Site of the Territorial Courthouse

The plaza was set aside in 1864, one of two blocks reserved for government when Prescott became the territorial capital. The first courthouse here, an elaborate brick building of 1878, became the symbolic heart of young Yavapai County and heard many of its consequential cases during the capital years of 1864 to 1867 and 1877 to 1889. Arizona reached statehood in 1912, and the courthouse standing today was built four years later. Its shaded plaza, with Solon Borglum's Rough Rider statue at the center, remains the civic stage where Goldwater and McCain each launched presidential runs.

What the plaque says

The courthouse you see today, constructed in 1916 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is not the original one on this site. The first courthouse constructed on the Plaza, one of two city blocks set aside in 1864 for government use, was a smaller but more elaborate brick structure built in 1878. It immediately became the symbolic focal point of young Yavapai County. Many important cases were heard here in the day when Prescott served as the Territorial Capital of Arizona, from 1864 to 1867 and 1877 to 1889. Arizona became a state in 1912, four years before the current courthouse was constructed.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Prescott — steps away
  Arizona's first territorial capital — Whiskey Row, the courthouse square, and a mile-high pine town
• Jerome — 25 mi
  The billion-dollar copper camp clinging to Cleopatra Hill — now the largest ghost town in America
• Tuzigoot — 30 mi
  A hilltop Sinagua pueblo over the Verde, dug out of the ground in the Depression

More markers nearby

• Prescott, Territorial Capital — steps away
• Whiskey Row — steps away
• The Palace Saloon — steps away
• Doc Holliday in Prescott — steps away