A black and white postcard of the Erie Street in Lowell, circa 1930s. There are several businesses with signs visible. On the left is the Pay & Tote, the Rexall Drug store, as well as saloons and cafes. On the right is the Phelps Dodge Mercantile building. Art Blum Collection.

Lowell, Arizona was established in 1902 and it developed adjacently to Bisbee. The town had its own bank, hotels, and mercantile along with a number of other businesses including a barber, gas station, and pharmacy. Small subdivisions sprang up around Lowell, including Saginaw and Jiggerville. Erie Street, or Main Street, formed as a business center near the Lowell, Denn, and Hoatson Mines. In 1904, the Lowell townsite entered it’s planning phase. Two years later, the Chief Engineer for the Copper Queen mine began preparing 90 lots for housing, also in 1906 they formed garbage and fire protection services. On March 12, 1908, the Warren-Bisbee Railway began operation providing convenient transportation between the different communities along its 8-mile track. In 1910, half of the population of Bisbee lived in Lowell and Warren and in 1915, 5,000 people called Lowell home. By 1920, the population had gone up to 6,000 people. The boarding houses were being replaced by family homes. Churches and schools were built, along with Lowell’s first movie theater. The Lowell School was built in 1931 and featured a full auditorium. When Highway 80 was moved to accommodate the Lavender Pit’s expansion, Lowell was left stagnate and the subdivisions of Upper Lowell, Jiggerville, and the Johnson Addition were obliterated. As a result of the expansion of mining operations, 250 homes and 20 businesses had to be moved . The deal Phelps Dodge offered to the residents of Lowell would be to either receive the market value for their homes, which were then demolished, or that the company would pay to move their houses elsewhere. Outside of Erie Street, The Lowell Middle School, Evergreen Cemetery, and the Saginaw subdivision are the last remnants of Lowell. In 1959, Lowell, Warren and San Jose were all annexed into the Bisbee. Today, one of the main businesses that occupy Lowell is the popular restaurant, the Bisbee Breakfast Club which operates in the former Rexall Drug Building. Another notable Lowell business was the Bisbee Co-Op which served the community for 39 years. Erie street has been restored by the Lowell Americana Project which presents a 1950’s era view of what the area once looked like.

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