Tombstone Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

Tombstone, Arizona Tombstone is a historic city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town grew si ...

that is significant for its association with the struggle between lawlessness and civility in frontier towns of the

wild west The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

, and for its history as a boom-and-bust mining center. Located within the historic district is the legendary

O.K. Corral The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a thirty-second shootout between law enforcement officer, lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cochise County Cowboys, Cowboys that occurred at about 3: ...

associated with the famous

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a thirty-second shootout between lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that occurred at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in ...

that actually took place on Fremont Street, near the back entrance to the O.K. Corral, on October 26, 1881. The district was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1961.

Description

The Tombstone Historic District had ill-defined boundaries when it was first designated in 1961. The landmarked area was generally agreed to include at least the area bounded by Toughnut, Fremont, 3rd and 6th Streets, but its precise limits were a subject of continuing debate through at least 1986. The district covers about of downtown Tombstone, and is anchored at its southwestern corner by the former Cochise County Courthouse, now the centerpiece of

Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park is a state park of Arizona in the United States. Located in Tombstone, the park preserves the original Cochise County courthouse. The two-story building, constructed in 1882 in the Victorian style, is l ...

. Buildings in the district typically have an appearance (either original or restored) to the town's early mining boom period of the 1880s. Although mining began in the area in the 1870s, fires in 1881 and 1882 destroyed most of its central business district. Significant among the buildings constructed after those fires are the 1882 City Hall, the 1881

Schieffelin Hall Schieffelin Hall is a building from the American Old West in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, the largest standing adobe structure still existent in the United States southwest. It was built in 1881 by Albert Schieffelin, brother of Tombstone founde ...

, a large performance venue built out of adobe, and the 1881

Bird Cage Theatre Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

, a theater and playhouse which also housed a brothel.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Arizona Geography of Cochise County, Arizona Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Cochise County, Arizona Tombstone, Arizona

Description

See also

References