45 OK Street, Bisbee, Arizona, 85603-2855, United States
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Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum
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This building was the general office for the Bisbee operations of the Phelps Dodge Corporation from 1895 to 1961.
In 1971 it was given to the city of Bisbee by Phelps Dodge and was designated as a national park service.
The building has been converted to a civic center and mining and historical museum by the Bisbee council on the arts and humanities.
When we arrived to Bisbee and got off a car in Historic District I noticed a very colorful, old car parked on a street. As soon as I started to take pictures, a medium-age, black-haired and dark skinned woman got off the art car. Oh, I didn't notice her behind the front windshield. She smiled, welcomed us in Bisbee, asked when we were from and excused us as she was in a hurry and had to drive away. But she also gave us a red rose flower wishing us great time in her town. It was quite nice and usual hippie welcome.
Soon later, strolling and driving around Bisbee I saw a few long-haired, medium aged or older hippies walking on sidewalks. Unfortunatelly I was ashamed to take them pictures. Although one of them walking on the oposite side of a street and showing us V sign with her fingers looked great for a picture: an old, wrinkled, bearded face with a funny, colorful woolen cap. Well, I haven't seen any young hippies but some young punks wearing leather rocker jackets in Bisbee. I have also seen twice single, older hippies walking like a drunk or on drugs, but I am not sure about that and they both have been totally harmless.
Although I can't agree with most hippies' political activities (unconditional, strong, so called "pacifism" may actually cause more wars in my opinion) and say to their approach to drug taking, I personally think that it’s a good thing that hippies went around taking over these old run down ghost towns and transforming them into artist colonies. They have fixed up a lot of the old building as gallerys and have a lot of nice artwork. Now, Bisbee seems to be an off-kilter, slightly seedy, edgy, and funky place.
In Bisbee I have visited (but not stayed in) Copper Queen Hotel, I've also seen Copper Queen Building and Copper Queen Library. Later on I've discovered Copper Queen beer and T-shirts. and I gave a try to Coppet Queen Coffee at Copper Queen Plaza. I've also seen Copper Queen local alcoholic drink in a saloon. At the end I've seen closed Copper Queen Mine and direction signs to Copper Queen Community Hospital.
Well, I can understand copper which made Bisbee. The local mines produced metals valued at $6.1 billion (at 1975 price) that is probably world record. But what about Queen? The name Copper Queen derives from the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, the name of company which subsidiary called Phelps Dodge Corporation became the dominant force and eventually the sole operator of the Bisbee mining district.
Follow the link below to read a very interesting interview with Lynn R. Bailey - author of more than twenty books on Western history - on Bisbee. Well, it seems that Copper Queen company took care about Bisbee and its citizens in the past for example giving money for the first public library and hospital in Arizona Territory.
If you find yourself in Bisbee and have an overpowering urge to play tennis, there are a few tennis courts in the nearby area of Warren. The courts looked pretty well maintained You probably need to bring everything with you, I did not see any pre shop.
I lived near Bisbee up until 1979,, I still go back to visit her. She's an old copper mining town, the mine has been closed since 1975, but the town still thrives with artists and life. It has narrow streets and alley ways, some streets still made out of brick. And stay at the Copper Queen where even outlaws had found a haven. Back in the late 70's I saw Jerry Garcia playing in a bar there. When I was there in the early 90's, there was still an old poster stuck to a dirty window of an empty shop, I wondered if it was the bar that he played in the time I saw him. My last visit there was November 2004.
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