Bisbee is a city in and the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Cochise County in southeastern
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, United States. It is southeast of
Tucson
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
and north of the Mexican border. According to the
2020 census, the population of the town was 4,923, down from 5,575 in the 2010 census.
History

Bisbee was founded as a
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
,
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
, and
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
mining town
A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry.
Historical mining communities Australia
* Ballarat, Victoria
* Bendig ...
in 1880, and named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the adjacent
Copper Queen Mine.
The town was the site of the
Bisbee Riot in 1919.
In 1929, the county seat was moved from
Tombstone
A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The us ...
to Bisbee, where it remains.
Mining industry
Mining
Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
in the
Mule Mountains
The Mule Mountains are a north/south running mountain range located in the south-central area of Cochise County, Arizona. The highest peak, Mount Ballard, rises to . Prior to mining operations commencing there, the mountains were heavily f ...
proved quite successful: in the early 20th century the population of Bisbee soared. Incorporated in 1902, by 1910 its population had swelled to 9,019, the third largest in the territory, and it sported a constellation of suburbs, including Warren,
Lowell, and San Jose, some of which had been founded on their own (ultimately less successful) mines. In 1917,
open-pit mining
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth.
Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...
was successfully introduced to meet the copper demand during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
A high quality
turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue.
The robi ...
promoted as ''
Bisbee Blue'' was a by-product of the copper mining. Many high-quality mineral specimens have come from Bisbee area mines and are to be found in museum collections worldwide. Some of these minerals include
cuprite,
aragonite
Aragonite is a carbonate mineral and one of the three most common naturally occurring crystal forms of calcium carbonate (), the others being calcite and vaterite. It is formed by biological and physical processes, including precipitation fr ...
,
wulfenite
Wulfenite is a lead molybdate mineral with the formula Pb Mo O4. It often occurs as thin tabular crystals with a bright orange-red to yellow-orange color, sometimes brown, although the color can be highly variable. In its yellow form it is some ...
,
malachite
Malachite () is a copper Carbonate mineral, carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the chemical formula, formula Basic copper carbonate, Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often for ...
,
azurite
Azurite or '' Azure spar'Krivovichev V. G.'' Mineralogical glossary. Scientific editor A. G. Bulakh. — St.Petersburg: St.Petersburg Univ. Publ. House. 2009. — 556 p. — ISBN 978-5-288-04863-0. ''(in Russian)'' is a soft, deep-blue copp ...
, and
galena
Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver.
Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...
.
Bisbee deportation

Miners attempted to organize to gain better working conditions and wages. In 1917, the
Phelps Dodge Corporation, using private police and deputized sheriffs in conjunction with
Cochise County Sheriff
Harry C. Wheeler
Harry Cornwall Wheeler (July 23, 1875 – December 17, 1925) was an Arizona lawman who was the third captain of the Arizona Rangers, as well as the sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County, serving from 1912 into 1918. He is known as t ...
, kidnapped at gunpoint over 1,000 striking miners, packed them into cattle cars, and shipped them for sixteen hours through the desert without food or water to the town to
Hermanas, New Mexico, due to allegations that they were members of the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW). The company wanted to prevent unionization, while the IWW sought safer mining conditions and the end of discrimination between US-born and immigrant workers. Earlier that year, industry police conducted the
Jerome Deportation, similarly intended to expel striking miners.
Mining decline and tourism
Continued underground work enabled the town to survive the changes in mining that caused mines in neighboring towns to close, leading to a resulting dramatic loss of population. But the population of Bisbee had dropped nearly 60%, from a high of 9,205 in 1920 down to 3,801 by 1950. In 1975 the Phelps Dodge Corporation halted its Bisbee copper-mining operations. Bisbee Mayor Chuck Eads, with the cooperation of Phelps Dodge, implemented development of a mine tour and historic interpretation of a portion of the
Copper Queen Mine as part of an effort to create
heritage tourism as another economic base to compensate for the financial loss due to the end of the mining industry.
Community volunteers cleared tons of fallen rock and re-timbered the old workings. Eventually, this local effort came to the attention of the federal
Economic Development Administration
The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides grants and technical assistance to economically distressed communities in order to generate new employment, help retain exis ...
. It approved a large grant to Bisbee to help the mine tour project and other improvements in downtown Bisbee; these were designed to meet tourist business needs. The Queen Mine Tour was officially opened to visitors on February 1, 1976. More than a million visitors have taken the underground mine tour train.
Modern Bisbee
From 1950 to 1960, the sharp population decline happening over the previous few decades changed course and the number of residents of Bisbee increased by nearly 160 percent when open-pit mining was undertaken and the city annexed nearby areas. The peak population was in 1960, at 9,914.
In the following decade, there was a decline in jobs and population, although not as severe as from 1930 to 1950. But, the economic volatility resulted in a crash in housing prices. Coupled with an attractive climate and picturesque scenery, Bisbee became a destination in the 1960s for artists and
hippies of the
counter culture.
Artist Stephen Hutchison and his wife Marcia purchased the
Copper Queen Hotel, the town's anchor business and architectural gem, from the Phelps-Dodge mining company in 1970. The company had tried to find a local buyer, offering the deed to any local resident for the sum of $1, but there were no takers. The property needed renovation for continued use.
Hutchison purchased and renovated the hotel, as well as other buildings in the downtown area. One held the early 20th-century Brewery and Stock Exchange. Hutchison began to market Bisbee as a destination of the "authentic," old Southwest. His work attracted the developer Ed Smart.
Among the many guests at the hotel have been celebrities from nearby California. Actor
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...
was a frequent visitor to Bisbee and the Copper Queen. He befriended Hutchison and eventually partnered with Smart in his real estate ventures. This period of Bisbee's history is well documented in contemporary articles in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' and in an article by Cynthia Buchanan in ''
The Cornell Review''. It was at this time that Bisbee became a haven for artists and hippies fleeing the larger cities of Arizona and California. Later it attracted people priced out by gentrification of places such as
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population ...
.
In the 1990s, additional people were attracted to Bisbee, leading it to develop such amenities as coffee shops and live theatre. Many of the old houses have been renovated, and property values in Bisbee now greatly exceed those of other southeastern Arizona cities.
Today, the historic Bisbee is known as "Old Bisbee" and is home to a thriving downtown cultural scene. This area is noted for its architecture, including
Victorian-style houses and an elegant
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
county courthouse. Because its plan was laid out to a pedestrian scale before the automobile, Old Bisbee is compact and walkable. The town's hilly terrain is exemplified by the old four-story high school; each floor has a ground-level entrance.
Suburbs
Bisbee now includes the satellite communities of Warren, Lowell, and San Jose. The Lowell and Warren townsites were consolidated into Bisbee proper during the early part of the twentieth century. There are also smaller neighborhoods interspersed between these larger boroughs, including Galena,
Bakerville, Tintown, South Bisbee, Briggs, and Saginaw.
Warren was Arizona's first
planned community
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
. It was designed as a
bedroom community
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
for the more affluent citizens of the mining district. Warren has a fine collection of
Arts and Crafts style bungalow houses. Many have been recognized as historic places, and the city has an annual home tour during which a varying selection are offered for tours. Since the end of mining in the 1970s, Warren has seen a steady decline in its standard of living. The residential district still houses a significant portion of the population, and includes City Hall, Greenway Elementary School, Bisbee High School, and the historic
Warren Ballpark.
Lowell was at one time a sizable mining town located just to the southeast of Old Bisbee. The majority of the original townsite was consumed by the excavation of the Lavender Pit mine during the 1950s. All that is left today is a small portion of Erie Street, along with Evergreen Cemetery, Saginaw subdivision and Lowell Middle School. These days Lowell is considered by most of the local residents to be more of a place name than an operating community.
San Jose, on the southern side of the
Mule Mountains
The Mule Mountains are a north/south running mountain range located in the south-central area of Cochise County, Arizona. The highest peak, Mount Ballard, rises to . Prior to mining operations commencing there, the mountains were heavily f ...
, is the most modern of the city's subdivisions. As it is not restricted by mountains, it has had the most new growth since the late 1990s. Named after a nearby Mexican mountain peak, it is the location of many newer county government buildings, the Huachuca Terrace Elementary School, and a large shopping center.
Current state of mining industry
In 2007,
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold bought
Phelps-Dodge company. Freeport has invested in Bisbee by remediating soil contaminated in previous mining operations, donations to the school system, and other civic activities.
Geography
Arizona State Route 80 runs through the city, leading northwest to
Tombstone
A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The us ...
and to
Benson, and east to
Douglas. The Mexican border at Naco is south of the center of Bisbee.
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , all land.
Natural vegetation around Bisbee has a semi-desert appearance with shrubby
acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...
,
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
and the like, along with
cacti
A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...
,
grass
Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...
,
ocotillo and
yucca
''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...
. The town itself is much more luxuriant with large trees such as native
cypress
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America.
The word ''cypress'' ...
,
sycamore
Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning .
Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore:
* ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...
and
cottonwood plus the introduced
ailanthus
''Ailanthus'' (; derived from ''ailanto,'' an Ambonese Malay, Ambonese word probably meaning "tree of the gods" or "tree of heaven") is a genus of trees belonging to the family Simaroubaceae, in the order Sapindales (formerly Rutales or Geranial ...
and Old World
cypresses,
cedars and
pines
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.
''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as ...
.
Palms are capable of growing tall, but are not reliably hardy. At least one mature
blue spruce may be seen.
Climate
Bisbee is a typical
semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''BSk'') of the upland
Mountain West. Summer days are warm to hot and dry before the
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
brings the wettest season from July to September with of Bisbee's total annual rainfall of , often with severe thunderstorms. During the winter, frontal cloudbands may bring occasional rainfall or even snowfall, though average maxima in the winter are typically very mild and sometimes even warm.
Demographics
Bisbee first appeared on the 1890 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It did not appear on the 1900 census, despite having a population of thousands (many unincorporated communities were not reported). In 1902, it incorporated as a city and has appeared on every census since 1910. On September 10, 1959, it incorporated the adjacent unincorporated villages of Lowell-South Bisbee (1950 pop. 1,136) and Warren (pop. 2,610).
As of the census
of 2000, there were 6,090 people, 2,810 households, and 1,503 families residing in the city. The population density was . As of the
2020 U.S. Census Redistricting Data there were 3,138 housing units (21.5% of which were vacant or possibly secondary homes) at an average density of . The racial and ethnic makeup of the city (where race/ethnicity of residents was known) was 65.2%
non-Hispanic White
Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...
, 29.2% of the population were
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race, 0.7%
Non-Hispanic Black or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.6%
Non-Hispanic Native American, 0.5%
Non-Hispanic Asian, 0.1%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.5% from
other races, and 3.3% from two or more races.
There were 2,810 households, out of which 21.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.8% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.5% were non-families. 39.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.90.
An analysis of United States Census Bureau data by researchers at The
Williams Institute at the
UCLA School of Law
The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles.
History
Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...
found that, on a proportional basis, Bisbee had more gay couples living together than anywhere else in the state. The ratio was 20.9 for every 1,000 households.
In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 21.6% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,942, and the median income for a family was $36,685. Males had a median income of $29,573 versus $23,269 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $17,129. About 12.9% of families and 17.5% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 23.2% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.
Arts and culture
The Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb is a five-kilometer run through the city that traverses 1,034 stairs. Billed as "the most unique physical fitness challenge in the USA!" by the organizers, the Climb includes runners being serenaded by musicians at various locations among the stairs. The event has grown to include the Ice Man Competition, designed to honor the history of men delivering blocks of ice by hand before the advent of refrigeration. In the Ice Man Competition, entrants race up 155 steps carrying a ten-pound block of ice with antique ice tongs.
Since 2015, Bisbee has hosted an annual Blues festival during the second week of September. The festival effectively lengthens the tourist season, and provides a large amount of business to local bars and breweries.
Sites of interest
*
Bisbee Municipal Airport
* The Central School, built in 1905, was once an elementary school and now functions as an art center.
* The
Cochise County Courthouse is built in the Art Deco style.
* The
Copper Queen Mine was once a major copper producer and can be toured daily.
* The
Phelps Dodge General Office Building, a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
, is now the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum
* The
Lavender Pit is an inactive open pit mine site in the center of the city.
*
Warren Ballpark, a
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
stadium built in 1909, has housed a number of professional teams and may be baseball's oldest park still in use.
File:Cochise_County_courthouse,_Bisbee,_Arizona.jpg, Cochise County Courthouse
File:CopperQueenMineTour.jpg, Copper Queen Mine Tour
File:BisbeeMiningandHistoricalMuseum.jpg, Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum
File:The Lavender Pit, Bisbee, AZ.jpg, The Lavender Pit
File:Copper Queen Hotel, Bisbee AZ.jpg, Copper Queen Hotel
File:Evergreen Cemetery Bisbee.jpg, Evergreen Cemetery
File:Bisbee, Arizona 1990.jpg, Downtown Bisbee, 1990
File:Bisbee SW03.jpg, Copper Man statue
File:Bisbee in the snow.jpg, A view of Bisbee, Arizona after a heavy snowfall in February 2021
Sports
In 1908 Bisbee joined with the town of
Clifton to form a
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
team that travelled to
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
to play the Santa Monica Cricket Club in two games overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the grounds of the Polo Field. The team lost both cricket games. ''The Copper Echo'' reported that Bennie, the general manager of the Shannon Company Copper Mine, was the team's best cricketer.
Bisbee was home to a
minor league baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
franchise. The
Bisbee Bees played as members of the
Arizona State League and
Arizona-Texas League.
Government
Bisbee is governed via the mayor-council system. The city council consists of six members who are elected from three wards, each ward elects two members. The mayor is elected in a direct citywide vote.
In 2013, the city council received public notoriety when it proposed same-sex
civil union
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...
s and shortly after became the first municipality in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
to pass a civil union law. The state's Attorney General,
Tom Horne
Thomas Charles Horne (born March 28, 1945) is an American politician, attorney, businessman, and activist who has served as the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2023 and previously from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican P ...
, threatened to sue, but decided against it after Bisbee amended the ordinance; the civil union ordinance came into effect July 5, 2013. "Bisbee was the first in Arizona to approve civil unions, with
Tucson
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
,
Jerome
Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome.
He is best known ...
and
Clarkdale following."
Infrastructure
Transportation
Bisbee administers the Bisbee Bus System which is, in fact, operated by the city of
Douglas under contract, with regularly scheduled services from Monday through Saturday within Bisbee and to
Naco; one-way fare is $1; The city of Douglas also operates the Cochise Connection, with regular shuttle services between
Douglas, Bisbee, and
Sierra Vista; one-way fare is $3–4.
Notable people
*
Buster Adams, professional baseball player
*
Betty Bays (1931–1992),
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley, which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...
*
Ben Chase, NFL player
*
Gib Dawson,
NFL player
*
James Douglas, Canadian metallurgist and founder of the
Copper Queen Mine
*
Lewis Williams Douglas (1894–1974), politician, businessman diplomat and academic
*
M. J. Frankovich,
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
quarterback, movie producer (''
The Shootist
''The Shootist'' is a 1976 American Western film directed by Don Siegel and based on Glendon Swarthout's 1975 novel of the same name,Swarthout, Glendon (1975). ''The Shootist'', New York, New York: Doubleday. and written by Miles Hood Swart ...
'', ''
Cactus Flower)''
*
Jess Hartley, author, blogger and game designer for
White Wolf Games
*
Earl Hindman (1942–2003), actor
*
J. A. Jance, author
*
Jake LaMotta ("The Raging Bull"), former middleweight prizefighting champion
*
Clarence Maddern, professional baseball player ca. 1946–1951
*
James F. McNulty Jr. (1925–2009), member of the U.S. House of Representatives
*
William Milam, diplomat and former US Ambassador to
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
*
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
, Corporation Commissioner, former state representative, former Cochise County Supervisor
*
Richard Shelton, author
*
William P. Sims, Arizona state senator
*
Doug Stanhope
Doug Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actor, political activist and podcast host. His stand-up material consist of profane and confrontational observations of life.
Early life
Stanhope was born in Worcest ...
, comedian and writer
*
Betsy Thornton, writer
*
Dawson Trotman, (1906–1956) Founder of
The Navigators Born in Bisbee
*
Ken Westerfield, disc sports (
Frisbee) pioneer, hall of fame, showman, promoter
*
Jack Williamson
John Stewart Williamson (April 29, 1908 – November 10, 2006) was an American list of science fiction authors, science fiction writer, one of several called the "Dean of Science Fiction". He is also credited with one of the first uses of the t ...
, science-fiction writer, born 1908, in Bisbee
*
Peter Young Peter or Pete Young may refer to:
Sports
* Peter Dalton Young (1927–2002), English rugby union player
* Peter Young (cricketer, born 1961), Australian cricketer
* Pete Young (born 1968), American baseball player
* Peter Young (rugby league) (fl. ...
, artist
In popular culture
Film and television
* The 2018 documentary ''Bisbee '17'' chronicled the
Bisbee Deportation
The Bisbee Deportation was the illegal kidnapping and deportation of about 1,300 strike action, striking mine workers, their supporters, and citizen bystanders by 2,000 members of a deputized posse comitatus (common law), posse, who arrested t ...
on the 100th anniversary of the incident.
* ''
Violent Saturday'' (1955) was filmed in Bisbee
* In ''
L.A. Confidential'' (1997), Lynn Bracken (portrayed by
Kim Basinger) is from Bisbee, as revealed by the hand-embroidered cushion in her bedroom.
* In episode six of the first season of
''Supernatural'', Dean Winchester lies about being a detective in Bisbee as a cover.
* In ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...
'', the biological parents of the fictional version of
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...
are from Bisbee.
Novels
* J. A. Jance's
Joanna Brady novels are often set in Bisbee.
Video game
* The fictional town of Paradise, Arizona from the 2003 video game
Postal 2 is based on Bisbee.
See also
*
Arizona Cactus Botanical Garden
*
Bisbee-Douglas International Airport
*
Bisbee Riot
*
List of historic properties in Bisbee, Arizona
*
Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory
*
*
Warren–Bisbee Railway
References
Further reading
* Martinelli, Phylis Cancilla. ''Undermining Race: Ethnic Identities in Arizona Copper Camps, 1880–1920'' (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2009). xii, 225 pp.
* Graeme, R.W., 1987, "Bisbee, Arizona's Dowager Queen of Mining Camps; A Look at Her First 50 Years", in ''History of Mining in Arizona'', vol. 1. Full text
External links
*
*
Warren– ghosttowns.com
{{Authority control
Bisbee, Arizona,
1880 establishments in Arizona Territory
Artist colonies
Cities in Arizona
Cities in Cochise County, Arizona
Cochise County conflict
Company towns in Arizona
County seats in Arizona
Geological type localities
Industrial Workers of the World in Arizona
Mining communities in Arizona
Populated places established in 1880