Holbrook

History

The Holbrook area was inhabited first by the Ancestral Puebloans, then Puebloans, then the Navajo and Apache. In 1540 Coronado searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola and camped some east of Holbrook. Coronado sent an expedition west to find the Colorado River, 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 Hopis to the Grand Canyon. After the Mexican–American War 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 Puerco River and Little Colorado Rivers two miles east of Holbrook, and the area became known as Horsehead Crossing. In 1876, Mormons 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 Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The railroad sold a million acres to a Boston investment group which established the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, better known as the Hashknife Outfit. 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. The Hashknife Outfit hired cowboys, many of whom were wanted men hiding from arrest.…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. Holbrook has a cold desert climate (BWk) with cold to cool winters and hot summers. Although the mean snowfall is , the median is zero, so the majority of winters do not have measurable snow. There are high diurnal temperature variations year-round.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Holbrook High School
  High · HOLBROOK · 660 students · 16.9:1 ratio
• Hulet Elementary School
  Elementary · HOLBROOK · 350 students · 15.9:1 ratio
• Holbrook Junior High School
  Middle · HOLBROOK · 347 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Park Elementary School
  Elementary · HOLBROOK · 148 students · 10.6:1 ratio
• Joseph City High School
  High · Joseph City · 137 students · 10.5:1 ratio
• Joseph City Junior High School
  Middle · Joseph City · 116 students · 8.9:1 ratio
• Navajo County Instruction for Success (NCIS)
  High · HOLBROOK · 16 students · 16:1 ratio
• NAVIT - Northland Pioneer College PDC
  High · HOLBROOK · 5 students