Today we’ll see the wild, wild West and learn a little of the history of Tucson, Arizona, starting with some street art as the featured photo!

Today, Tucson is a blend of hip, Spanish, and cowboy…….  First the civilized side.

Want to know how people got around Tucson? Visit the Old Pueblo Trolley Museum!

The first public transportation in Tucson was the herdic service started by Bill Morgan in 1879.  The herdic is a closed-body horse drawn carriage with a rear entrance and seating for eight on either side.  The route started downtown and ran to Nine Mile Water Hole, a local stage coach stop.

The first street railway started on September 9th, 1897, as Tucson Street Railway.  It used two mule-drawn cars having seats in rows for sixteen or the herdic carriage.

From 1898 to 1900, the streetcar ran a line from the Southern Pacific Depot to the University of Arizona campus. Service was expanded between 1902 and 1904 to include an extension along the north side of the University of Arizona and additional routes south to Elysian Grove, which was a 25 acre park noted for its floral displays, amusement park and man-made lake.

By 1904 there was an inventory of seven cars, 8 1/4 miles of track, and 34 mules or horses.  Horse cars ran in Tucson for eight years and were unreliable as schedules were at the mercy of the animals.

Electric streetcars began operating in Tucson by 1906 as a replacement for horse-mule streetcars. By 1930 electric streetcars were no more.

Now let’s take our walk along Broadway, down 4th Avenue to Stone Avenue to Congress Street. What will we see along the way?

In 1858 the St Augustine Cathedral began as a two-room house in the newly acquired territory of Arizona. Were they trying to tame the West?

But, going back to Tucson’s roots, we see places like the Surly Wench Pub too!

Everything is very colorful in the desert under a very blue, blue sky!

This is The Hut, a watering hole for thirsty travelers?

I get the feeling Tucson is still a wild and wooly place. In the past………

Arizona was home to the Earp Brothers. Morgan Earp was an Arizona Special Policeman when he helped his brothers Virgil and Wyatt and Doc Holliday confront the outlaw “Cowboys” in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881.  All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys, who were upset by the Earps’ interference in their illegal activities

In 1882, Morgan Earp was playing billiards when a group of men fired into the hall and mortally wounded him. Three doctors tried to save him to no avail. The group of men were implicated by Cowboy Pete Spence’s wife, Marietta, at the coroner’s inquest of the shooting. The coroner’s jury concluded that Spence, Frank Stilwell, Frederick Bode, and Florentino “Indian Charlie” Cruz were the prime suspects in the assassination of Morgan Earp.  Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp gathered a few trusted friends and accompanied Virgil Earp and his family as they traveled to Benson for a train ride to California. They found Stilwell lying in wait for Virgil in the Tucson station and killed him on the tracks.  After killing Stilwell, Wyatt deputized others and rode on a vendetta, killing three more “Cowboys” over the next few days before leaving the state. Ye Haw! 

This is just one of many photos in the Thursday Door Collection featured by Norm2.0!   Won’t you join in or take a peak at all the doors?