City Hall

By George Self

Introduction

Historic Tombstone City Hall building with ornate red and white facade. Two-story structure featuring arched doorways, tall windows, and decorative cornices. The front reads

Pictured is the 1882 City Hall building, designed by local architect Frank Walker and built by contractor William M. Constable. It is a two-story fired red brick structure over a basement — an early example of brick construction in Tombstone, where adobe block and wood frame had been the predominant building materials. The projected cost was $10,000; actual construction came in at $11,490. For a period the building also housed Tombstone's Rescue Hose Company No. 2, and the large central arch at street level — wide enough to accommodate fire apparatus — and the fire alarm bell above are still prominent features today. Closed in 2007 due to structural damage that included, improbably, a beehive embedded in a wall, the building was eventually restored and now houses the City Marshal's office.

The building's dual function as city hall and fire station was no accident. The catastrophic fire of June 22, 1881, which destroyed much of Allen Street, had made plain that a boomtown built largely of wood and canvas needed organized fire protection. A community letter to the Tombstone Epitaph the following week called for a Hook and Ladder Company, and a benefit performance at Schieffelin Hall in September 1881 raised funds for a fire alarm bell. When City Hall was designed the following year, fire department quarters were incorporated into the ground floor from the outset — a direct architectural response to Tombstone's worst disaster.

The facade is among the most distinctive in Tombstone. Three round-headed arches at street level enclose recessed doorways; the central arch is double-width to accommodate fire apparatus. An ornamental entablature with brackets, dentil course, and frieze divides the ground floor from the second story, where four double-hung windows with round-headed drip mouldings echo the arch rhythm below. A stepped Victorian-Renaissance pediment with four finials crowns the building, all trim white against the red brick. The NPS, which designated City Hall part of the Tombstone National Historic Landmark on October 1, 1962, and listed it on the National Register of Historic Places on April 13, 1972, described it as one of only three "imposing" buildings in town — alongside Schieffelin Hall and the Courthouse — and the only one of the three still serving its original function.

The TRC's records preserved a charming receipt for the building's original furnishings: 14½ yards of carpet at $21.50, one dozen chairs for $22.00, twelve window shades for $31.50 with wiring charges extra, and two cuspidors for $2.50. The building served continuously as Tombstone's seat of municipal government from 1882 through 2007 — more than 125 years.

Sources

  • NPS National Register of Historic Places nomination form (Form 10-300). Primary source for architect (Frank Walker), contractor (William M. Constable), cost ($11,490 actual), dimensions, architectural description, NHL designation (October 1, 1962), and "imposing" characterization alongside Schieffelin Hall and the Courthouse.
  • NPS Tombstone Historic District inventory. Source for fire department housing, detailed facade description, and the building's status as Tombstone's active city hall at time of nomination.
  • Tombstone's Historic Locations, Tombstone Restoration Commission walking tour guide (2008). Source for "Victorian Style adapted to the western territorial scene," original furnishings costs, Rescue Hose Company No. 2, and 2007 closure.

Location

City Hall is located at 315 East Fremont Street.