Cottonwood’s Historic Preservation Commission is currently seeking to fill two vacant seats with residents who are passionate about local history and serving their community.
The HPC advises the City Council, works with developers and property owners to protect historic places, creates a historic preservation plan and maintains a local historic properties inventory. Its current goals and projects include landmarking historic buildings, hosting a historical property tour and mapping the Old Town historic district to clarify where it begins and ends.
Commission members seek out properties that they think are historically significant and should be preserved for future generations. Property owners can also apply to have their homes landmarked and will receive a bronze plaque if they qualify. Landmark status means a building can’t be torn down and that the owner can apply for a matching grant to aid in maintaining it.
“I really had a blast finding properties to be landmarked because I’ve walked all over Old Town getting to know the people and the history of the area,” said Kristina Detjen, the commission’s vice chairwoman. “It’s really enriched my life. I would never have done that if I wasn’t part of the HPC.”
The HPC has hosted historic home tours in the past and are looking to expand into historical property tours next year.
Detjen said that their emphasis is on preserving Old Town, especially its Prohibition-era past. Miners from Jerome would come down the hill to Cottonwood to escape the fumes of the mining operations and drink, as Clarkdale was a company town that restricted drinking. During Prohibition, the miners used their knowledge of excavation to create a tunnel system underneath Main Street to smuggle liquor.
The Copper Store on Main Street has an underground museum exhibiting one of the tunnels used during Prohibition. The owners even found a few remaining 19th-century liquor bottles in the tunnel. The storage shed that held the miners’ dynamite also still exists outside J and J’s Antiques.
“I’m in love with history,” Detjen said. “One of the reasons why I wanted to live in Cottonwood was because I was just dazed by the charm of Old Town and the walkability of the historic neighborhood. I felt like it would be my passion to preserve as much of that as possible … The whole area is fascinating, how it originated from this grand, incredibly large copper mine that was one of the largest in the country, and how Cottonwood was a really special part of that.”
Detjen hopes to put up signs around Old Town with additional information about the area’s historical importance. As an example, she pointed out that the old jail, now Seeds Clothing Store, has Al Capone’s name etched into the wall from the time when he was temporarily sheltering his brother there from the violence of bootleggers during the 1920s.
She also noted the archaeological significance of the area, beginning with the habitation of the Verde River Valley for over a thousand years by American Indians. Along the Jail Trail, there is an irrigation ditch that was originally constructed by the Sinagua people. When white settlers arrived in the 1870s, they took it over and lined it with wood, and it was relined with concrete in the 1940s.
Detjen said the commission is looking for passionate individuals who are dedicated to history and willing to put in the hours. There is one meeting a month along with a time commitment of two to four hours of work per week, which can consist of either organizing a historical property tour, looking for properties to landmark or applying for grants.
Applicants must be residents of the incorporated city of Cottonwood. Those interested in applying can pick up an application at the Human Resources Office, find the application form on the city’s website or obtain one by calling 928-340-2713. Applications are due by Tuesday, Sept. 19.
