Tombstone, Arizona

The town was established on Goose Flats, a mesa above the Goodenough Mine. Within two years of its founding, although far distant from any other metropolitan area, Tombstone had a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice-cream parlor, alongside 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and numerous dance halls and brothels. All of these businesses were situated among and atop many silver mines. The gentlemen and ladies of Tombstone attended operas presented by visiting acting troupes at the Schieffelin Hall opera house, while the miners and cowboys saw shows at the Bird Cage Theatre and brothel.

Under the surface were tensions that grew into deadly conflict. The mining capitalists and the townspeople were largely Republicans from the Northern states. Many of the ranchers (some of whom—like the Clantons—were also rustlers or other criminal varieties) were Confederate sympathizers and Democrats. The booming city was only {{convert|30|mi}} from the U.S.–Mexico border and was an open market for cattle stolen from ranches in Sonora, Mexico, by a loosely organized band of outlaws known as The Cowboys. The Earp brothers—Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan—as well as Doc Holliday, arrived in December 1879 and mid-1880. The Earps had ongoing conflicts with Cowboys Ike and Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, and Billy Claiborne. The Cowboys repeatedly threatened the Earps over many months until the conflict escalated into a shootout on October 26, 1881. The historic gunfight is often portrayed as occurring at the O.K. Corral, though it actually occurred a short distance away in an empty lot on Fremont Street.

In the mid-1880s, the silver mines penetrated the water table and the mining companies made significant investments in specialized pumps. A fire in 1886 destroyed the Grand Central hoist and the pumping plant, and it was deemed unprofitable to rebuild the costly pumps. The city nearly became a ghost town, saved only because it was the Cochise County seat until 1929. The city's population dwindled to a low of 646 in 1910, but grew to 1,380 by 2010.{{cite web| url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/1600000US0474400| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212180650/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/1600000US0474400| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 12, 2020| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Tombstone city, Arizona| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=June 12, 2014}} Tombstone has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzk9g9TuMNYC&pg=PA15 | title=A Place Called Peculiar: Stories about Unusual American Place-Names | publisher=Courier Dover Publications | author=Gallant, Frank K. | year=2012 | pages=15| isbn=978-0486483603 }}

File:Tombstone (probably in 1881).jpg]]

File:Ed Schieffelin in Tombstone year 1880.jpg

For over 2,000 years, the Hohokam culture lived in southern Arizona, including what is now Tombstone.{{cite web |title=Buckeye Area History |url=http://buckeyevalley.arizonadar.org/history.html |publisher=The Buckeye Valley Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) |access-date=November 27, 2023}}

Ed Schieffelin was briefly a scout for the U. S. Army headquartered at Camp Huachuca. Schieffelin frequently searched the wilderness looking for valuable ore samples. At the Santa Rita mines in nearby Santa Cruz Valley, three superintendents had been killed by Native Americans. When friend and fellow Army Scout Al Sieber learned what Schieffelin was up to, he is quoted as telling him, "The only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone",{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/americanwest0000unse | url-access=registration |title= The American West: the Pictorial Epic of a Continent | year=1955 | publisher=Dutton |first1=Lucius Morris |last1=Beebe |first2=Charles |last2=Clegg}} or, according to an earlier version of the story, "Better take your coffin with you; you will find your tombstone there, and nothing else."{{cite journal | title =Across Arizona |journal= Harper's New Monthly Magazine|date=March 1883 |number=364 |volume = 66}}{{cite book| last=Bishop| first=William Henry| title=Mexico, California and Arizona| year=1900| publisher=Harper and Brothers| location=New York and London| page=[https://archive.org/details/mexico.californi00bishrich/page/486 486]| access-date=January 12, 2025| url=https://archive.org/details/mexico.californi00bishrich}}

In 1877, Schieffelin used Brunckow's Cabin as a base of operations to survey the country. After many months, while working the hills east of the San Pedro River, he found pieces of silver ore in a dry wash on a high plateau called Goose Flats.{{cite web| title=Silver in the Tombstone Hills| url=http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/TStone.html| access-date=May 3, 2011}} It took him several more months to find the source. When he located the vein, he estimated it to be fifty feet long and twelve inches wide.{{cite journal| title= The Silver King: Ed Schieffelin, Prospector |first= Richard E. |last=Moore |journal=Oregon Historical Quarterly|volume=87 |number= 4 |date=Winter 1986 |pages= 367–387 |jstor=20614087}} Schieffelin took on a partner named William Griffith who financed the filing of the claim in return for a later claim for himself. Griffith filed Schieffelin's first claim, which was named Tombstone, on September 3, 1877.{{cite web| first=Janice| last=Hendricks| title=Thirty Cents and a Hunch| url=http://www.tombstonetimes.com/stories/ed.html| access-date=May 2, 2011}}Horn, Tom (1973, [1964]). Life of Tom Horn, Government Scout and Interpreter. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Originally published in 1904 by John C. Coble. pp. 26–27. {{ISBN|978-0806110448}}. Another account says the first claim was called Graveyard "because it proved worthless and for no other reason."{{Cite book |last=Gird |first=Richard |url=http://archive.org/details/outwestland27archrich |title="The Story of the Discovery of Tombstone" in Out west magazine |date=1902–1914 |publisher=Los Angeles, Calif. : Land of Sunshine Pub. Co. |others=The Bancroft Library |pages=39 |language=en}}

When the first claims were filed, the initial settlement of tents and wooden shacks was located at Watervale, near the Lucky Cuss mine, with a population of about 100. The Goodenough Mine strike occurred shortly after. Former Territorial Governor Anson P. K. Safford offered financial backing for a share of the mining claims, and Schieffelin, his brother Al, and their partner Richard Gird formed the Tombstone Mining and Milling Company and built a stamp mill near the San Pedro River, about {{convert|8|mi|km}} away. As the mill was being built, U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor Solon M. Allis finished surveying the new town's site in March 1879.{{cite web| title=Solon Allis| url=http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1329| work=The Mineralogical Record| access-date=May 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042457/http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1329 |archive-date=December 1, 2017}} The tents and shacks near the Lucky Cuss were moved to the new town site on Goose Flats, a mesa above the Goodenough Mine at {{convert|4539|ft}} above sea level and large enough to hold a growing town. Lots were immediately sold on Allen Street for $5.00 each. The town soon had some 40 cabins and about 100 residents. At the town's founding in March 1879, it took its name from Schieffelin's initial mining claim. By fall 1879, a few thousand hardy souls were living in a canvas and matchstick camp perched amidst the richest silver strike in the Arizona Territory.

When Cochise County was formed from the eastern portion of Pima County on February 1, 1881, Tombstone became the new county seat. Telegraph service to the town was established that same month. In early March 1880, the Schieffelins' Tombstone Mining and Milling Company which owned the original Goodenough Mine and the nearby Tough Nut Mine (among others), was sold to investors from Philadelphia.{{cite news |title=Engineering and Mining Journal |date=January–June 1880 |volume=29 |publisher=Scientific Publishing Company |location=New York}} Two months later, it was reported that the Tough Nut Mine was working a vein of silver ore {{convert|90|ft|m}} across that assayed at $170 per ton, with some ore assaying at $22,000 a ton.

On September 9, 1880, the richly appointed Grand Hotel was opened, adorned with fine oil paintings, thick Brussels carpets, toilet stands, elegant chandeliers, silk-covered furniture, walnut furniture, and a kitchen with hot and cold running water.{{cite web| title=Tombstone History – The Grand Hotel| url=http://www.bignosekates.info/history1.html| access-date=May 25, 2011| archive-date=April 30, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430205513/http://www.bignosekates.info/history1.html| url-status=dead}} At the height of the silver mining boom, when the population was about 10,000, the city was host to Kelly's Wine House, featuring 26 varieties of wine imported from Europe, a beer imported from Colorado named "Coors", cigars, a bowling alley, and many other amenities common to large cities.

{{wide image|Tombstone_Arizona_panorama_1909.jpg|1200px|Panorama of Tombstone in 1909 from the upper floor of the Cochise County courthouse on 3rd and Tough Nut St. At the center, Third St. is to the left and Tough Nut St. is to the right.|alt=Panorama of Tombstone in 1909 from Fremont and Second Streets.}}

{{further|Cochise County in the Old West|Cochise County Cowboys}}

File:A Tombstone Sheriff And Constituents - Pg-494.jpg{{rp|497}}]]

File:Southeast Cochise County 1880.png

Under the surface were other tensions aggravating the simmering distrust. Most of the Cowboys were Confederate sympathizers and Democrats from Southern states, especially Texas. The mine and business owners, miners, townspeople and city lawmen including the Earps were largely Republicans from the Northern states. There was also the fundamental conflict over resources and land, with traditional, Southern-style "small government" agrarianism of the rural Cowboys contrasted to Northern-style "big-government" development.{{cite web |url=http://blog.theautry.org/2010/04/28/the-o-k-corral-documents/ |title=The O.K. Corral Documents |date=April 28, 2010 |access-date=February 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713003618/http://blog.theautry.org/2010/04/28/the-o-k-corral-documents/ |archive-date=July 13, 2012 }}

In the early 1880s, smuggling and theft of cattle, alcohol, and tobacco across the U.S./Mexico border about {{convert|30|mi}} from Tombstone were common. The Mexican government taxed these items heavily and smugglers earned a handsome profit by sneaking these products across the border. The illegal cross-border smuggling contributed to the lawlessness of the region. Many of these crimes were carried out by outlaw elements labeled "Cow-boys", a loosely organized band of friends and acquaintances who teamed up for various crimes and came to each other's aid. The San Francisco Examiner wrote in an editorial, "Cowboys [are] the most reckless class of outlaws in that wild country...infinitely worse than the ordinary robber."{{cite web |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/earpaccount.html |first=Douglas O. |last=Linder |year=2005 |title=The Earp-Holliday Trial: An Account |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113175200/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/earpaccount.html |archive-date=January 13, 2011 }} At that time during the 1880s in Cochise County it was an insult to call a legitimate cattleman a "Cowboy". Legitimate cowmen were referred to as cattle herders or ranchers.{{cite web| url=http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/TStone.html| title=History of Old Tombstone |access-date=February 7, 2011 |publisher=Discover Arizona}} The Cowboys were nonetheless welcome in town because of their free-spending habits, but shootings were common.

{{Main|Gunfight at the O.K. Corral}}

On the evening of March 15, 1881, three Cochise County Cowboys attempted to rob a Kinnear & Company stagecoach carrying $26,000 in silver bullion {{USDCY|26000|1881}}, en route from Tombstone to Benson, Arizona, the nearest railroad freight terminal.{{Cite book |last1=O'Neal |first1=Bill |title=Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters |year=1979 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman|isbn=978-0-8061-2335-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KLrfdOrI78C&pg=PA180|page=180}}

Near Drew's Station, just outside Contention City, the stage was attacked. Eli "Budd" Philpot, a popular and well-known driver. and a passenger named Peter Roerig riding in the rear dickey seat were both shot and killed. Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp, with his temporary deputies and brothers Wyatt Earp and Morgan Earp, pursued the Cowboys suspected of the murders. That set off a chain of events that culminated, on October 26, 1881, in a gunfight in a vacant lot owned by photographer C. S. Fly near, but not in or at, the O.K. Corral, during which the lawmen and Doc Holliday killed Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton.

File:ownwspok.jpg]]

The gunfight was the result of a personal, family, and political feud. Two months later, on the evening of December 28, 1881, Virgil Earp was ambushed and seriously wounded on the streets of Tombstone by hidden assailants shooting from the second story of an unfinished building. Although identified, the suspects provided witnesses who supplied alibis, and the men were not prosecuted. On March 18, 1882, while Morgan Earp was playing billiards at 10 p.m. at Campbell & Hatch in Allen Street—in the heart of Tombstone's still-current downtown—he was killed by a shot through a window that struck his spine, as Wyatt looked on. Once again, the assailants were named but escaped arrest due to legal technicalities. Wyatt Earp concluded that official justice was out of reach. Armed with warrants obtained via the U. S. Marshal's Office, he led a posse of US deputy marshals on what became known as the Earp Vendetta Ride, pursuing and killing four of the men they held responsible.{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/wyatt-earps-vendetta-posse.htm |title=Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Posse |date=January 29, 2007 |access-date=February 18, 2011}}

Much of the Cowboy-related crime subsided after the Earp family left Arizona in early 1882, following the attempted murder of Tombstone Marshal Virgil Earp on December 28, 1881, and the murder of Deputy Marshal Morgan Earp on March 18, 1882. John Slaughter was elected Cochise County Sheriff in 1886 and served two terms. He hired Burt Alvord, who as a 15-year-old boy had witnessed the shootout between the Earps and Cowboys. Alford served very effectively for three years until he began to drink heavily and associate with outlaws, as had Earp-era County Sheriff Johnny Behan, a close friend and constant protector of the law-breaking Clanton family and their friends.{{cite web |last=Weiser |first=Kathy |title=Burton Alvord – Lawman Turned Outlaw |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-burtonalvord.html |date=June 2010 |publisher=LegendsofAmerica.com |access-date=May 26, 2011}}

{{main|Boothill Graveyard (Tombstone, Arizona)}}

Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton, killed in the O.K. Corral shootout, are among those buried in the town's Boothill Graveyard. Of the number of pioneer Boot Hill cemeteries in the Old West, so named because most of those buried in them had "died with their boots on", Boothill in Tombstone is one of the best-known.{{cite web| title=Tombstone's Boot Hill| url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/picturepages/pp-tombstone10-boothill.html| publisher=LegendsofAmerica.com| access-date=May 25, 2011}}

{{main|Silver mining in Arizona}}

File:EdSchieffelinMonumentTombstoneAZ.jpg

Tombstone boomed, but founder Ed Schieffelin was more interested in prospecting than owning a mine. Ed was one-third partners with his brother Al Schieffelin and Richard Gird. There were several hundred mining claims near Tombstone, although the most productive were immediately south of town. These included the Goodenough, Toughnut, Contention, Grand Central, Lucky Cuss, Emerald, and Silver Thread. Due to the lack of readily available water near town, mills were built along the San Pedro River about {{convert|9|mi}} away, leading to the establishment of several small mill towns, including Charleston, Contention City, and Fairbank.{{cite web|last1=Ascarza|first1=William|title=Mine Tales: Rich Tombstone mines were a lure for prospectors|url=http://tucson.com/news/local/mine-tales-rich-tombstone-mines-were-a-lure-for-prospectors/article_44898c36-5da3-5cf5-ba68-613e4d6d1ce7.html|website=Tucson|date=September 16, 2013 |publisher=Arizona Daily Star|access-date=March 21, 2015}}

Schieffelin left Tombstone to find more ore and when he returned four months later,{{cite book |first=Marshall |last=Trimble |author-link=Marshall Trimble |year=1986 |title=Roadside History of Arizona |url=https://archive.org/details/roadsidehistoryo00trim |url-access=registration |location=Missoula, Montana |publisher= Mountain Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/roadsidehistoryo00trim/page/57 57–59]|isbn= 0878421971}} Gird had lined up buyers for their interest in the Contention claim, which they sold for $10,000. It would later yield millions in silver. They sold a half-interest in the Lucky Cuss, and the other half turned into a steady stream of money. Al and Ed Schieffelin later sold their two-thirds interest in the Tough Nut for $1 million, and sometime later Gird sold his one-third interest for the same amount.{{cite book| author=Burns, Walter Noble| title=Tombstone: An Iliad of the Southwest| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PnFRfNtyhYC&pg=PA252| access-date=February 8, 2011|year=1999| publisher=UNM Press| isbn=978-0826321541| page=252}}{{rp|20}}

File:Tough Nut Mine Tombstone Arizona by Carleton E Watkins.jpg

There are widely varying estimates of the value of gold and silver mined during the course of Tombstone's history. The Tombstone mines produced 32 million troy ounces (1,000 metric tons) of silver, more than any other mining district in Arizona.{{cite book| first1=Melissa |last1=Keane |first2=A. E. |last2=Rogge |year=1992 |title=Gold & Silver Mining in Arizona, 1848–1945 |publisher=Arizona State Preservation Office |pages=14–15}} In 1883, writer Patrick Hamilton estimated that during the first four years of activity the mines produced about US$25,000,000 (approximately ${{Formatprice|{{inflation|US|25000000|1883|r=2}}}} today). Other estimates include US$40 to US$85 million{{cite web| title=The Story of Edward Schieffelin| url=http://www.tombstonemining.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87:the-story-of-edward-schieffelin&catid=53:2008-news-releases&Itemid=62| date=March 24, 2008| access-date=May 2, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323125031/http://www.tombstonemining.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87%3Athe-story-of-edward-schieffelin&catid=53%3A2008-news-releases&Itemid=62| archive-date=March 23, 2012| df=mdy-all}} (about ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|40000000|1888|r=2}}}} to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|85000000|1888|r=2}}}} today). Renewed mining is planned for the area.{{cite web|title=Tombstone Mining|url=http://www.tombstonemining.com/|access-date=May 3, 2011}}

One of the byproducts of the vast riches being produced, lawsuits became very prevalent. Between 1880 and 1885 the courts were clogged with many cases, often about land claims and properties. As a result, lawyers began to settle in Tombstone and became even wealthier than the miners and those who financed the mining. In addition, because many of the lawsuits required expert analysis of the underground, many geologists and engineers found employment in Tombstone and settled there. In the end, a thorough mapping of the area was completed by experts which resulted in maps documenting Tombstone's mining claims better than any other mining district of the West.Faulk, O. B., (1972) Tombstone. Oxford University Press: New York, p. 70. {{ISBN?}}

Mining was an easy task at Tombstone in the early days, ore being rich and close to the surface. One man could pull out ore equal to what three men produced elsewhere.{{cite book| last=Bailey| first=Lynn R.| title=Tombstone, Arizona, Too Tough To Die The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Silver Camp; 1878–1990| year=2004| publisher=Westernlore Press| url=http://www.tootoughtodie.com/mining.html| access-date=May 22, 2011| location=Tucson| isbn=978-0870261152| archive-date=November 7, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107182309/http://www.tootoughtodie.com/mining.html| url-status=dead}} Some residents of Tombstone became quite wealthy and spent considerable money during its boom years. Tombstone's first newspaper, the Nugget, was established in the fall of 1879. The Tombstone Epitaph was founded on May 1, 1880. As the fastest growing boomtown in the American Southwest, the silver industry and attendant wealth attracted many professionals and merchants who brought their wives and families. With them came churches and ministers. They brought a Victorian sensibility and became the town's elite. Many citizens of Tombstone dressed well, and up-to-date fashion could be seen in this growing mining town.Burns, W. N., (1951) Tombstone. Doubleday & Company Inc.: New York, pp. 33–34. Visitors expressed their amazement at the quality and diversity of products that were readily available in the area. The men who worked the mines were largely European immigrants. The Chinese did the town's laundry and provided other services. The Cowboys ran the countryside and stole cattle from haciendas across the international border in Sonora, Mexico.

When the railroad was not built into Tombstone as had been planned, the increasingly sophisticated city of Tombstone remained relatively isolated, deep in a Federal territory that was largely an unpopulated desert and wilderness. Tombstone and its surrounding countryside also became known as one of the deadliest regions in the West. Water was hauled in until the Huachuca Water Company, funded in part by investors like Dr. George E. Goodfellow, built a {{convert|23|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} pipeline from the Huachuca Mountains in 1881. No sooner was a pipeline completed than Tombstone's silver mines struck water.

By mid-1881, the town had fancy restaurants, Vogan's Bowling Alley,{{cite web |url=http://4jranch.com/cokestories/o%27rourke.htm |title=Losing Gambler |access-date=May 22, 2011 |archive-date=April 12, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050412230538/http://www.4jranch.com/cokestories/o%27rourke.htm |url-status=dead }} four churches—Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist—an ice house, a school, the Schieffelin Hall opera house, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor, alongside 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls,{{cite web |url=http://www.jcs-group.com/oldwest/tombstone/boothill.html |title=Tombstone, Arizona – Boothill|access-date=February 10, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.tombstoneepitaph.com/history_printableversion.html |title=The History of The Tombstone Epitaph Newspaper |publisher=TheTombstoneEpitaph.com |access-date=March 15, 2010 |archive-date=September 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100908020938/http://www.tombstoneepitaph.com/history_printableversion.html |url-status=dead }} several Chinese restaurants, French, two Italian, numerous Mexican, several upscale "Continental" establishments, and many "home cooking" hot spots including Nellie Cashman's famous Rush House and numerous brothels all situated among and on top of a number of dirty, hardscrabble mines.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/wyatt-transcript/ |title=WGBH American Experience: Wyatt Earp, Complete Program Transcript |date=January 25, 2010 |series=22 |number=2 |access-date=September 17, 2017 |archive-date=January 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130081133/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/wyatt-transcript/ |url-status=dead }} The Arizona Telephone Company began installing poles and lines for the city's first telephone service on March 15, 1881.{{cite web| title=Contention City and Its Mills| url=http://www.wyattearpexplorers.com/contention-city-and-its-mills.html| publisher=Wyatt Earp Explorers| access-date=May 27, 2011}}

Investors from the northeastern United States bought many of the leading mining operations. The mining itself was carried out by immigrants from Europe, chiefly Cornwall, Ireland, and Germany.Rowse, A.L. The Cousin Jacks, The Cornish in America Chinese and Mexican labor provided services including laundry, construction, restaurants, and hotels, but immigrant labor provoked backlash; an "Anti-Chinese League" was formed in the 1880s to boycott Chinese businesses and workers.{{cite web|url=https://www.tombstonetraveltips.com/us-immigration-1800s.html|title=US Immigration 1800s|publisher=Picture Rocks Networking|website=TombstoneTravelTips| date=April 13, 2022 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=131096|title=Hoptown Chinese Section 1879|publisher=Historical Marker Database}}

The mines and stamping mills ran three shifts. Miners were paid union wages of $4.00 per day working six 10-hour shifts per week. The roughly 6,000 men working in Tombstone generated more than $168,000 a week (around ${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|168000|1883}}}} today) in income.{{cite web |url=http://www.oldwesthistory.net/tombstone_memories_by_harry_h._bishop.html |title=Tombstone Memories by Harry H. Bishop |access-date=February 15, 2011 |work=Tombstone Epitaph |date=September 27, 1934 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110215215404/http://www.oldwesthistory.net/tombstone_memories_by_harry_h._bishop.html |archive-date=February 15, 2011 }} The mostly young, single, male population spent their hard-earned cash on Allen Street, the major commercial center, open 24 hours a day.

The respectable folks saw traveling theater shows at Schieffelin Hall, opened on June 8, 1881. On December 25, 1881, the Bird Cage Theatre opened on Allen Street, offering the miners and cowboys their kind of bawdy entertainment. One of the prime entertainments at the Bird Cage Theatre was Cornish wrestling competitions, with the results being regularly published in the UK.Jerry prepares for a return to Tombstone, West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, June 10, 1999, p30.

In 1882, The New York Times reported that "the Bird Cage Theatre is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast.""This Month in History", p. 10, Arizona Highways, December 2008. The Bird Cage remained open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year until it closed its doors in 1889.{{cite web| title=A Brief History of Tombstone| url=http://www.tombstoneweb.com/history.html| publisher=Goose Flats Graphics| access-date=May 23, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625071235/http://www.tombstoneweb.com/history.html| archive-date=June 25, 2011| df=mdy-all}} Respectable women stayed on the north side of Allen Street. The prostitutes worked the saloons on the south side and in the southeast quarter of the town, as far as possible from the proper residential section north of Fremont Street.

By late 1881, Tombstone had more than 7,000 citizens, excluding all Chinese, Mexicans, women, and children residents. At the height of the town's boom, the official population reached about 10,000, with several thousand more uncounted. In 1882, the Cochise County Courthouse was built at a cost around $45,000.

File:Tombstone fire 1882.jpg was its sign. The blaze destroyed most of the western half of the business district. ]]

File:Tombstone SW01.jpg

Due to poor building practices and poor fire protection common to boomtown construction, Tombstone was hit by two major fires. On June 22, 1881, the first fire destroyed the 66 businesses making up the eastern half of the business district. The fire began when a lit cigar ignited a barrel of whiskey in the Arcade Saloon.{{cite web| title=Tombstone, Arizona| url=http://www.thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestwesternfacts/265-tombstonearizona| publisher=The Wild West| access-date=May 25, 2011| archive-date=September 28, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928212013/http://www.thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestwesternfacts/265-tombstonearizona| url-status=dead}}{{cite web| last=Eppinga| first=Jane| title=Tombstone: Fighting frontier fires| date=November 25, 2009| url=http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2009/11/25/tombstone-fighting-frontier-fires/| publisher=AzCapitalTimes.com| access-date=May 25, 2011}}

On May 25, 1882, another, more destructive fire started in a Chinese laundry on Fifth Street between Toughnut and Allen Streets. It destroyed the Grand Hotel and the Tivoli Saloon before it jumped Fremont Street, destroying more than 100 businesses and most of the business district. Lacking enough water to put out the flames, buildings in the fire's path were dynamited to deny the fire fuel. Total damages were estimated to be $700,000, far more than the estimated $250,000 insurance coverage, but rebuilding started right away, nonetheless.

In March 1883, along one short stretch of Allen Street, drinking establishments were available in two of the principal hotels, Eagle Brewery, Cancan Chop-House, French Rotisserie, Alhambra, Maison Dore, City of Paris, Brown's Saloon, Fashion Saloon, Miners' Home, Kelly's Wine-House, the Grotto, the Tivoli, and two more unnamed saloons.{{cite web |last=Bishop |first=William H. |title=A Traveler in Tombstone |url=http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/Tombstone_Bishop.html |work=Across Arizona |publisher=Harper's Magazine |access-date=May 5, 2011 |date=March 1883 |archive-date=June 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623140359/http://discoverseaz.com/History/Tombstone_Bishop.html |url-status=dead }}

The Tough Nut Mine first experienced seepage in 1880. In March 1881, the Sulphuret Mine struck water at {{convert|520|ft}}. A year later, in March 1882, miners in a new shaft of the Grand Central Mine hit water at {{convert|620|ft}}. The flow was not at first large enough to stop work, but experienced miners thought the water flow would increase, and it did. Soon, constant pumping with a {{convert|4|in|adj=on}} pump was insufficient. The silver ore deposits they sought were soon under water.{{cite web |author1=Jeff Egerton |title=Reverend Endicott Peabody: Tombstone's Quiet Hero |url=http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewArticle.asp?id=42621 |date=September 30, 2008 |access-date=April 19, 2022}}

Several mine managers traveled to San Francisco and met with the principal owners of the Contention Mine. They talked about options for draining the mines, and found the only system available for pumping water out of mines below {{convert|400|ft}} was the Cornish engine, which had been used at the Comstock Lode in the 1870s. They bought and installed the huge Cornish engines in the Contention and Grand Central mines. By mid-February 1884, the engines were removing {{convert|576000|gal}} of water every 24 hours. The city merchants celebrated the continued success of mining and the transfer of funds to their businesses. The Contention and the Grand Central found that their pumps were draining the mining district, benefiting other mines as well, but the other companies refused to pay a proportion of the expense.{{cite web |title=Tombstone's Riches |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-tombstonemines2.html |publisher=Legends of America |access-date=May 23, 2011 |archive-date=January 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100108023931/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-tombstonemines2.html |url-status=dead }}

On May 26, 1886, the Grand Central hoist and pumping plant burned. The fire was so intense that the metal components of the Cornish engine melted and warped. The headworks of the main mine shaft were also destroyed. Shortly afterward, the price of silver slid to 90 cents an ounce. The mines that remained operational laid off workers. Individuals who had thought about leaving Tombstone when the mine flooding started now took action. The price of silver briefly recovered for a while and a few mines began producing again, but never at the level reached in the early 1880s.

File:Saloon girls on Allen Street.jpg

The U.S. census recorded fewer than 1,900 residents in 1890 and fewer than 700 residents in 1900. Tombstone was saved from becoming a ghost town partly because it remained the Cochise County seat until 1929, when county residents voted to move county offices to nearby Bisbee. The classic Cochise County Courthouse and adjacent gallows yard in Tombstone are preserved as a museum.

File:Covered board sidewalk in Tombstone, Arizona - May 1940.jpg

Town life was rather quiet in the 1930s and 1940s, but the town received renewed interest in the 1950s and 1960s due to portrayals in comics, movies, television, and film.{{cite web |title=A History of Tombstone, Arizona |url=https://discovertombstone.com/history/ |website=Discover Tombstone |access-date=April 15, 2023}} Currently, tourism and western memorabilia are the main commercial enterprises; a July 2005 CNN article noted that Tombstone receives approximately 450,000 tourist visitors each year. This is about 300 tourists/year for each permanent resident. In contrast to its heyday, when it featured saloons open 24 hours and numerous houses of prostitution, Tombstone is now a staid community with few businesses open late. Tombstone and surrounding areas have a variety of lodging options, restaurants, and attractions. The town is located near other historic sites of interest, including Bisbee and the San Pedro Riparian area.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} Tombstone is a short drive away from Sierra Vista, which is considered the shopping hub of Cochise County.{{cite web |last=Hess |first=Bill |title=Hobby Lobby celebrates enthusiastic opening |url=http://www.svherald.com/content/bill-hess/2013/09/09/359184 |work=Sierra Vista Herald |publisher=Wick Communications |access-date=September 14, 2013 }}

East Allen Street is the center of Tombstone's tourist attractions, featuring three blocks of shaded boardwalks lined with gift shops, saloons, and eateries. Allen Street's historic district is closed to motor traffic from 3rd Street, the location of the city park and OK Corral, to 6th Street, where the Bird Cage Theatre is located. Additional sites of interest can be found throughout the city, even out on Highway 80, where Boothill Cemetery is found.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLWao2lIGTEC&pg=PA556 |title=Where They're Buried: A Directory Containing More Than Twenty Thousand Names of Notable Persons Buried in American Cemeteries, with Listings of Many Prominent People who Were Cremated |first=Thomas E. |last=Spencer |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |year=1998 |page=556 |isbn=978-0806348230}}

File:Gunfight at the OK Corral 2.jpg]]

Performance events help preserve the town's Wild West image and expose it to new visitors. The historic O.K. Corral has been preserved, but is now surrounded by a wall. Fremont Street (modern Arizona Highway 80), where portions of the gunfight took place, is open to the public. Mannequins are used to depict the location of the participants as recorded by Wyatt Earp. Visitors may pay to see a re-enactment of the gunfight. Helldorado Days, Tombstone's oldest festival,{{cite web|url=http://www.helldoradodays.com|title=Helldoradodays.com|access-date=February 12, 2022|archive-date=April 25, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080425131713/http://www.helldoradodays.com/|url-status=dead}} celebrates the community's wild days of the 1880s.

On July 29th and July 30th 2023, Tombstone was transformed into "Blackwater", a city from the Western Red Dead Video Game Series created by Rockstar Games. The transformation was apart of the "Tombstone Redemption" event which aimed to bring fans of the series together, providing the opportunity to meet the actors from the games, and engage in several events in the town. [https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/fan-brings-red-dead-redemption-to-tombstone/Content?oid=34422767

Inside the Oriental Saloon, several actors including Rob Wiethoff (John Marston), Benjamin Byron Davis (Dutch van der Linde, Gabriel Sloyer (Javier Escuella) signed autographs to hundreds of attendees.

The event was a success, and spawned another event, instead hosted in Black Hills, South Dakota. A third event is slated to return to Tombstone from October 31st - November 2nd, 2025.

{{anchor|World's Largest Rosebush}}

File:World's largest rose bush 2021.jpg

According to Guinness, the world's largest rosebush was planted in Tombstone in 1885 and still flourishes in the city's sunny climate. The Lady Banksia rose originated in Scotland. Mary Gee was the wife of mining engineer Henry Gee, who worked for the Vizina Mining Co. Mary's family sent the homesick bride a box of rooted cuttings from her home country. She planted one of the roses by the patio of the Vizina Mining Company's boarding house, the first adobe building in town, located at 4th and Toughnut Streets across from the later site of the railroad depot. Henry and she lived in the boarding house when they first arrived in Tombstone.

The building was later renamed the Cochise House Hotel, and from 1909 to 1936, it was known as the Arcade Hotel. By the 1930s, the rosebush had grown to shade the entire patio and became a popular site for tourists. The hotel was later renamed the Rose Tree Inn and then the Rose Tree Inn Museum. The museum curator tells visitors that all Banksia roses growing in the U.S. today are descendants of the Tombstone rose.{{cite web|title=Lady Banks Rose Rosa banksiae|url=http://www.botanical-journeys-plant-guides.com/lady-banks-rose.html|access-date=March 26, 2015|archive-date=March 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319140311/http://www.botanical-journeys-plant-guides.com/lady-banks-rose.html|url-status=dead}}

In 1940, the Lady Banksia rose covered about {{convert|4000|sqft|abbr=on}}.{{cite book|title=Arizona: A State Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=er6V4QzaeyMC&pg=PA249|publisher=North American Book Dist LLC |year= 1940 |page=249|isbn = 978-0403021550}} {{as of|2014}}, the rosebush covered more than {{convert|8000|sqft|abbr=on}} of the roof and garden trellis of the inn, and has a {{convert|12|ft|abbr=on}} circumference trunk. The rosebush is walled off, and the inn charges admission to view it.{{cite web| url=http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/plants/Rosa.banksiae.Tombstone.cfm |title=Everything is 'Rosey' in Tombstone| publisher=Mediterranean Garden Society |access-date=October 26, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040702100839/http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/plants/Rosa.banksiae.Tombstone.cfm |archive-date = July 2, 2004}}

A pair of huge rose "trees" of more than {{convert|5|ft|m|abbr=on}} in circumference, also planted in the 1880s, shade a {{convert|2500|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} courtyard at Tombstone's historic Sacred Heart Church.

File:Allen Street Tombstone.jpg

The Tombstone Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District. The town's focus on tourism has threatened the town's designation as a National Historic Landmark District, a designation it earned in 1961 as "one of the best preserved specimens of the rugged frontier town of the 1870s and '80s". In 2004, the National Park Service declared that Tombstone's historic designation was threatened, and asked the community to develop an appropriate stewardship program.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

File:Cochise County Courthouse 1940 FSA.jpg

The National Park Service noted inappropriate alterations to the district included:

• Placing "historic" dates on new buildings
• Failing to distinguish new construction from historic structures
• Covering authentic historic elevations with inappropriate materials
• Replacing historic features instead of repairing them
• Replacing missing historic features with conjectural and unsubstantiated materials
• Building incompatible additions to existing historic structures and new incompatible buildings within the historic district
• Using illuminated signage, including blinking lights surrounding historic signs
• Installing hitching rails and Spanish tile-covered store porches when such architectural features never existed within Tombstone

Historical buildings include Schieffelin Hall, the opera house built by Al Schieffelin in 1881, and the Cochise County Courthouse. The courthouse was largely unused and then vacant after the county seat was moved to Bisbee. An attempt was made to turn it into hotel in the 1940s, and when that failed it stood empty until 1955. The Tombstone Restoration Commission acquired the courthouse and developed it as a historical museum that opened in 1959. It features exhibits and thousands of artifacts documenting Tombstone's past.{{cite web| title=Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park| url=http://www.pr.state.az.us/parks/TOCO/index.html| publisher=Arizona State Parks| access-date=May 26, 2011| archive-date=May 27, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527002350/http://www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/TOCO/index.html| url-status=dead}}

The Crystal Palace Saloon, including its {{convert|45|ft}} long mahogany bar, was rebuilt based on photographs of the original saloon was restored in May 1964 to its 1881 condition. This included large Victorian ceiling lamps and the inlaid‐patterned wood floor.{{cite news |last1=Becker |first1=Bill |title=A Relic of the Days when the West Was Wild |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/03/a-relic-of-the-days-when-the-west-was-wild.html?_r=0 |access-date=September 29, 2015 |newspaper=New York Times |date=May 3, 1964}}

File:Tombstone_Mining_Map_1907.jpg, 1907)]]

The Tombstone District located at {{Coord|31|42|57|N|110|3|53|W|type:city}} (31.715940, −110.064827){{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html |publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=April 23, 2011|date=February 12, 2011|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}} sits atop a mesa (elevation {{convert|4539|ft|disp=sqbr}}) in the San Pedro River valley between the Huachuca Mountains and Whetstone Mountains to the west, and the Mules and the Dragoon Mountains to the east. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of {{convert|11.2|sqkm|order=flip}}, all land.

The silver-bearing Tombstone Hills around the city are caused by a local intrusion of porphyry through a limestone capping.{{cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form |url={{NHLS url|id=66000171}} |publisher=United States Department of the Interior National Park Service |access-date=May 23, 2011}} When actively mined, the silver vein of argentiferous galena (silver-bearing lead ore) was large and well defined. The silver and lead were easily milled and smelted. The lead content sometimes was as much as 50% of the ore, and assays proved the silver content ran as high as $105.00 per ton in 1881 dollars.{{cite web |title=Tombstone, Cochise County |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/az/cochise/directories/business/1881/tombston721gms.txt |access-date=May 24, 2011}}

The underlying basement rocks are fine-grained Pinal schist, which is intruded by gneissic granite. The outcrop is in a small area south of the principal mines. The overlying Paleozoic quartzite and limestones rocks lie on an unconformity with a total thickness ranging from {{convert|4000|to|5000|ft|abbr=on}}, and contains {{convert|2500|to|3500|ft|abbr=on}} of Mississippian Escabrosa limestone and the Naco Formation limestone of Pennsylvanian age in the upper formations.{{cite web |title=Tombstone District, Tombstone Hills, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA |url=http://www.mindat.org/loc-19445.html |publisher=mindat.org}}

Overlying the Naco limestone is an unconformable Mesozoic series of conglomerate, thick-bedded quartzites and shales, with two or three lenses of soft, bluish-gray limestone. Into these formations intruded large bodies of quartz monzonite and by dikes of quartz monzonite-porphyry and diorite-porphyry. Structural faulting occurs throughout the district, especially immediately south of Tombstone, where the strata are closely folded.{{cite book |last=Ransome |first= F.L. |year=1920 |publisher=United States Geological Service Bulletin 710 |title= Deposits of Manganese Ore in Arizona |pages=101–103}}

Tombstone District ores have been produced geologically in three or more ways. They may have been formed in argentiferous (silver-bearing) lead sulfide containing spotty amounts of copper and zinc. These deposits are usually deeply oxidized and enriched by irregular replacement bodies along mineralized fissure zones and anticlinal rolls cut by Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary formations. Ore bodies are often closely associated with newer cross-cutting intrusive dikes of laramide. Ore deposits were formed by base metal mineralization occurring with oxidation found in fault and fracture zones in laramide volcanics and quartz latite porphyry intrusives. Silver ore also occurred in manganese oxides with some argentiferous deposits in lenticular or pipe-like replacement bodies along fracture and fault zones, usually in Pennsylvanian-Permian age Naco Group limestones.

Tombstone has a typical Arizona semiarid climate (Köppen BSk/BSh) with three basic seasons. Winter, from October to March, features mild to warm days and chilly nights, with minima falling to under {{convert|32|F|C}} on 28.4 nights, although snowfall is almost unknown, with the median being zero and the heaviest monthly fall being {{convert|14.0|in|cm|2}} in January 1916, of which {{convert|12.0|in|cm|2}} fell on January 16. The coldest temperature record in Tombstone has been {{convert|3|F|C|1}} on December 8, 1978.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

The summer season from April to June is extremely dry and gradually heats up – the hottest temperature on record being {{convert|112|F|C|1}} on July 4, 1989 – before the monsoon season from July to September brings the heaviest rainfall, averaging {{convert|7.71|inch|mm|1}} out of an annual total of {{convert|13.22|inch|mm|1|abbr=on}}. The wettest month has been July 2008, when {{convert|11.53|inch|mm|1|abbr=on}} fellNational Weather Service Tucson; [http://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=twc NOW Data] and 15 days had at least {{convert|0.04|in|mm|1|abbr=on}} of rainfall – though the record for the most such days in a month stands at 18, in July 1930. Since 1893, the wettest calendar year has been 1905, with {{convert|27.84|in|mm|1|abbr=on}} and the driest was 1924, with {{convert|7.36|in|mm|1|abbr=on}}.

{{Weather box

|location = Tombstone, Arizona, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1893–present

|single line = Yes

|Jan record high F = 86

|Feb record high F = 96

|Mar record high F = 92

|Apr record high F = 99

|May record high F = 104

|Jun record high F = 110

|Jul record high F = 112

|Aug record high F = 106

|Sep record high F = 106

|Oct record high F = 100

|Nov record high F = 91

|Dec record high F = 84

|Jan avg record high F = 72.7

|Feb avg record high F = 77.0

|Mar avg record high F = 83.5

|Apr avg record high F = 89.7

|May avg record high F = 97.0

|Jun avg record high F = 103.5

|Jul avg record high F = 103.0

|Aug avg record high F = 99.3

|Sep avg record high F = 96.6

|Oct avg record high F = 91.7

|Nov avg record high F = 82.1

|Dec avg record high F = 74.1

|year avg record high F = 104.8

|Jan high F = 61.6

|Feb high F = 64.3

|Mar high F = 71.3

|Apr high F = 78.6

|May high F = 86.9

|Jun high F = 96.1

|Jul high F = 94.0

|Aug high F = 91.6

|Sep high F = 89.0

|Oct high F = 81.4

|Nov high F = 70.3

|Dec high F = 61.0

|year high F =

|Jan mean F = 49.6

|Feb mean F = 52.2

|Mar mean F = 57.7

|Apr mean F = 64.0

|May mean F = 72.0

|Jun mean F = 81.0

|Jul mean F = 81.2

|Aug mean F = 79.4

|Sep mean F = 76.3

|Oct mean F = 67.9

|Nov mean F = 57.7

|Dec mean F = 49.4

|year mean F =

|Jan low F = 37.6

|Feb low F = 40.0

|Mar low F = 44.0

|Apr low F = 49.4

|May low F = 57.0

|Jun low F = 65.8

|Jul low F = 68.4

|Aug low F = 67.2

|Sep low F = 63.6

|Oct low F = 54.4

|Nov low F = 45.1

|Dec low F = 37.7

|year low F =

|Jan avg record low F = 24.2

|Feb avg record low F = 26.1

|Mar avg record low F = 30.1

|Apr avg record low F = 35.0

|May avg record low F = 44.5

|Jun avg record low F = 55.3

|Jul avg record low F = 61.4

|Aug avg record low F = 60.2

|Sep avg record low F = 54.6

|Oct avg record low F = 39.9

|Nov avg record low F = 29.3

|Dec avg record low F = 24.3

|year avg record low F = 20.9

|Jan record low F = 6

|Feb record low F = 5

|Mar record low F = 12

|Apr record low F = 23

|May record low F = 31

|Jun record low F = 37

|Jul record low F = 42

|Aug record low F = 53

|Sep record low F = 43

|Oct record low F = 27

|Nov record low F = 18

|Dec record low F = 3

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 0.82

|Feb precipitation inch = 0.70

|Mar precipitation inch = 0.71

|Apr precipitation inch = 0.21

|May precipitation inch = 0.24

|Jun precipitation inch = 0.64

|Jul precipitation inch = 3.03

|Aug precipitation inch = 3.07

|Sep precipitation inch = 1.61

|Oct precipitation inch = 0.64

|Nov precipitation inch = 0.62

|Dec precipitation inch = 0.93

|year precipitation inch =

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in

|Jan precipitation days = 4.1

|Feb precipitation days = 3.9

|Mar precipitation days = 3.0

|Apr precipitation days = 1.3

|May precipitation days = 1.3

|Jun precipitation days = 2.9

|Jul precipitation days = 10.2

|Aug precipitation days = 10.8

|Sep precipitation days = 5.7

|Oct precipitation days = 3.1

|Nov precipitation days = 2.5

|Dec precipitation days = 4.3

|Jan snow inch = 0.5

|Feb snow inch = 0.1

|Mar snow inch = 0.0

|Apr snow inch = 0.0

|May snow inch = 0.0

|Jun snow inch = 0.0

|Jul snow inch = 0.0

|Aug snow inch = 0.0

|Sep snow inch = 0.0

|Oct snow inch = 0.0

|Nov snow inch = 0.4

|Dec snow inch = 0.2

|year snow inch =

|unit snow days = 0.1 in

|Jan snow days = 0.1

|Feb snow days = 0.1

|Mar snow days = 0.0

|Apr snow days = 0.0

|May snow days = 0.0

|Jun snow days = 0.0

|Jul snow days = 0.0

|Aug snow days = 0.0

|Sep snow days = 0.0

|Oct snow days = 0.0

|Nov snow days = 0.1

|Dec snow days = 0.2

|source 1 = NOAA

{{cite web

|url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&stations=USC00028619&format=pdf&dataTypes=MLY-TMAX-NORMAL,MLY-TMIN-NORMAL,MLY-TAVG-NORMAL,MLY-PRCP-NORMAL,MLY-SNOW-NORMAL

|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

|title = U.S. Climate Normals Quick Access – Station: Tombstone, AZ

|access-date = May 6, 2023

}}

|source 2 = National Weather Service

{{cite web

|url = https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=twc

|publisher = National Weather Service

|title = NOAA Online Weather Data – NWS Tucson

|access-date = May 6, 2023

}}

}}

{{US Census population

|1880= 3423

|1890= 1875

|1900= 646

|1910= 1582

|1920= 1178

|1930= 849

|1940= 822

|1950= 910

|1960= 1283

|1970= 1241

|1980= 1632

|1990= 1220

|2000= 1504

|2010= 1380

|2020= 1308

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2016}}

}}

As of the census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}} of 2000, 1,504 people, 694 households, and 419 families resided in the city. The population density was {{convert|349.8|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The 839 housing units had an average density of {{convert|195.1|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the city was 87.4% White, 0.6% African American, 1.0% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 8.2% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races; 24.1% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Of the 694 households, 20.2% had children under 18 living with them, 47.6% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.5% were not families. About 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.73.

In the city, the age distribution of the population was 19.3% under 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 19.9% from 25 to 44, 32.5% from 45 to 64, and 23.3% who were 65 or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $26,571, and for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $26,923 versus $18,846 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,447. About 13.0% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under 18 and 13.1% of those 65 or over.{{cite web | date = June 21, 2006 | url = https://www.census.gov/popest/cities/tables/SUB-EST2005-04-04.csv | title = Annual Estimates of the Population for All Incorporated Places in Arizona | format = CSV | work = 2005 Population Estimates | publisher = U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division | access-date = November 15, 2006 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110920004206/http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/tables/SUB-EST2005-04-04.csv | archive-date = September 20, 2011 | df = mdy-all }} In 2010, the total population was 1,380.

Tombstone Unified School District serves Tombstone. The district schools in Tombstone are Walter J. Meyer Elementary School and Tombstone High School.{{cite web |url=http://www.walterjmeyer.tombstoneschools.org/ |title=Walter J. Meyer Elementary School |access-date=July 28, 2010 |archive-date=January 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109171514/http://www.walterjmeyer.tombstoneschools.org/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://tombstonehs.tombstoneschools.org/ |title=Tombstone High School |access-date=July 28, 2010 |archive-date=August 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817083508/http://tombstonehs.tombstoneschools.org/ |url-status=dead }} Tombstone is within the Cochise Technology District, which assists in the development of career and technical education programs for high-school students.{{cite web |url=http://www.cochisejted.org/ |title= Cochise Technology District |access-date=November 5, 2019}}

{{see also|List of historic properties in Tombstone, Arizona}}

Several properties in Tombstone have been included in the National Register of Historic Places.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/az/Maricopa/state.html|title=National Register of Historical Places – Arizona (AZ), Maricopa County}} The following are images of some of these properties:

File:A090, OK Corral, Tombstone, Arizona, USA, 2004.jpg|O.K. Corral frontage on Allen Street

File:T-Inside Schiefflin Mine.jpg|Schieffelin's Mine

File:T-Schiefflin Hall.jpg|Schieffelin Hall

File:Longhorn Restaurant.jpg|Longhorn Restaurant

File:Tombstone Courthouse.jpg|Cochise County Courthouse

File:City Hall of Tombstone.JPG|City Hall

File:T-Long Nose Kates Saloon.jpg|Big Nose Kate's Saloon

File:T-Crystal Palace2.jpg|Crystal Palace

File:T-Bird Cage Theatre.jpg|Bird Cage Theatre

File:T-Boot Hill Graveyard.jpg|Entrance to Boothill Graveyard

File:Tombstone-Boot Hill Graveyard-Graves of Billy Clanton, and Frank and Tom McLaury 2.jpg|Graves of Billy Clanton, and Frank and Tom McLaury

File:Tombstone-Boothill Graveyard-China Mary-2.jpg|The grave of Sing Choy (China Mary) is one of the top tourist attractions in Tombstone to this day.

During the 1880s, Tombstone had a population of about 500 people of Chinese descent. One of the most prominent members of Tombstone's Chinese community was Sing Choy (or Ah Chum), a woman popularly nicknamed "China Mary". Her role as a community leader included operating a store, controlling opium dens and gambling, and securing jobs for Chinese laborers in the White community.{{cite web | url=https://www.historyandwomen.com/2020/06/china-mary-woman-who-ran-town-too-tough.html | title=China Mary - the Woman who ran "The Town Too Tough to Die" }}{{cite web | url=https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/travel/arizona/2020/03/06/women-of-the-wild-west-arizona-photos-china-mary-pearl-hart-photos/4941715002/ | title=Women of the Wild West: 8 who changed the face of Arizona }}{{cite web | url=https://truewestmagazine.com/article/what-can-you-tell-me-about-china-mary-of-tombstone-fame/ | title=What can you tell me about China Mary of Tombstone fame? }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cY1vDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22china+mary%22&pg=PT19 | title=Arizona Oddities: Land of Anomalies & Tamales | isbn=978-1-4396-6560-2 | last1=Trimble | first1=Marshall | date=May 20, 2019 | publisher=Arcadia }}

She died in December 1906 from heart failure, and was buried in Tombstone's Boot Hill Cemetery. She was portrayed in an episode of the 1955 television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp by Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong.

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• Ten Percent Ring
• Edith Alice Macia

{{Reflist}}

• Craig, R. Bruce, editor (2017). Portrait of a Prospector: Edward Schieffelin's Own Story. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|978-0806157733}}
• {{cite book |last1=Eppinga |first1=Jane |title=Tombstone |date=2003 |publisher=Arcadia (Images of America) |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-0738520964 |oclc=52912107}}
• {{cite book |last1=Moulton |first1=Heather L. |last2=Tatterson |first2=Susan |title=Graveyards of the Wild West Arizona |date=2020 |publisher=America Through Time (Fonthill Media) |isbn=978-1634992275 |pages=36–49 |chapter=Boothill Cemetery Established 1878}}
• {{cite book |last1=Todd |first1=Tom |title=Tombstone by tombstone : here lies the old west |date=2012 |publisher=Tom Todd Publishing |location=Show Low, AZ |isbn=978-1470153854 |oclc=794678470}}
• {{cite book |last1=Varney |first1=Philip |title=Arizona's Best Ghost Towns |date=1980 |publisher=Northland Press |location=Flagstaff |isbn=0873582179 |pages=102–105 |chapter=Ten: Tombstone Territory |lccn=79-91724}}

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{{wikivoyage|Tombstone}}

• [http://www.cityoftombstone.com/ City of Tombstone official website]
• [http://www.tombstoneweb.com/ Tombstone Arizona Information and Business Directory]
• [https://discovertombstone.com/ Official City of Tombstone Arizona Information and Business Directory]
• [http://www.tombstonechamber.com/ Tombstone Chamber of Commerce]
• [http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/civil/jb_civil_arizona_1_e.html A tombstone in Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone]
• [https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/tombstone.html Tombstone] – ghosttowns.com

{{Cochise County, Arizona}}

{{Wild West}}

{{Cochise County Conflict}}

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Category:Tombstone, Arizona

Category:Cities in Arizona

Category:Cities in Cochise County, Arizona

Category:1879 establishments in Arizona Territory

Category:Ghost towns in Arizona

Category:Cochise County conflict

Category:Geological type localities