Editing Sierra Vista, Arizona (section)

==History==
As evidenced by several neolithic sites,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Murray Springs : a Clovis site with multiple activity areas in the San Pedro Valley, Arizona|date=2007|publisher=University of Arizona Press|last1=Haynes Jr.|first1=C. Vance|last2=Huckell|first2=Bruce B.|isbn=9780816525799|location=Tucson|oclc=80019780}}</ref> which include the [[Murray Springs Clovis Site]] and known archeological sites like the [[Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site]], [[Paleo-Indians]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/PaleoInd.html|title=Paleo-Indians|website=www.discoverseaz.com|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref> along with animals including [[mammoth]]s, [[Horses in the United States|horses]], [[Tapirus merriami|tapir]]s, [[bison]], and [[Camelops|camels]] occupied the area more than 11,000 years ago. Both the Murray Springs Clovis Site and the Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site are now [[National Historic Landmark]]s. This area was the home to a large [[Sobaipuri]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Sierra Vista: young city with a past|last=Price Jackson|first=Ethel|date=2003|publisher=Arcadia|isbn=0738524344|location=Charleston, SC|oclc=53882709}}</ref> Pueblo near Fairbank<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.seymourharlan.com/My_Homepage_Files/Page1.html|title=Sobaipuri Archaeology, An Introduction|website=www.seymourharlan.com|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref> which had several smaller pueblos and settlements<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.saguaro-juniper.com/i_and_i/history/early_history/fr_kino_visits.html|title=Fr. Kino's Visits to the San Pedro|website=www.saguaro-juniper.com|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref> throughout the valley,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.seymourharlan.com/My_Homepage_Files/Page23.html|title=Quiburi|website=www.seymourharlan.com|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title="1762 On the San Pedro: Reevaluating Sobaípuri-O'odham Abandonment and New Apache Raiding Corridors" The Journal of Arizona History. 52 (2)|last=Seymour|first=Deni|publisher=The Journal of Arizona History|date=Summer 2011|pages=169–188}}</ref> a [[Spain|Spanish]] Fort, [[Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate]]<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sterner|first1=Matthew A.|last2=Majewski|first2=Teresita|date=1998|title=Homesteading and Ranching on Fort Huachuca's East Range: National Register of Historic Places Evaluations of Slash Z Ranch Site and Three Associated Sites|journal=National Register of Historic Places Evaluations|publisher=Statistical Research, Inc; Tucson, AZ|volume=Department of the Army Technical Report 98-22, DABT63-93-D-0011 Delivery Order 4}}</ref> between modern [[Huachuca City, Arizona|Huachuca City]] [[Whetstone (CDP), Arizona|, Whetstone]], and [[Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone]], on the west bank of the [[San Pedro River (Arizona)|San Pedro River]].<ref name=":1" /> along with a few Spanish settlers supporting the route to Tucson's [[Mission San Xavier del Bac]]  and ''[[Presidio San Augustin del Tucson|Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/desertdoc/roster.htm|title=Desert Documentary by Kieran McCarty – Chapter 20: Spanish Tucson's Last Roster|last=McCarty|first=Kieran|website=www.library.arizona.edu|access-date=February 8, 2018|archive-date=May 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504054847/http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/desertdoc/roster.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huachuca.army.mil/sites/History/PDFS/prololgue.pdf|title=Huachuca Illustrated, A Magazine of the Fort Huachuca Museum, Vol. 4 1999" (PDF)|access-date=October 29, 2010|archive-date=July 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717134522/http://www.huachuca.army.mil/sites/History/PDFS/prololgue.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Latest Word from 1540: People, Places, and Portrayals of the Coronado Expedition|last1=Flint |first1=Richard |last2=Flint |first2=Shirley|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|date=October 16, 2011|isbn=978-0826350602}}</ref> [[Coronado National Memorial]] was established in the southern Huachuca Mountains to commemorate the expedition of the Spanish [[conquistador]] [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]] utilizing the nearby San Pedro River in his northward search of the Cities of Cíbola, often referred to now as the mythical [[Seven Cities of Gold]].

[[File:Montezumapass.JPG|thumb|left|Montezuma Pass at [[Coronado National Memorial]]. The United States / Mexican border fence can be seen in the middle of this photograph. Mexico is on the right / south side of the fence.]]

Like most of [[Cochise County, Arizona|Cochise County]], this area was part of the [[Gadsden Purchase]] of 1854.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/gadsden-purchase|title=Milestones: 1830–1860 – Office of the Historian|website=history.state.gov|language=en|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref> [[Fort Huachuca|Camp Huachuca]] was established in 1877.  At the end of the [[Apache Wars]] in 1886, with the protection of the fort<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arizonahandbook.com/huachuca.htm|title=Huachuca Mountains|website=www.arizonahandbook.com|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref> and the completion of the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] and [[El Paso and Southwestern Railroad|El Paso & Southwestern]] railroads, the [[San Pedro Valley (Arizona)|San Pedro Valley]] began to be populated by American settlers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blm.gov/az/sfo/aravaipa/history.htm|title=Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness Prehistory and History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214210610/http://www.blm.gov/az/sfo/aravaipa/history.htm|archive-date=February 14, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sierravistaaz.gov/event/guided-history-walk-presidio-santa-cruz/2018-02-03/|title=Guided History Walk – Presidio Santa Cruz|access-date=February 8, 2018|archive-date=February 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209002933/http://www.sierravistaaz.gov/event/guided-history-walk-presidio-santa-cruz/2018-02-03/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first business that opened just outside the east gate of Fort Huachuca was a [[Western saloon|saloon]] and [[brothel|"house of ill repute"]] owned by John and Ellen Reilly, which opened in 1892. In 1911, Margaret Carmichael<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=Cochise County stalwarts : a who's who of the territorial years : merchants, miners and millmen, ranchers and farmers, hostelers and restaurateurs, bankers, attorneys and judges, contractors, freighters, stage line operators and blacksmiths, saloonists and gamblers, marshals, sheriffs and constables, printers, lumbermen, postmasters, journalists, educators, politicians and promoters, and a few badmen and outlaws, who made an impact, thrown in for flavor|last=Bailey|first=Lynn R.|date=2000|publisher=Westernlore Press|last2=Chaput|first2=Donald|isbn=0870261126|location=Tucson, Ariz.|oclc=46826073}}</ref> bought the Reilly homestead and business. By 1913, Margaret Carmichael had leased the business back to the Reillys. Also in 1913, a group of dry land farmers settled in the local area and named their settlement Buena. Buena was east of Garden Canyon, between Lewis Springs and Fort Huachuca, east of the junction of present-day Hwy 90 and Hwy 92.<ref name=":1" /> At this site was a post office and a school house that served children in Buena, Garden Canyon, and outreaches of the local area. Oliver Fry<ref name=":5" /> and his two oldest sons traveled from [[Texas]] on the railroad and settled on {{convert|320|acre|km2}} just east of Fort Huachuca in January 1913.<ref name=":1" />

By 1917, the Overton Post Office was established. This name came from the Overton Mercantile and Investment Company, which took an option on the Carmichael property with plans to develop a townsite outside Fort Huachuca. It is believed that the company was unable to persuade anyone to move to the area, so when the option expired the Carmichaels took back the property with a general mercantile store and the post office.

In 1918, the Carmichaels named their store after the Garden Canyon Sawmill.<ref name=":1" />  They also called their post office, where Carmichael was the postmaster, Garden Canyon.<ref name=":1" /> The Carmichaels built a home across the street from Garden Canyon store, as well as 18 stone houses, on Garden Avenue. From 1927 to 1938, the Frys rented the Carmichael store and ran the post office. The Frys established their own general store and the first federally recognized post office in 1938, the Fry Post Office, so the name of this settlement changed to Fry.<ref name=":1" />  By World War II, Fry's reputation was less than salubrious. According to the "Employment of Negro Troops" (CMH), "Because it was surrounded by a desert with no nearby communities and because it was located in a part of the country with practically no Negro population, Fort Huachuca, since the days when it was a frontier post garrisoned with Negro soldiers of the old regiments, had considered Fry a quasi-necessary adjunct....  In Fry lived women.... As the post commander described it in 1942: The small town of Fry is dirty, unsanitary and squalid. It has been so for many years. It was made worse in these respects during
the construction of the cantonment...." (p.&nbsp;282)

[[File:AN ELEVATED VIEW OF FORT HUACHUCA TAKEN IN 1918 AN DLOOKING TO THE NORTHEAST (FORT HUACHUCA HISTORICAL MUSEUM, PHOTOGRAPH 1918.00.00.20, PHOTOGRAPHER UNIDENTIFIED, CREATED BY AND HABS AZ-210-12.tif|thumb|300px|left|Fort Huachuca, 1918]]

When the base was reactivated on February 1, 1954, base commander Brigadier General  Emil Lenzner, pushed for incorporation as both a way to solve the on-base housing problems as well as to distance themselves from reputation of "The White City" and Fry Town Settlement, hoping to encourage people to want to live off base in a more family-friendly community, away from undesirables like the minorities allowed to live unsegregated in Fry Town.<ref name=":1" /> Petitions for incorporation began to be filed in 1955 and were legally accepted in 1956, which included what had been Garden Canyon and Buena but did not include most of Fry Town. This was in part to keep a Federal Housing Authority (FHA) housing project contacts for housing off post away from the Fry Town area, and was used as a rationale to incorporate and begin getting a share of tax revenues without having to pay the Fry family for the parts of Fry Town considered desirable and wholesome.<ref name=":1" />

In 1955, the first attempt to incorporate and rename the area was rejected, as Fry opposed both incorporating and renaming the town that bore his family name. In 1956, the ballot issue failed 76 to 61. People who owned land outside of Fry's property in the area of Garden Canyon/Overton and Buena, as well as parts of Fry<ref name=":1" /> went forward with incorporation and renaming by petition on May 26, 1956, excluding the half-square-mile owned by Fry that included the local red light district called "the White City" as well as off base housing of the African-American "Buffalo" soldier officers' families,<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Early Sierra Vista; its People and Neighbors|last=Hein|first=Jac|publisher=Banner Printing Center|year=1983|location=Sierra Vista, AZ, USA|pages=138–139, 172}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Fort Huachuca: The story of a frontier post|last=Smith|first=Cornelius C.|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|location=Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402}}</ref> and other minorities and groups they considered undesirable in the 1950s.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|date=Spring–Summer 2015|title=Journey to Cochise County: Explore the lives and Stories of those who have make Cochise County their home|journal=The Cochise County Historical Journal|publisher=Cochise County Historical Society along with the Smithsonian Museum to accompany the Main Street traveling exhibit "Journey Stories" February 22 – April 5, 2014|volume= 45| issue = 1}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=A pictorial history of Sierra Vista, Arizona : more than a city, a way of life|date=2006|publisher=Pediment Pub|last=Tritz|first=Judith|isbn=1597250589|location= |oclc=74175599}}</ref> They were described as the "Fry People."<ref name=":4" />  When Sierra Vista was incorporated, it did not include the enclave of Fry, which remains an unincorporated area within the city of Sierra Vista.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/2324fdaf-7aab-4f58-9eeb-3c489cf027e2 | publisher=National Park Service |page=5 | title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form | date=December 4, 2008 |access-date= November 13, 2022| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113192855/https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/2324fdaf-7aab-4f58-9eeb-3c489cf027e2 | archivedate=November 13, 2022}}</ref>

Sierra Vista was incorporated in 1956. The proposed town council held a radio contest<ref name=":4" /> asking for names of the proposed town. Marie Pfister, the city clerk, asked her friend Nola Walker to store the suggestions. When the town was approved, they called Nola for the contest winner, but without counting the votes she told them her personal entry of "Sierra Vista" was the winner. On July 13, 2006, at a special ceremony during the city's 50th anniversary, Nola was granted "clemency" for her misrepresentation of the vote.<ref name=":2" />

In 1961 the community had grown large enough to be classified as a city, allowing the establishment of a community college.<ref name=":1" /> In 1973 Ethel Berger became the first female mayor in Arizona.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> In the 1970s the Art in the Park Festival was established by a committee of Army Wives, with it proceeds benefiting the Huachuca Arts Association, and college scholarships.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />  Sierra Vista annexed Fort Huachuca, a U.S. military base, one of the largest employers in Arizona, and the adjacent community, in 1971.

Sierra Vista was the site of the first [[McDonald's]] drive thru, which opened in 1975.<ref>[http://www.slate.com/articles/life/transport/2009/12/were_thru.html We're Thru]; Slate; December 11, 2009</ref>  The owner, Dave Rich, drove the innovative approach to gain the business of the soldiers from nearby Fort Huachuca.  At that time, soldiers were not allowed to wear their military fatigues off of the military base with the exception of driving or riding inside vehicles.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stockmar|first=Steve|title=How Sierra Vista McDonald's drove into history|language=en|work=The Sierra Vista Herald|url=http://www.svherald.com/free_access/how-sierra-vista-mcdonald-s-drove-into-history/article_4f1460c2-0090-11e7-b5a7-277a7ccc5e2a.html|access-date=July 1, 2017}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Sierra Vista has a population of over 43,000 today. The city is the economic and commercial center of Cochise County, and northern [[Sonora]], Mexico.

Known historical names for the area:<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" />
* 1878 Papingo
* 1898 Overton
* 1909 Garden Canyon
* 1915 Buena
* 1938 Fry, Frytown, Fry Township, Fry Settlement
* 1942–1945 "The White City", "Green Top" or "The Hook"
* 1955 Town of Sierra Vista
* 1961 City of Sierra Vista