Holbrook () is a city in

Navajo County, Arizona Navajo County () is a county in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 106,717. The county seat is Holbrook. Navajo County comprises the Show Low, Arizona Micropolitan Statistical Area. N ...

, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city was 5,053. The city is 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 Navajo County. Holbrook was founded in 1881 or 1882, when the railroad was built, and named to honor the first chief engineer of the

Atlantic and Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was an American railroad that owned or operated two individual segments of track. One connected St. Louis, Missouri, with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connected Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Needles in Southe ...

, Henry Randolph Holbrook.

History

The Holbrook area was inhabited first by the

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southe ...

, then

Puebloans The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos Pueblo, Taos, San Il ...

, then the

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

and

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

. In 1540

Coronado Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) Coronado is a Spanish surname derived from the village of Cornado, near A Coruña, Galicia. People with the name * Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred t ...

searched for the

Seven Cities of Cibola The myth of the Seven Cities of Gold, also known as the Seven Cities of Cíbola (), was popular in the 16th century and later featured in several works of popular culture. According to legend, the seven cities of gold referred to Aztec mythology ...

and camped some east of Holbrook. Coronado sent an expedition west to find the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, and they crossed the Little Colorado some east of Holbrook and found a wonderland of colors they named "El Desierto Pintada" – The Painted Desert. The expedition was then led by the

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

s to the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

U.S. settlements

After the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

ended in 1848 the area was ceded to the United States. From 1851 to 1857 the U.S. Army sent three expeditions along the 35th parallel, the third led by Lt. Beale who created a wide wagon road. The area was known as Navajo Springs, after a spring a dozen miles northeast of Holbrook. Soon afterwards a store and saloon were established at the confluence of the

Rio Puerco The Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source on the west side of the Nacimiento Mountains, it flows about ,Calculated in Google Earth generally south to join the Rio Grande about south of ...

and Little Colorado Rivers two miles east of Holbrook, and the area became known as Horsehead Crossing. In 1876,

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

s emigrated from Utah and began settlements near Horsehead Crossing on both the Little Colorado and Rio Puerco rivers. During 1881 and 1882, railroad tracks were laid down and a railroad station was built to supply wood and water and to freight supplies south to Fort Apache. The community was then named Holbrook after the first engineer of the

. The railroad sold a million acres to a Boston investment group which established the

Aztec Land and Cattle Company The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

, better known as the

Hashknife Outfit Aztec Land and Cattle Company, Limited ("Aztec") is a land company with a historic presence in Arizona. It was formed in 1884 and incorporated in early 1885 as a cattle ranching operation that purchased 1,000,000 acres in northern Arizona from th ...

. It leased another million acres of government land and became one of the largest cattle ranches to ever exist. Holbrook became its headquarters and quickly grew into a cow-town.

Wild west cow-town

The

hired cowboys, many of whom were wanted men hiding from arrest. Rustling of cattle and horses over two million acres plagued the Hashknife Outfit. With cowmen, sheepmen, farmers, rustlers and outlaws competing for the same land, a range war ensued, called both the

Pleasant Valley War The Pleasant Valley War, sometimes called the Tonto Basin Feud, or Tonto Basin War, or Tewksbury-Graham Feud, was a range war fought in Pleasant Valley, Arizona in the years 1882–1892. The conflict involved two feuding families, the Grahams an ...

and the Tonto Basin War. It likely killed as many men as any of the western range wars. Many of the events that played out during the Pleasant Valley War up to 1887 occurred in and around Holbrook, including the famous Holbrook Shootout.

Holbrook shootout

On September 4, 1887,

Commodore Perry Owens Commodore Perry Owens (July 29, 1852 – May 10, 1919) was an American lawman and gunfighter of the Old West. One of his many exploits was the Pleasant Valley War#Owens-Blevins Shootout, Owens-Blevins Shootout in Arizona Territory during the Pl ...

, the Apache County Sheriff, came to Holbrook to arrest Andy Blevins, a.k.a. Andy Cooper, for horse theft. Blevins had also recently bragged about killing two men and had killed many more, including two lawmen. Sheriff Owens insisted on confronting the Blevins brothers alone, knowing there would likely be a shootout. He went to the Blevins' house, which still stands, knocked on the door, and when Blevins asked what he wanted, announced he'd come to arrest him. Blevins resisted arrest and a shootout occurred. Blevins, two brothers, a friend, and Blevins' horse were shot; all died, except one brother. Owens emerged unscathed, despite being shot at from a half-dozen feet (2 m) away. Owens single-handedly taking on four men made him a western legend rivaling the Earp Brothers and Texas John Slaughter as lawmen of the Old West.

Later development

Holbrook was known as "the town too tough for women and churches" and in 1914 was said to be the only county seat in the U.S. that didn't have a church (the Mormons had moved 25 miles (40 km) south to Snowflake and Taylor). The original railroad station was replaced by the Santa Fe Depot in 1892. Navajo County was divided off of Apache County in 1895 and Holbrook became the county seat. Many lawmen and cowboys from the area became

Rough Riders The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see combat. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and diso ...

with

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

in the late 1800s. But by 1902, The Hashknife Outfit was bankrupt and the land was sold to the Babbitt brothers. President Roosevelt named the

Petrified Forest Petrified wood (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of ''fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial plant, terrestrial vegetation. ''Petrifaction ...

(including part of the Painted Desert) a National Monument in 1906. Holbrook was incorporated in 1917. Most of the Beale Wagon Road became

Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

in 1926 and passed through both the Petrified Forest and Holbrook. Tourism started taking over the economy.

Holbrook meteorite

Arizona is famous for its huge

Meteor Crater Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is an impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called ...

, but Holbrook also witnessed its own small meteor event. In the evening of July 19, 1912, a smoke trail appeared in the sky and soon after, at 7:15 p.m., a meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kilograms (419 pounds) exploded high in the atmosphere. An estimated 16,000 or more minor fragments rained down over Navajo County in an area approximately east of Holbrook. The primary explosion was heard at least away, and one of the witnesses in Holbrook, then 17-year-old Pauline McCleve, described the event as the loudest sound she ever heard. The largest piece of the Holbrook Meteorite that has been recovered was found shortly after. It weighs and resides at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

in Tempe. The Holbrook meteorite was found to be of the

chondrite A chondrite is a stony (non-metallic) meteorite that has not been modified by either melting or planetary differentiation, differentiation of the parent body. They are formed when various types of dust and small grains in the early Solar Syste ...

(stony) type.

Geography

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.

Climate

Holbrook has a

cold desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWk'') with cold to cool winters and hot summers. Although the mean snowfall is , the

median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

is zero, so the majority of winters do not have measurable snow. There are high

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

s year-round.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 4,917 people, 1,626 households, and 1,195 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,906 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 59.3% White, 24.0% Native American, 2.4% Black or African American, 1.0% Asian, 8.4% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. 23.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 1,626 households, out of which 40.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.5% were non-families. Of all households 22.6% were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.93 and the average family size was 3.47. In the city, the population was spread out, with 35.7% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males. The median income for a household in the city was $31,746, and the median income for a family was $36,349. Males had a median income of $30,797 versus $24,088 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 $13,912. About 16.6% of families and 20.1% 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 25.7% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.

Points of interest

Petrified Forest National Park Petrified Forest National Park is a national park of the United States in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about , encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as wel ...

is located east of Holbrook, the nearest city to the park. * The Navajo County Courthouse in downtown Holbrook was built in 1898. It is now used by the Navajo County Historical Society and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. *

Wigwam Motel The Wigwam Motels, also known as the "Wigwam Villages", is a motel chain in the United States built during the 1930s and 1940s. The rooms are built in the form of tipis, mistakenly referred to as wigwams. It originally had seven different locati ...

on Hopi Drive. Built in 1950, it is listed in the

as Wigwam Village #6. * Historic

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

runs through Holbrook. * Bucket of Blood Street was ranked 6th in "wackiest street names", according to a 2006 poll by Car Connection website. * Arizona Rancho, in or near Holbrook, is NRHP-listed * Sidney Sapp House, 215 W. Hopi in Holbrook is NRHP-listed * South Central Avenue Commercial Historic District in Holbrook is NRHP-listed * Several historic bridges near Holbrook are also NRHP-listed

Education

; Primary and secondary schools The city is served by the

Holbrook Unified School District Holbrook Unified School District is a school district based in Holbrook, Arizona, United States. Currently it is one of the highest paying school districts in Navajo County. Holbrook USD serves the majority of the city of Holbrook and several ...

and serves 2324 students. Three elementary schools: Park Elementary School (K–2) and Hulet Elementary School (3–5) serve the city and Indian Wells Elementary (K–6) serves the northern parts of the school district. Holbrook Junior High School (6–8) and Holbrook High School (9–12) serve the city. A portion of Holbrook's land is in the

Joseph City Unified School District Joseph City Unified School District #2, also known as Joseph City Schools, is a school district headquartered in Joseph City, Arizona. Joseph City Junior/Senior High School is its junior high and high school. The district also operates an el ...

. ; Colleges and universities One of the four main campuses of

Northland Pioneer College Northland Pioneer College (NPC) is a public community college serving the communities of northeastern Arizona. Campuses are located in four of the largest Navajo County communities: Holbrook, Show Low, Snowflake, and Winslow. Five centers are l ...

community college is located in Holbrook. The other three main campuses are in Show Low,

Snowflake A snowflake is a single ice crystal that is large enough to fall through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. 1, pp. 100–107.Hobbs, P.V. 1974. Ice Physics. Oxford: C ...

, and Winslow, all in Navajo County, Arizona. ; Public libraries The Holbrook Public Library is located in Holbrook.Member Libraries
." Navajo County Public Library District. Retrieved on January 21, 2011.

Transportation

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

serves Holbrook on its Los Angeles-New York line. White Mountain Connection, operated by the City of Show Low connects Holbrook with Show Low. Holbrook is a junction between

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

U.S. Route 180 U.S. Route 180 is an east–west United States highway. Like many three-digit routes, US 180 no longer meets its "parent", US 80. US 80 was decommissioned west of Mesquite, Texas, and was replaced in Texas by Interstate 20 and Interstate 1 ...

, and

Arizona State Route 77 State Route 77 (SR 77) is a long state highway in Arizona that traverses much of the state's length, stretching from its southern terminus at a junction with I-10 in Tucson to its northern terminus with BIA Route 6 at the Navajo Nation boundar ...

Arizona State Route 377 State Route 377, also known as SR 377, is a state highway in northeast Arizona traveling from northeast to southwest; it begins at a junction with State Route 77 south of Holbrook, goes past Dry Lake, to end at State Route 277 east of Heber ...

meets Arizona State Route 77 at the southern edge of Holbrook.

Notable people

Mike Budenholzer Michael Vincent Budenholzer (born August 6, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach who most recently served as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Budenholzer previously head coached the M ...

, head coach of the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

* Chester Crandell, politician *

Gene Evans Eugene Barton Evans (July 11, 1922 – April 1, 1998) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television series, television films, and feature films between 1947 and 1989. Early life Evans was born in Holbrook, Arizona and raised i ...

, actor * Eric B. Shumway, president of

Brigham Young University–Hawaii Brigham Young University–Hawaii (BYU–Hawaii) is a private college in Laie, Hawaii, United States. It is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). BYU–Hawaii was founded in 1955 and it became a sate ...

* Aaron Yazzie, mechanical engineer at NASA's

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

Nearest cities and towns

* Heber-Overgaard *

Joseph City Joseph City (elevation 5,000 ft) is a Census Designated Place located in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It is located on Interstate 40, approximately eighty miles east of Flagstaff and about thirty-five miles west of Petrified Fo ...

* Sun Valley * Winslow * Woodruff

References

External links

City of Holbrook

Holbrook community profile
from Arizona Department of Commerce {{authority control Cities in Navajo County, Arizona County seats in Arizona U.S. Route 66 in Arizona Populated places established in 1881 1881 establishments in Arizona Territory Cities in Arizona