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Prescott, Arizona

Prescott is pronounced by most locals as "PRESS-cut" or "PRESS-kit" instead of "press-COT") is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 41,528. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County.

In 1863 Prescott was designated as the original capital of the Arizona Territory in order to keep the seat of government far from Confederate sympathizers prevalent in the southern part of the state.

The Territorial Capital was moved to Tucson in 1867. Prescott again became the Territorial Capital in 1877, until the capital was changed to Phoenix in 1889.

The towns of Prescott Valley (7 miles east) and Chino Valley (16 miles north), and Prescott, together make up the area known locally as the "Tri-City" area. Population of the Tri-City area in 2007 is estimated to be about 122,000. Prescott is the center of the Prescott Metropolitan Area, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as all of Yavapai County.

In 2007, Yavapai County was estimated to have 212,635 residents by the U.S. Census Bureau, making Prescott the third-largest metropolitan area in Arizona, after Phoenix (4.2 million) and Tucson (1 million).

The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe reservation is located next to, and partially within, the borders of Prescott. The weather conditions are favorable owing to the altitude of 5354 ft, being significantly cooler than the lower southern areas of the state and yet without the harsh winters found at higher altitudes.

History

Prescott began as a mining town with the discovery of gold on nearby Lynx Creek in 1863. During the nineteenth century, Prescott experienced far fewer anti-Mexican and anti-Chinese sentiments than other communities. In fact, when the mining district enacted its laws in 1863 the officers specifically mentioned that "Senorians" and "Asiatics", meaning Mexicans and Chinese, were free to mine and work in the region.

In 1863 Arizona became a territory and Prescott was the Territorial Capital between then and 1867, and again from 1877 until 1889. The Sharlot Hall Museum houses much of Prescott's territorial history, and the Smoki and Phippen museums also maintain local collections.

Whiskey Row in downtown Prescott boasts many historic buildings, including The Palace, Arizona's oldest restaurant and bar, and many other buildings that have been converted to boutiques, art galleries, bookstores, and restaurants. The City is named after author William H. Prescott, whose writings were popular during the Civil War.

After major fires in the early part of the century, downtown Prescott was rebuilt with brick. The central courthouse plaza, a lawn under huge old elm trees, is a good gathering and meeting place. Cultural events and performances take place on many nights in the summer on the plaza.

Culture

Prescott has many Victorian homes and has been remarked to be the most Midwestern-appearing city in the Southwest. Prescott has 525 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

Prescott is home to the historical area known as "Whiskey Row", until 1956 a notorious red-light district. There was a great fire in 1900 that destroyed most of the buildings on Whiskey Row. As legend has it, the patrons of the various bars simply took their drinks across the street to the Courthouse square and watched it burn.

At the time of the fire the entire bar and back-bar of the Palace Hotel was removed by the patrons as the fire approached, and re-installed after the gutted brick structure was rebuilt. (The size of the back-bar is impressive, and appears not easily moved, even by many hands.) Whiskey Row runs north and south on N. Montezuma between Gurley and Goodwin St., directly west of the county courthouse.

This single city block has been the home of the St. Michael's Hotel and the Palace Hotel since the late 1800s along with other colorful purveyors of night-life. Merchant Sam Hill's hardware store was located near Whiskey Row, famous for its extensive stock in its downtown location and out of town warehouse.

There are six golf courses within the city limits: Antelope Hills Golf Course, City of Prescott South Course, City of Prescott North Course, Hassayampa Golf Club, Prescott Lakes Golf Club, Talking Rock Golf Club. More courses are located nearby in surrounding towns.

Prescott is home to The Arizona Pioneers’ Home, a continuing care retirement home, operated and funded by the State of Arizona, originally intended for impoverished Arizona founders from Territorial days. Initially the home was built to house 40 men, but in 1916 an addition of a women’s wing was completed to provide for 20 women. Later, in 1929, the home was again expanded to include Arizona’s Hospital for Disabled Miners (current total capacity is 150 beds).

Scenes in the movie "Jolene" were filmed in the Pioneer's Home in 2006. The Home has had many colorful residents, including a John Miller who had claimed to be Billy the Kid, and who was exhumed from the Pioneer's Home Cemetery in 2005, in an attempt to identify DNA evidence. Another resident was "Big Nose Kate" Elder, who would also be laid to rest in the Pioneer's Home Cemetery, though without controversy.

Prescott hosts annual events such as Frontier Days, The World's Oldest Rodeo (1888), the Bluegrass Festival, Earth Day, Tsunami on the Square, art festivals, a Cinco de Mayo celebration, Shakespeare Festival, Navajo Rug Auction, World’s Largest Gingerbread Village (actually on the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe reservation), Prescott Film Fest, Folk Arts Fair, parades, the Acker Music Festival, The Cowboy Poets Gathering, the Prescott Highland Games and several marathons. Also located in Prescott is the Heritage Park Zoo.

Climate

Prescott is located in the Bradshaw Mountains of central Arizona, at an altitude of 5400 feet. The town has a four-season climate with relatively mild winters. Historical average annual precipitation is 19.32 inches; average snowfall is 25.4 inches. There has been a severe drought from 1999 to present (2007); precipitation has dropped dramatically.

Some evidence of this is the lack of snow-pack in the Bradshaw mountains. Local creeks do not contain water except immediately after the rare rains. Nevertheless, at the start of 2007, lakes were reported as full. The winter of 2005-2006 had less than 3" of snow, compared to an average snowfall of 24".

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