duncan arizona sundown town duncan arizona sundown town

The site of contemporary Duncan had its origin sometime in the 1870s. The images on this website are copyrighted. Out of the eight states that ran through Route 66 (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California), six had official segregation laws as far west as Arizonaand all had unofficial rules about race. In Nevada, Sundown Town History Has Cultural Impacts For Washoe Tribal Members. Sometimes entire counties went sundown, usually when their county seats did. Next door, a half-moon sign announces that the turquoise front surrounded by cream-colored, textured brick houses the Bank of Duncan, established in 1908. At that time, American soldiers fought for human rights overseas, but the troops were still segregated at home. The racial makeup of the town was 81.8% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 0.9% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 13.6% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. The colorful historic sites of Route 66 have been mostly lost to time and neglect. [1][2][11][4][9], Duncan had its origin on the north bank of the San Francisco River where two men, whose surname was Purdy, established a way station on the ore haulage line that ran between Clifton and Silver City, New Mexico. 151 miles to Atlanta, GA. 155 miles to Greensboro, NC. In Town Job Shift Day (M-F) Approx 7:30am - 2:30pm Job Category Education ***Base rate of pay starting at $13.85-15.00/hour and an additional lump sum payment up to $80.50 per pay period Current Opening: Duncan Head Start, 0001 McGrath Ave., Duncan, AZ 85534, 1 opening, 7 hours per day, M- F, Approximately 7:30am - 2:30pm, mid July thru mid May The median income for a household in the town was $27,368, and the median income for a family was $33,750. In the 1940s, Edmond, Oklahoma promoted itself on postcards with the slogan, A Good Place to LiveNo Negroes. The town of Mena, Arkansas advertised its many charms: Cool Summers, Mild Winters, No Blizzards, No Negroes. In other cases, the policy was enforced through less formal norms and sanctions. The American ideals associated with Route 66, then and now, have usurped the narrative, erasing the more harrowing aspects of the nations past. ranching town for several decades, and its downtown slowly disintegrated. Town of Duncan. The 40-acre ranch was situated on the edge of the Mojave Desert, with Joshua, yucca, and mesquite trees dotting the landscape. (Although, the motor lodge did have a brief gig as the setting for a scene in Breaking Bad.) DUE TO NEW METER INSTALLS, OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, YOU MAY EXPERIENCE MINOR ISSUES WITH WATER AVAILABILITY. As of the census[8] of 2000, there were 812 people, 294 households, and 206 families residing in the town. How to start ultralight backpacking frugally? For instance, the Ku Klux Klan ran Fantastic Caverns, a popular tourist site near Springfield. 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Monday - Thursday Safford averages 1 inches of snow per year. But, after a young black man was wrongfully accused of assaulting a white woman, an angry lynch mob broke out. 506 SE Old West Hwy Duncan (zip 85534)s population is 2,655 people. This was hundreds of years before the first white men, the Spanish explorers arrival. The vast American landscape meant long, lonely stretches of perilously empty roads, and places like Grahams and other Green Book properties were vital sources of refuge. Not only were they shut out of pools and beaches, black Americans also couldnt eat, sleep, or even get gas at most white-owned businesses. Sundown towns once drove out people of color or prohibited them from living within city limits. From hot springs to sand dunes to rock fields, Safford brings together many features that make Arizona famous in one place, creating the perfect family vacation destination. But though that message went out to all Americans, it was really meant only for white Americans. Duncan is a town in Greenlee County, Arizona, United States. Phone: (928) 359-2791, Duncan Valley Rural Fire District The lynching of two Black teenagers in Marion, Indiana, in 1930, for instance, resulted in the towns 200 Black residents moving away never to return. Monday - Thursday You can also look for cities 4 hours from Duncan, SC (or 3 hours or 2 hours or 1 hour) or just search in general for all of the cities close to Duncan, SC. I only learned about the Green Book after being commissioned to write a Moon Series travel guide on Route 66. (Excluding Federal Holidays) Cambridge University Press. It serves as an excellent base from which to explore the surrounding countryside for several days. The Mountain Villa Motel in Kingman, Arizona (147 miles west of Flagstaff), was listed in the 1957 Green Book, and the White Rock Court appeared in the 1956 edition. Sundown Town Resolutions have three key elements: a city must acknowledge . He heard reports of the legend of the Seven Golden Cities and believed they were located north of Mexico's western coast. There are 10 cities in Arizona that stand out for their crime rates, so let's take a look at them and see which cities you should avoid. Also, Pellets on Sale. I guess if you dont know whether or not you need them, youre not the target audience. Greenlee County Sheriff's Department Office: (928) 865-4149 Emergency: 911 Now, the city has an $8.2 million plan to convert the property into a condo-hotel hybrid with shops and restaurants. A quick history for those of you who may not knowhere in Minden, Nevada, this was known as a 'sundowner' town. But for black Americans, the Mother Roads lonely expanses were rife with danger. On July 3, 1919, active members of the Army's segregated 10th Cavalry Regiment ("Buffalo Soldiers") were in Bisbee, Arizona, to participate in the town's Independence Day parade. With the rail, settlement of the fertile, easily irrigated valley boomed. Duncan, Arizona 85534, Hours: The US average is 38 inches of rain per year. Living in Safford offers residents a sparse suburban feel and most residents own their homes. The website is also a very good source for knowledge about the region. The new highway re-directed traffic away from Duncan and businesses began leaving the area. It was one of the nations most devastating acts of terrorism against African Americans. I wanted to share the real story of Route 66its promise of freedom and its failure to live up to that promise. The city council of New Almost every level acre is under cultivation, thickets of cottonwood trees shelter old farmhouses and ranches, and cattle and horses seem to outnumber people. Its all still true. Sundown suburbs formed a little later, mostly from 1900 to 1968." All rights reserved. Do you find this information helpful? The original ownera white man, a Christian, and the son of missionariesClifford Clinton, had traveled with his parents to China, where he witnessed that countrys brutal and abject poverty firsthand. Safford, Arizona gets 10 inches of rain, on average, per year. Duncan - History and Social Justice Home Arizona Duncan James W. Loewen (1942-2021) We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began. Businesses with three Ks in the title, such as the Kozy Kottage Kamp or the Klean Kountry Kottages, were code for the Ku Klux Klan and served only white customers. In 1956, 11-year-old William Flanagan was on his way to a little league baseball game and came across a black truck driver who was stranded and in need of food. After being stopped by a sheriff while on vacation with his family, the sheriff asked Rons dad where he got the car. Mining for gold and silver began in 1864, followed by copper in 1872. What is the best battery pack for camping? Valley residents are using the day to educate others about the history of African Americans in Arizona. [2] In 2018 the estimated population was 789. The town of Duncan has been destroyed twice by flood and once by fire. Its now possibly the largest and most unusual cafeteria in the worldwith five floors of history and taxidermy and a giant fake redwood tree rising up through the center. Town of Duncan Soon Duncan was shipping far beyond the Southwest, to markets north and east. But Americans should not be so quick to pat themselves on the backs just because, nowadays, black people can drive U.S. highways mostly without incident. The town of Duncan was actually established in 1883 with the coming of the railroad, but the early settlement here was started in the 1870s along the Gila River on an important stage & freight route. Today, they still play a critical role in U.S. history, revealing the untold story of black travel. Published: Aug. 23, 2022 at 5:03 PM PDT. "Marcos de Niza". In its most blatant form, signs were posted at the city limits. In 1978, at the age of 7, I was riding in the car with my mother in Houston, Texas, when I saw a prison chain gang; shackled men were working in a sugarcane field. According archeologists the specimens of pottery and stone implements found in the area of Greenlee County, where the town of Duncan is located indicate that the members of the Anasazi were among the first people to inhabit the region. The Purdy post office was relocated to the new location of Purdy and thus the settlement was renamed Duncan. I said, Mom, isnt slavery over?, I said, Why are all of these black men in chains working in a field?. Conflicts between the Apaches and the advancing Anglo settlers resulted in a war known as the Apache Wars. "We didn't have Jim Crow [laws] here in California, but we did have sundown town laws," said Peterson . She wants to talk about the current townspeople. (Today, nothing remains of Grahams, except a tourist cabin that an area law firm uses as its storage shed.). The means to announce and enforce racial restrictions varied across the country. 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Among the society's accomplishments is the clean-ups and painting of scenes on most of the old buildings.[14]. Sundown Towns are all-white communities, neighborhoods, or counties that exclude Blacks and other minorities through the use of discriminatory laws, harassment, and threats or use of violence. 20072023 Blackpast.org. I'm mixed with Black/White, and lived here my whole life in the Phoenix area. Hats made from the fur of beavers were very popular in the 1800s. Sundown Towns -- 137 Sundown Towns Across 21 States -- Are The Litmus Test of America's Transformation https: . During a typical year 131.6 nights will fall below 32F (0C), but only 7.8 days fail to top 50F (10C), and there are only seven occurrences of nights falling to 0F (17.8C) or lower, notably on December 24, 1953, and January 11, 1962, when the record low of 2F (18.9C) was set. Everything is one of a kind. Take, for example, one violent night in 1906 in Springfield, Missouri, which would soon become the birthplace of Route 66; though the road starts out in Chicago, the route was officially designated as 66 in Springfield. Hours: Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Excluding Federal Holidays) Phone: (928) 359-2791. Town Hall 506 SE Old West Hwy Duncan, Arizona 85534. It is part of the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area. People called it the Bible of black travel and AAA for blacks, but it was so much more. Duncan Opera House - built in 1920 and located in 218 Hill Street. The town of Duncan was actually established in 1883 with the coming of the railroad, but the early settlement here was started in the 1870s along the Gila River on an important stage & freight route. (Excluding Federal Holidays) Location of Duncan in Greenlee County, Arizona, Last edited on 10 February 2023, at 23:59, "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Duncan town, Arizona", "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990", National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duncan,_Arizona&oldid=1138676476, Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 23:59. Second, its on the Gila Rivers and near adjacent riparian areas for bird and wildlife observation. We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began. 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. More generally, sundown town is used to describe a place where the resident population was through deliberate action made to be overwhelmingly composed of white people. They named their home Duncan, after Duncan Smith, the companys managing director. The Duncan Valley Rural Fire District declared the "mass evacuation of flood prone areas in Duncan" early Monday, listing more than a dozen streets in the 712-person town as subject to the order . The society's vision statement is the following: "PRIDE is committed to work with our town government, community leaders and all area residents to preserve and enhance our town's overall image and historic value". [5][6][1][2][3][4] Fray Marcos de Niza, who was a notable Spanish missionary, also passed through the area with the intention of converting the natives to Catholicism. Admission is free, but seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Duncan receded then into a quiet farming and ranching town for several decades, and its downtown slowly disintegrated. Thats why the National Park Services Route 66 Preservation Program approached me in 2014 to document Green Book sites on Route 66 and to produce a short video. Ed Gordon discusses the historical significance of so-called "sundown towns," some of which are now promoting inclusiveness. Simpson Hotel (former Hotel Hobbs) - 1914, River Front Lounge (former Bonnie Heather Bar/Pool Hall) - 1925, Old Duncan Bus Station now Hotel Duncan - 1920. This lost gem was billed as The Only Negro Dude Ranch in the Worldwhich it very likely was. Long-held jealousies over black prosperity and Greenwoods wealth ignited a riot. DUNCAN, Ariz. - Evacuations are underway in a town in eastern Arizona after heavy rain flooded a river. Duncan is a town in Greenlee County, Arizona, United States. Wildlife viewing is good year-round but birding is best during the spring and fall migrations or the summer nesting season. No other road has captured the imagination and the essence of the American Dream quite like Route 66. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males. The town of Duncan in southeastern Arizona is under "mass evacuation" after the Gila River overflowed on Monday, reaching a "major flood stage" which . After just one Black family moved into an apartment there in 1951, a mob of 4,000 white people attacked the entire building. In Safford, the summers are sweltering and partly cloudy and the winters are cold, dry, and mostly clear. Crops include long and short staple cotton, durum and winter wheat, barley, amaranth, alfalfa, beans, fruit trees, pecans and pistachios. (There were Green Book businesses in other parts of Chicagobut not on the Road of Dreams.) Black motorists of course also had to avoid sundown towns such as Edmond, Oklahoma. What's the elevation of Duncan Arizona? In 1930, 44 out of the 89 counties that lined Route 66 were all-white communities known as sundown townsplaces that banned black people from entering city limits after dark. After leaving Chicago on Route 66, the next Green Book sites were more than 180 miles away in Springfield, Illinois. James Loewen, a historian who spent years studying sundown towns, found them in the suburbs of Detroit, New York City and Chicago. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, Racial Conflict - Segregation/Integration, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/the-roots-of-route-66/506255/, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/sundown-towns-3658/, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. "At that time, the Fire District was requested to . In fact, even before Route 66 was officially connected and enshrined, the roads that would come to form it linked one atrocity to the next. In 1883, a post office was established in Purdy. Black veterans were once blocked from taking advantage of the GI Bill, missing out on valuable educational resources. The spot where Michel Brown bled out in the street for four hours in Ferguson, Missouri, is just a couple of miles from the original Route 66. The wettest month since continuous records began in 1942 has been August 2014 with 6.17 inches or 156.7 millimetres, whilst the wettest calendar year has been 1983 with 18.88 inches or 479.6 millimetres and the driest 1956 with 3.49 inches or 88.6 millimetres. There are primarily three reasons to visit Duncan. Duncan is in the Gila River valley, four miles (6 km) west of the Arizona-New Mexico border. Principal Economic Activities Males had a median income of $32,232 versus $18,333 for females. She had no answer, or maybe she just didnt know how to explain institutional racism to a 7-year-old. Duncan was officially founded in 1883 and became a shipping point for markets in the middle west and east. Greenwood was an unusually vibrant community of successful black entrepreneurs, doctors, and lawyers. Your email address will not be published. JAVASCRIPT IS DISABLED. He remembers Martinsville, Indiana as an unfriendly place. Cliff dwellers, conquistadors, Apache warriors, mountain men, westering immigrants each in their time has traveled its banks. DUNCAN, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) Dozens of residents of a small town in eastern Arizona have evacuated after the Gila River reached a major flood stage early Monday morning, spilling water into parts of . On Route 66, every mile was a minefield. Since the 1970s, the black male prison population has skyrocketed by 700 percent, and Justice Department data now predicts that one in three black male babies born in America will be incarcerated in their lifetimes.