WILLIAMS, ARIZONA; ADDITIONAL "WALK THROUGH TIME" BUILDINGS OF INTEREST

 WILLIAMS, ARIZONA; ADDITIONAL "WALK THROUGH TIME" BUILDINGS OF INTEREST

All images courtesy Arizona Memory project; Williams, Arizona Collection. Original scans available at the Williams Historic Photo Project, Williams, AZ. (AZMEMORY.AZLIBRARY.GOV)

Early picture of the first Catholic church in Williams. Everyone is dressed in their finest attire, and the occasion appears to be the celebration of establishing a Red Cross chapter at the church (the flag has a cross centered on a field of white; the women are dressed similar to a nursing uniform.) 

Caption states that this is the "World Famous Sultana Bar," from the 1920s. 

The Sultana Movie Theater, circa 1940s. The bar entrance was located around the corner, in the same building. These were the days before television and smart phones, where the theater was a place to watch the latest Hollywood releases, catch up on the world events via the newsreel shorts, and enjoy the antics of early animated cartoons. Theaters were a social place; take a date or meet friends or take the family for a night out. In those days soft drinks and various snacks were reasonably affordable. It was a bonus if the theater was air conditioned, often proudly advertised on the theater marque. 
The building still stands today; the bar is still active, and the theater is open on special occasions.


Saloon Row, aka red-light district, 1910(?)

The Cabinet Saloon, with the Grand Canyon Hotel in Background. Circa 1890s.




Caption on the image states that this is a Babbit-Polson Company wagon. The Babbit's and the Polson's were well-known merchants, ranchers and all-around entrepreneurs in the early years of Northern Arizona.  Ranches covered vast areas of land, and these holdings still have an impact on shaping the development of modern Arizona. Thankfully, some of these ranchers had the foresight to donate their landholdings to public trusts, where the land can be kept in perpetuity and allowed to return to a natural state. 
A large group of family members appears to be headed to some gathering of importance, judging by the fact that they are wearing their "Sunday's Best" attire. Without wagons there would not have been the westward expansion of the United States.  Wagons were the forerunners of the modern automobiles, the design of which having little changed for hundreds of years. Some of the earliest manufacturers of automobiles were wagon manufacturers of some importance, most notably Studebaker. In fact, the early automobiles were wagon designs modified with gasoline and battery powered propulsion (that's right, electric vehicles are not a 21st century invention.) The appearance was so similar to common wagon designs that the only difference was the missing horse. 

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