On this day in 1871…

The State Library has been finalizing moving our collections this month—but this is nothing new! This item from the LOCAL MATTERS section of the June 24, 1871 Arizona Citizen notes books coming to the Territorial Library courtesy of Governor R.C. McCormick. Tucson was the territorial capitol from 1867 to 1877.

Arizona Citizen

Due to the shifting nature of Arizona’s capitol—it was in Prescott before, and then Tucson from 1877 to 1889, until finally settling in Phoenix—there were no buildings in Tucson built for that purpose. Contemporary newspapers mention the library, but not its location. Territorial business took place in buildings on the southeast corner of Ochoa and Convent, so the library may have been there.

Lon Megargee and Public Works of Art

Lon Megargee’s 1934 work The Farmer was part of the Public Works of Art Project, a precursor to the WPA. The Arizona Capitol Museum has a large collection of Megargee’s paintings.

The Farmer 1934  

“Lon Megargee was born in Philadelphia in 1883. He changed the spelling of his last name to Megargee and the story of his past while he made his way westward into the Arizona Territory around 1896. Megargee was one of the first cowboy artists. He studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design.

Home on the Range

Although he was successful as an artist, Megargee’s wild cowboy lifestyle usually led him to financial instability. His success in art was almost always countered with bankruptcy and pleas to friends and supporters for more money. He was described as an “incurable romantic,” and married at least seven times. Although personal problems would always plague him, Lon Megargee was always a successful painter throughout his life. He is well-known for creating iconic images such as the Stetson logo and A-1 beer posters, as well as his collection of paintings commissioned by the State of Arizona.” – Lon Megargee Paintings at the Arizona Capitol Museum. 

On this day in 1903

Bisbee Daily Review June 10th, 1903

Fourteen years after the famous flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and fourteen years before famous miners’ strike and deportation in Bisbee, both sorts of events combined in Clifton and Morenci. Even newspaper coverage had to devote two huge headlines to the troubles. The Bisbee Daily Review – using a wire story from the El Paso newspaper, as the wires were down in Clifton– reported “A Cloud burst sent a breast of water down Chase creek eight feet high, sweeping everything before it. It is known now that more than thirty people were drowned and property valued at $40,000 destroyed. Seven bodies had already been recovered.”

Yet immediately below that story, “Two Thousand Armed Strikers Parade the Streets of Morenci for One Hour In a Pouring Rain.”

The strike had begun about June 3 and did not end until almost a week after the storm, and ultimately required the presence of state and federal troops. Workers in Clifton and Morenci would strike again in 1915.