Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, AZ: #3 Sharlot Hall Building and other buildings

Sharlot Mabridth Hall was born on October 27, 1870 and grew up on a hardscrabble ranch south of Prescott, Arizona. She learned a love of reading and writing from her mother. The stories of Judge Henry Fleury, who lived in the Territorial Governor’s Mansion until his death in 1895, inspired Sharlot with a love of history. She became the first woman to serve in Arizona’s government as the territory’s pioneer historian.

In the 1920s she convinced the State of Arizona and the City of Prescott to preserve the Governor’s Mansion for posterity. In 1928 she opened the museum to teach the public about Arizona’s history, using her own collection of Indian and pioneer artifacts as the core. After her death in 1943, the museum was renamed in her honor, and the Sharlot Hall Historical Society was born.

For more information on the life of Sharlot Hall see:
https://sharlothallmuseum.org/who-was...

Sharlot Hall never married. For her view of men and marriage read this entertaining article:
https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2015/...

The Sharlot Hall Museum:
https://sharlothallmuseum.org

The museum is surprisingly large, with many buildings and exhibits. I could easily have spent an entire day there, and I was sorry I had arrived in the afternoon. I felt I had to report on my visit in three separate videos instead of one overly long video:

Sharlot Hall Museum #1: John and Helen Lawler Exhibit Center
   • Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, AZ: #1 Exhi...  

Sharlot Hall Museum #2: Governor’s Mansion
   • Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, AZ: #2 Gove...  

Sharlot Hall Museum #3: Sharlot Hall Building and Other Buildings
   • Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, AZ: #3 Shar...  

The Sharlot Hall Building, constructed in 1936 as a project of the Civil Works Administration and once home to Sharlot Hall, houses many of the Museum’s historical exhibits.

It was constructed of native rock and pine logs and remains one of the Museum’s primary exhibit halls since its completion.

The building’s exhibits narrate the story of Prescott, from the founding of a wilderness territorial capital in 1863 to statehood in 1912.

The Sharlot Hall Building also houses a special exhibit about the area’s native Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe. “The Baskets Keep Talking” explores the Tribe’s story and culture through their own eyes, along with more than 40 Yavapai and other American Indian baskets on display.

The Museum’s current small, one-room schoolhouse structure is a 1961 replica of the first public schoolhouse in the area built in 1867.

Fort Misery is the oldest log building associated with the territory of Arizona. It was originally built two blocks south of the museum on the banks of Granite Creek in 1863-64. Its nickname indicates the difficult challenges facing the first residents of this wilderness capital. The crude building served many purposes, including as a store, boarding house, and law office for Judge John Howard.

Sharlot Hall had the structure disassembled in 1934 and reassembled on the Museum grounds in 1936. A complete reconstruction of the building was undertaken in 1995-1996. It is furnished as it would have been in the 1870s when Judge John Howard was its owner and resident.

Under Sharlot Hall’s supervision in the 1930s, a single-room dwelling was built to represent early ranch homes of the area. This structure was built by workers of the Works Progress Administration and, according to her, the Ranch House would be a tribute to the early ranchers in the area.

The transportation building was constructed in 1937 and served as an automotive repair shop. It holds the Museum’s “rolling stock” and vehicle collection, which includes a stagecoach used in Tombstone, Arizona, a scaled replica of a Conestoga wagon, a Ford Model-T ranch pickup truck and Sharlot Hall’s personal Durant Star Touring car. She purchased this “convertible” in 1926 for $737.


Enjoy my third-of-three videos of my visit to the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona. Pause the video as needed to read all the interesting information.
   • Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, AZ: #3 Shar...  

And I hope you’ll click on my YouTube channel Subscribe icon. I have over 145 videos on my channel in various categories/playlists, emphasizing the Old West, natural and human history out West, the Civil War, and many others. Check ‘em out!
   / stagecoacher  

Specifically, I have a direct link at the end of this video to my video playlist on the Old West:
   • The Old West  

And visit both of my websites for details on all my Western and Civil War novels, as well as links to information on the Old West, the Civil War Afloat, fiction writing, etc. Look for the "B Troop" icon at the end of the video.
https://jimjanke.com
https://jimjanke.com/civilwar

Jim