Tombstone

History

Tombstone was founded on land historically inhabited by the Hohokam people, who lived in southern Arizona for over 2,000 years. The town was established in 1879 on a mesa above the Goodenough Mine. By 1880, the town had many saloons, gambling halls, dance halls, and brothels. It also boasted four churches, three newspapers, two banks, an ice house, and an ice cream parlor. In those days, the more respectable denizens of Tombstone attended theatrical productions presented by visiting troupes at the Schieffelin Hall, while the miners and cowboys preferred shows at the Bird Cage Theatre. Underlying political tensions rapidly escalated as the population increased. The townspeople and the owners of the mines were largely from the Northern states, while the ranchers were mostly Confederate sympathizers. Only from the Mexico–United States border, the city was a market for cattle stolen from ranches in Sonora, Mexico, by a loosely organized band of outlaws known as the Cochise County Cowboys. The Earp brothers (Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan) and Doc Holliday had ongoing conflicts with Cowboys Ike and Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, and Billy Claiborne. The Cowboys repeatedly threatened the Earps, until the conflict escalated into a gunfight on October 26, 1881. Although the gunfight is often portrayed as occurring at the O.K. Corral, it actually occurred a short distance away, in an empty lot on Fremont Street. Beginning in 1880, the silver mines penetrated the water table, requiring the installation of pumps to dewater the mines. In 1886, a fire destroyed the pumping station, and it was deemed unprofitable to rebuild the costly pumps. The city nearly became a ghost town, saved only by the fact that it was the seat of Cochise County at that time. The city's population…

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Tombstone High School
  High · Tombstone · 451 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Walter J Meyer School
  Elementary · Tombstone · 155 students · 17.2:1 ratio
• CTD - Tombstone High School
  High · Tombstone