretto School or the Loretto Academy opened in October of 1907. They were finishing up construction on their schoolhouse while accepting students on October 3rd. The lodging part for the boarding students had not yet been completed. When they first opened, they expected anywhere in the range of 150 to 200 pupils to attend. It was named Loretto for the Loretto nuns who ran it. William Brophy and his wife Ellen Brophy donated to the nuns; their contributions helped to build a school in Douglas. The Loretto School was transferred over to St Patrick Catholic church and was renamed the Saint Patrick’s Parish School. The Sisters of Loretto left Bisbee in 1948. - 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.

2002.22.4