Douglas, Arizona

Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, USA. Douglas has a border crossing with Mexico and a history of mining.

The population was 14,312 at the 2000 census. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 17,016.

Geography

Douglas is located at (31.344911, -109.541376).

Douglas stands on the U.S.-Mexico border, across from the city of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.

History

Douglas was founded as a smelter town, to treat the copper ores of nearby Bisbee, Arizona. The town is named after mining pioneer James Douglas. Two copper smelters operated at the site. The Calumet and Arizona Company Smelter was built in 1902. The Copper Queen operated in Douglas from 1904 until 1931, when the Phelps-Dodge Corporation purchased the Calumet and Arizona Company and took over their smelter. The Calumet and Arizona smelter then became the Douglas Reduction Works. Douglas was the site of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation Douglas Reduction Works until its closure in 1987.

The town was a site of the Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983.

The "Cowboys Home Saloon " was the location of the fatal shooting of bar owner Lorenzo "Lon" Bass. The accused was Arizona Ranger William W. Webb. The date was February 8, 1903. A full report can be read in The Arizona Rangers by Bill ONeal pub, Eakin Press Austin Texas.

Sights

Douglas is home to the historic Gadsden Hotel, which opened in 1907. Named for the Gadsden Purchase, the stately five-story, 160-room hotel became a home away from home for cattlemen, ranchers, miners, and businessmen. The hotel was leveled by fire and rebuilt in 1929. The Gadsden is recognized as a National Historic Site. The Gadsden's spacious main lobby is majestically set with a solid white Italian marble staircase and four soaring marble columns. An authentic Tiffany & Co. stained glass mural extends forty-two feet across one wall of the massive mezzanine. An impressive oil painting by Audley Jean Nichols is just below the Tiffany window. Vaulted stained glass skylights run the full length of the lobby.

Slaughter's Ranch Slaughter's Ranch is a synonym for San Bernardino Ranch, which was originally established in Mexico and covered thousands of acres. The new US-Mexico border of the Gadsden Purchase sliced through the ranch. It is still called San Bernardino today (2008), but is affectionately known as Slaughter's Ranch almost 100 years after John Slaughter's death.

"Centuries before the first white explorers discovered the land now called Arizona, this fertile valley served as a major corridor for migrating Indians. In time, the grasses and streams attracted wandering Athabaskan peoples, the Apaches, who would prove so troublesome to Anglo-American pioneers. Next to arrive were the Spanish, in an imperial procession of conquistadors, missionaries, soldiers, colonists. Although Slaughter was born in Louisiana, his family moved to Texas when he was a baby where they were known for their huge cattle ranches. Slaughter became acquainted with the ways of the Indian growing up and became an excellent tracker and marksman which proved valuable in later life. Slaughter was small in stature but that did not deter him from becoming a man to be feared and respected by those on the side of the law--and by those who were not--when he was elected Sheriff of Cochise County in 1886. In 1822, an original Mexican land grant of was sold to Ignacio Perez for 90 pesos plus fees. An earthquake in 1887 destroyed the original buildings which Slaughter had built for his in-laws. After his second term as sheriff, he moved to the ranch and the present house was built. in 1893. Our future lay within it and it was beautiful." Little did she realize the impact her husband and this ranch would have for generations to come. It became a beautiful oasis in the desert.

El Paso and Southwestern Railroad depot was an important train station. It transported copper to large manufacturing concerns in the east. The depot is considered one of the finest examples of railway architecture of the early 1900s. The building is now used for the Douglas police station and is just one of 400 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Douglas.

The Douglas Grand Theatre was built in 1919 and was considered to be the largest and most beautiful theater between Los Angeles and San Antonio. Ginger Rogers, Anna Pavlova and John Philip Sousa are some of the few famous faces to have graced the theater’s stage. It also housed a tea room, candy store and barbershop in its glory days.On most halloweens they use it as a attraction called "Haunted House" until today the theater is undergoing reconstruction.

Chiricahua National Monument

Twenty seven million years ago a volcanic eruption of immense proportions shook the land around Chiricahua National Monument. One thousand times greater than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the Turkey Creek Caldera eruption eventually laid down of highly silicious ash and pumice. This mixture fused into a rock called rhyolitic tuff and eventually eroded into the spires and unusual rock formations of today. The Monument is a mecca for hikers and birders. At the intersection of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts, and the southern Rocky Mountains and northern Sierra Madre in Mexico, Chiricahua plants and animals represent one of the premier areas for biological diversity in the northern hemisphere. The Chiricahua Apaches took refuge here during hostilities with whites, and after Geronimo surrendered, in 1886, Bonita Canyon was settled by Swedish immigrants Neil and Emma Erickson. Their daughter and her husband turned the homestead into a guest ranch and worked to make the area a national park. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge designated the area a national monument. The homestead was named Faraway Ranch by the family. The property was sold to the National Park Service in 1979, and it became a historic district.

Notable residents

John Slaughter, Cochise County Sheriff (1886-1896), rancher, gunfighter, cattleman, businessman, community leader in Douglas' early years, and a champion for Arizona's statehood. He and his wife Viola are buried in Calvary Cemetery in Douglas.

World War I wife Hazel Carter was from Douglas.

James Dent, DHS class of '24 was later Superintendent of Schools for the Mt. Diablo Unified District, Contra Costa County, CA.

Western songwriter Stan Jones, (June 14, 1914 to December 13, 1963) who wrote "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and is in the Western Music Association Hall of Fame, was born and raised in Douglas.

Bill Melendez, born Jose Cuauhtemoc Melendez in Mexico in 1916, was educated in the public schools of Douglas as a child. A character animator, film producer and film director, he is best known for his work as the voice of Snoopy in the Charlie Brown series.

Manny Farber, an iconoclastic stylist who achieved prominence first as film critic and later as a painter was born in Douglas in 1917.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 14,312 people, 4,526 households, and 3,453 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,852.7 people per square mile (715.8/km²). There were 5,186 housing units at an average density of 671.3/sq mi (259.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 63.20% White, 0.49% Black or African American, 1.08% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 31.81% from other races, and 2.90% from two or more races. 85.98% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 4,526 households out of which 42.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.1% were married couples living together, 22.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.07 and the average family size was 3.59.

In the city the population was spread out with 33.5% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $20,567, and the median income for a family was $22,425. Males had a median income of $25,320 versus $18,447 for females. The per capita income for the city was $10,232. About 32.1% of families and 36.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 49.0% of those under age 18 and 21.7% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

• Douglas, AZ website
• Douglas, AZ Real Estate
• The Douglas Daily Dispatch
• CityData