Looking at For Sale ads in 1890 Phoenix, Arizona


I love time-traveling in old Phoenix, and one of my favorite things to do is to page through the newspaper on the Library of Congress. Today I was in 1890, the first year of the Arizona Republican newspaper (the same one that's still around today, although they dropped the "N" in 1933). I'm not looking for anything in particular, or anything important, I'm just looking. And my eye was caught by some For Sale ads, which I thought would be fun to share with you.

I'll tell you what I see, and what my best guesses are, and I'd love to hear what you think. Like I say, this is the kind of ordinary trivia that makes all of this seem so human, and precious, to me. Ordinary life is the most wonderful life there is!

Let's see, it's 1890, so Phoenix is twenty years old already. A thriving community! I see that there are six restaurant tables for sale. Nothing I could use. Hartwell's was at 27 S. 2nd Street.

The burros, ponies, pack saddles, and mining outfit would come in handy, because there was a lot of gold around Phoenix in those days! Easy pickin's! But I don't know where the Dublin Corral is, so I guess I'm out of luck? Story of my life.

The farming lands sound good. Ten miles from the city (which ended at Van Buren at the time) was quite a distance! The Arizona Canal crosses Central just south of Dunlap, so the fruit lands would be what is known as the Central Corridor now. Nice area! That would have been a good investment!

I'm not much of an investor, but buying a livery and feed stable, with stock, seems like a good idea. The Tempe Hotel was in Tempe, but that's all I can be sure of.

Grinding pan

As for the grinding pans, I'm gonna go Google it, and see what it means. Hang on. OK, I found this, looks like they were for gold panning. I wonder what the engine was for? Anyway, it looks like they're in first-class condition, and will be sold cheap.

I just love this kind of stuff, real "slice of life" - I hope you enjoyed it, too! Thank you for visiting Phoenix in 1890 with me!
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