| The Yuma Territorial Prison | |
|---|---|
.jpg')) Main Gate to the Yuma Territorial Prison. | |
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| General information | |
| Location | Yuma, Arizona, United States |
| Coordinates | 32°43′37″N 114°36′54″W / 32.72694°N 114.61500°W |
| Opened | 1876[1] |
The Yuma Territorial Prison is a former prison located in Yuma, Arizona, United States. 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 as Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park.[2][3]
History
- Prison
Opened while Arizona was still a U.S. 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 crimes ranging from murder to polygamy.[5] The prison was under continuous construction with labor provided by the prisoners.[6] In 1909, the last prisoner left the Territorial Prison for the newly constructed Arizona State Prison Complex located in Florence, Arizona.[7] It was also the 3rd historic park in Arizona. The state historic park also contains a graveyard where 104 of the prisoners are buried.[8][9]
- High School
Yuma Union High School occupied the buildings from 1910 to 1914.[10] When the school's football team played against Phoenix and unexpectedly won, the Phoenix team called the Yuma team "criminals".[11] Yuma High adopted the nickname with pride, sometimes shortened to the "Crims". The school's symbol is the face of a hardened criminal, and the student merchandise shop is called the Cell Block.[12]
- Notable inmates[13]
- Burt Alvord – Cochise County lawman and train robber
- Bill Downing – Train robber
- William J. Flake – Mormon pioneer imprisoned for violating the Edmunds Act[14]
- Pearl Hart – stagecoach robber
- "Buckskin Frank" Leslie – gunfighter and killer of Billy Claiborne
- Ricardo Flores Magón – Mexican revolutionary, founder of the Partido Liberal Mexicano
- Pete Spence – outlaw involved in the Earp-Clanton feud
In popular culture
(Listed chronologically) The Yuma Territorial Prison has been featured in:
- "Three-Ten to Yuma",[15] a 1953 western short story written by Elmore Leonard, and also in two film adaptations:
- 3:10 to Yuma, the 1957 original[16] (directed by Delmer Daves and starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin), and the 2007 remake, also titled 3:10 to Yuma, directed by James Mangold and starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.[17]
- 26 Men, the 1957 episode "Incident at Yuma" of the syndicated western series of true stories of the Arizona Rangers, focuses on a prison break and the difficulty of gathering a posse faced by Captain Thomas H. Rynning, portrayed by Tristram Coffin.[18]
Bonanza episode featuring Dean Jones as an inmate of Yuma Territorial Prison.
Gallery
The main guard tower.
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Cells and the yard.
Prison cells with courtyard.
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Iron bunkbeds inside the prison.
A mugshot of Pete Spence at the Yuma Territorial Prison in 1883.
Pearl Hart at the prison in 1899.
Burt Alvord at the prison in 1904.
Bill Donning imprisoned in 1901.
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See also
- Thomas H. Rynning – former warden of the prison
- Ben Daniels – former superintendent of the prison
- Clifton Cliff Jail – historic site in the Clifton Townsite Historic District of Clifton, Arizona
- Gleeson Jail – in Gleeson, Arizona
- Jose Maria Redondo – the "Father of the Yuma Territorial Prison"
- List of historic properties in Yuma, Arizona
- Johnny Behan Past warden
References
- ^ Trafzer, Cliff; George, Steve (1980). Prison Centennial, 1876–1976. Yuma County Historical Society. p. 6. OCLC 906535980.
- ^ http://azstateparks.com/Parks/YUTE/index.html. accessed 9/9/2010
- ^ Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, AZ – DesertUSA
- ^ Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park
- ^ Wildernet.com – Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, Arizona State Parks
- ^ Yuma Territorial Prison – Arizona Ghost Towns
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-04-22. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
- ^ Yuma Territorial State Historic Park at Find a Grave
- ^ Yuma Territorial Prison State Park Map
- ^ Yuma Union – Yuma HS: History Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ Yuma Territorial Prison | Atlas Obscura
- ^ yumaprison.org Inmates
- ^ Jane Eppinga (November–December 1997). "Hellhole on the Colorado". American Cowboy. American Cowboy LLC: 88–89. ISSN 1079-3690. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ Pop Culture 101 – 3:10 to Yuma
- ^ http://www.yumasun.com/articles/prison-56764-yuma-campaign.html
- ^ 3:10 to Yuma (2007) – FAQ
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
Further reading
- Joseph Stocker (May 1961). "City of Lost Hope". Arizona Highways. XXXVII (5): 36–39 – via Arizona Memory Project.
External links
- Yuma Territorial Prison Museum and Park – Historic Yuma AZ
- Arizona State Parks: Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park website
- AZ Department of Corrections: Early History, with Yuma Territorial Prison – Arizona Department of Corrections
- U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Yuma Territorial Prison