John
Wayne stayed at the "Cottonwood Hotel" in 1946
during his filming of “Angel & the Bad Man” |
Walking
Tour
of Historic Old Town Cottonwood
The best way to
explore Old Town Cottonwood is on foot, says Nancy Elkins,
a former Verde Valley tour guide. You’ll get to stroll
through history.
Old Town
Cottonwood’s commercial district has nearly three dozen
buildings that date back to the 1920s and 30s. In fact,
Old Town has so much Prohibition Era flavor that the whole
district—from 712 N. Main Street to 1124 N. Main
Street—is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. |
Start
your four-block tour at the Old Town Association’s Visitor
Center at 1101 North Main Street, where you can pick up a map of
the area. The small stone building was once a county jail.
If you ask, you can walk back to view two metal-enclosed
cells that were built the year the stock market crashed (1929)
to contain wrongdoers and bootleggers, some of whom had set the
town on fire when their stills exploded.
Did
You Know?
Old Town Cottonwood had its
beginnings in the late 1800s, but fires destroyed all
the early frame structures, including a boardwalk. |
Just
northwest of the old jail is Cottonwood Bridge, one of two
river-rock bridges that bookend Old Town. Both were built in the
1930s as public works projects. The other bridge—Del Monte
Wash Bridge—is south of 791 N. Main Street.
Opposite the jail and over the Cottonwood Bridge is the
oldest concrete building in Cottonwood—1124 N. Main Street It
dates back to 1917 when it was a mercantile. The building still
has underground tunnels and shelves.
|
Other notable
buildings on North Main Street include: |
| On the west
side of the street |
1004 N Main: the 1926
building used to be a speakeasy for Joe Hall, “the
bootleg king of Arizona.” Hall hid a supply of whisky
beneath the floor of the back room. |
| 930 N. Main: Cottonwood
Hotel, the oldest hotel in Cottonwood. It was visited by
such celebrities as John Wayne, Gail Russell and Elvis
Presley. |
| 914 N. Main: Home to the Rialto Theater before it burned down. Scarring
from the fire is still visible on the interior walls. |
| On the east
side of the street |
805 N. Main: Cottonwood
Civic Center, with its river-rock face, was built by the
WPA in 1939. It served as the town’s clubhouse. During
World War II, it was converted to barracks for naval
cadets. |
| 901 N. Main: The building
has a large outdoor mural, depicting Arizona’s Native
American and frontier history. |
| 1025 N. Main: Originally
part of a grocery store, the building has an intricate and
beautifully preserved hammered tin ceiling. |
|
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