Yuma Territorial Prison

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The Yuma Territorial Prison
Yuma3-13-04 (16).jpg
Main Gate to the Yuma Territorial Prison.
Yuma Territorial Prison
General information
Type§mainecraft
Location Yuma, Arizona, United States
Coordinates 32°43′37″N114°36′54″W / 32.72694°N 114.61500°W / 32.72694; -114.61500
Opened1876 [1]
Website
www.yumaprison.org

The Yuma Territorial Prison is a former prison located in Yuma, Arizona, United States, that opened on July 1, 1876, and shut down on September 15, 1909. It is one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. The site is now operated as a historical museum by Arizona State Parks system as Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park. [2] [3]

Contents

History

Prison

Opened under the auspices and authority of the recently organized Arizona Territory, the prison accepted its first inmate on July 1, 1876. [4] For the next 33 years 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, served sentences there for various crimes ranging from murder to polygamy. [5] The territorial prison was under continuous construction and repairs with labor provided by the prisoners. [6] In 1909, the last prisoner left the old territorial prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence, Arizona, three years before the establishment of the State of Arizona in 1912. [7]

It was the third historic park in Arizona. The state historic park contains a graveyard where 104 of the prisoners are buried. [8]

High school

After its previous building suffered a fire in 1909, Yuma Union High School briefly occupied many of the old prison buildings a year after the prison had closed and the prisoners were moved to Florence. Various classrooms were set up temporarily in the old cellblocks and the hospital was used as an assembly hall. Yuma Union High was situated here for four years from 1910 to 1914. After the school moved to their new replacement buildings campus at its current modern site of 400 South 6th Avenue, the city of Yuma requisitioned the extensive old stone prison complex for a city jail after 1915. [9]

Notable inmates

Yuma Territorial Prison has been featured or mentioned in American Western genre literature, films, and television:

See also

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References

  1. Trafzer, Cliff; George, Steve (1980). Prison Centennial, 1876–1976. Yuma County Historical Society. p. 6. OCLC   906535980.
  2. "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park in Arizona". azstateparks.com. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  3. "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, AZ A". www.desertusa.com.
  4. "Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park". www.sangres.com.
  5. "Wildernet.com". www.wildernet.com.
  6. "Yuma Territorial Prison – Arizona Ghost Town". www.ghosttowns.com.
  7. "Arizona Department of Corrections". Archived from the original on April 22, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  8. "Yuma Territorial Prison State Park Map" (PDF).
  9. Yuma t Union – Yuma HS: History Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. Jane Eppinga (November–December 1997). "Hellhole on the Colorado". American Cowboy. American Cowboy LLC: 88–89. ISSN   1079-3690 . Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  11. "Yuma Territorial Prison State Park, Museum & Exhibits - Yuma's #1 Tourist Destination". Yuma Territorial Prison State Park, Museum & Exhibits – Yuma's #1 Tourist Destination.
  12. "Pop Culture 101 – 3:10 to Yuma".
  13. "3:10 to Yuma event includes Johnny Cash tribute | prison, yuma, campaign - Life - YumaSun". www.yumasun.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  14. "3:10 to Yuma (2007) - IMDb" via www.imdb.com.
  15. "Hollywood - Chain Gang for Yuma Territorial Prison - Save the Prison - Yuma, AZ". Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  16. "Hell Hole Prison". Travel Channel. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  17. "Listen". And That's Why We Drink. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  18. "Halloween fright: These are the top haunted destinations in the US, according to readers". www.usatoday.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.

Further reading