Arizona Pioneers' Home
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Arizona Pioneers' Home
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Arizona Pioneers' Home ca. 1912
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| Location | Prescott, Arizona, USA |
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| Coordinates | 34°32′15″N 112°28′25″W / 34.5375°N 112.473611°WCoordinates: 34°32′15″N 112°28′25″W / 34.5375°N 112.473611°W |
| Built | 1911 |
| Architect | W.S. Elliott |
| NRHP Reference # | 95001363 |
| Added to NRHP | November 20, 1995 |
The Arizona Pioneers' Home, also known as the Home for Arizona Pioneers and State Hospital for Disabled Miners, is a retirement home in Prescott, Arizona, established to provide housing for early Arizona pioneers. The home is operated and funded by the state of Arizona. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the early 1900s, the idea for a retirement home in the Arizona Territory originated with three prominent Arizonans: Major A. J. Doran, a judge and territorial representative; rancher Johnny Duke; and businessman Frank M. Murphy, the brother of former Arizona territorial governor Oakes Murphy. They thought that Arizona should provide a rest home for aging settlers who moved to Arizona to help establish the area. Doran sponsored a bill to fund the idea, presented to the 24th Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1907, but it was not passed. Journalist Sharlot Hall handled clerical duties regarding the bill. Submitted again in 1909, both houses of the legislature passed the bill, and Territorial Governor Joseph Henry Kibbey signed the bill into law on March 11, 1909. Sited on a prominent granite hill overlooking Prescott's town square, Murphy put up 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) of his land for the building. Judge T.G. Norris later donated adjacent land for expansion. To design the building, a female architect was selected: W.S. Elliott of Prescott, who had come to prominence for her work on St. Joseph's Academy. The three-story retirement home, built of brick with wooden porticos, was completed at a cost of $25,000. Doors opened on February 1, 1911, with Doran as supervisor. Doran presided for the first year, during which time Arizona became a state.
When first built, the rest home could hold 40 men. It was open to destitute men who were at least 60 years old and who had been living in Arizona for 25 years. In 1916, a private endowment provided for expansion with a women's wing added to house 20 women. The building was opened to disabled miners in 1927.
Big Nose Kate, born Mary Katherine Horony, was admitted to the home in 1931 after six months of applications, finally appealing successfully to her longtime friend, governor George W. P. Hunt. Kate, once the common-law wife of Doc Holliday and later the wife of blacksmith George M. Cummings for only a year, had first gained notoriety as the madam of a brothel. She stayed at the rest home until her death in 1940 at the age of 89.
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