Tombstone is a southeast Arizona town that lies on the historical road between El Paso Texas and San Diego. That critical transportation feature contributed to its importance in the 19th and 20th centuries as one of the premier towns of the Wild West. Founded in 1879, Tombstone was a boomtown. Growing from its strategic position and its lucrative silver mine, the town’s population blossomed to about 14,000 in less than a decade. This Map of the Month feature, Tombstone, A.T., shows the central business district of the town as it stood near its peak in 1882. Back then, it was one of the largest towns in the Arizona Territory, surpassing even Phoenix at that time.
The town was founded by Ed Schieffelin, a prospector and settler from Pennsylvania, due to his discovery of silver ore in the area. He decided on the name Tombstone because while he had been prospecting in the area, a fellow prospector had told him that, “All you’ll ever find in those hills will be your tombstone” (Beebe and Clegg 479). The rich vein he had located quickly drew in thousands of settlers to the Arizona Territory, many who worked in the mines and many others who worked in the various industries that sprung up around the mine, such as doctors, performers, blacksmiths and chefs. (Beebe and Clegg 480).
A large business district quickly sprung up where the miners and ranchers would spend their earnings, and it quickly became prosperous. In 1882, the town had multiple churches, and places of legal leisure along with numerous saloons, casinos, and brothels, with many of these buildings depicted here. The map designates a number to each property, which are then listed in the key on the back. Some famous buildings in this district which are listed in the key are: Jim Vogan’s Bowling alley, Schieffelin Hall, Bird Cage theatre, the O.K. Corral, and Fly’s Photography gallery.
On October 26, 1881, near Fly’s photography and the O.K. Corral on Fremont Street, a famous shootout took place between lawmen Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday and a group of outlaws known as the Clanton Gang. The shootout resulted in the deaths of three of the outlaws and the nonfatal wounding of Morgan Earp (Beebe and Clegg 480-481) . The gunfight is reenacted to this day, such is its fame.
Today, the town survives by its historical prominence and tourism industry, with the old mines long since shut down. Tourists are drawn in by the town’s historical reenactments, museums and numerous historical buildings from the days of the wild west.
We hope you enjoyed our February 2025 Map of the Month!
- Title: Tombstone A.T.
- Date: 1950
- Author: R.N. Mullin
As with all of our Map of the Month features, if you’d like to learn more about this map or schedule a visit to explore our maps in person, please submit a Map and Geo Service Request. We’ll be sure to get back to you within two business days, but typically sooner.
-Grace Behan, Map and GIS Assistant
Citations:
Beebe, Lucius, and Charles Clegg. American West: Pictorial Epic of a Continent. 1955. New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1955.