FLAGSTAFF PUBLIC LIBRARY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Ruth Mary Griffin and Agnes M. Anderson
Interview number NAU.OH.28.2

Mrs. Ruth Mary Griffin and Mrs. Agnes M. Anderson, who were native born in Flagstaff and members of the Switzer family. Interview conducted by Susan L. Rogers on December 17, 1975. Transcribed on July 2, 1976. Transcriber: Francis Bigger.

Outline of Subjects Covered in Taped Interview

Tape 1 Side 1: Mrs. Griffin born in Flagstaff in 1908; Mrs. Anderson born in Flagstaff in 1906; Switzer family background; Will Switzer came into the area in 1883, homesteaded in Switzer Canyon; Sandy Donahue; More on Switzer homestead; Bill Switzer’s jobs; Cowboy; Indian Reservation; Mother Nettie Lockwood; Lockwood grandfather murdered; Bill Switzer decides to go into business; Different stores; Brothers and sisters; Pasturing cows where hospital is now; Peddling milk; Neighbors on Birch and Verde Streets; Judge Doe; Father gathering oxen for team to cross at Lee’s Ferry; Schooling; Minorities; Rio de Flag rising during flood; China Canyon

Tape 1 Side 2: Japanese gardens; Emerson School; Bertha Kennedy; Ringing of triangle; Discipline; Candy sales; Measles quarantine; Day trips on Sunday; Reservation; Oak Creek Canyon; Grand Canyon; Cordes; Trains; Walnut Canyon; Fourth of July celebrations; Near courthouse; Fireworks; Chicken pull; Christmas; Program at the Federated Church; Different churches; World War I ending; Burning effigy; Depression (1930’s); Bank closing; Flu epidemic of 1918; Prohibition

Tape 2 Side 1

Prohibition (continued)

Coasting on hill near home

Different games and activities

Memorial Day services

Marriage of Mrs. Griffin

Women school teachers not allowed to be married

Marriage of Mrs. Anderson

Businesses

Anderson’s Trading Post

Mrs. Griffin teaching at Emerson School

Mrs. Anderson’s business experiences

Normal School

Flagstaff High School

More on Normal School

Rock houses

Dean Minnie Lintz

Drug store soda fountain

Andy Devine

Social activities at school

Monte Vista Hotel

Appendices: This was told to his daughter Ardelle Sykes by Mr. Switzer, during a visit in 1966; This story was told by Mr. Switzer to his daughter Ardelle Sykes one afternoon during a visit in 1966; A history of William Switzer written in 1970, that was collected from the Switzer sisters at the time of the interview

Transcription of taped interview with Mrs. Ruth Mary Griffin and Mrs. Agnes M. Anderson. Interviewed on December 17, 1975. INTERVIEWER: Susan L. Rogers. Transcribed on July 2, 1976. TRANSCRIBER: Francis Bigger.

SUSAN ROGERS: This is an interview with Mrs. Ruth Mary Griffin and Mrs. Agnes M. Anderson, who were both born and raised in Flagstaff, and are Switzer sisters. This interview is being conducted on December 17, 1975 at 544 W. Beal Road which is Mrs. Griffin's house. The interviewer is Susan L. Rogers, representing the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library.

SUSAN ROGERS: Mrs. Griffin, when and where were you born?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I was born here in Flagstaff in 1908 in October. The house still stands and is on the corner of Birch and Agassiz. No--Birch and Elden.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Verde.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Verde. Well, I said that my memory was poor.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay, Birch and Verde. Mrs. Anderson, when and where were you born?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I was born in Flagstaff in the same house in August of 1906.

SUSAN ROGERS: And, I guess you're the one that knows a little more about the background of the family and its early history. Can you tell me a little bit about this?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, I know that my dad came here in 1883 when he was 12 years old and his father homesteaded out on what is known as Switzer's Canyon now, or Switzer Mesa. He stayed, his folks went back to California, to Downey, California and lived there, but my dad stayed here until he died.

SUSAN ROGERS: When did they move back to California?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, when they first came here to Arizona, from Kentucky after the Civil War, they went to San Francisco in 1874, and then they went to live in Los Angeles, and finally settled in Downey, California. My grandfather helped to build a church there in Downey which has since been moved to Knott’s Berry Farm. It is called The Church of the Repression(?) and it was the church that grandfather helped to build. In 1883 they heard about Flagstaff, Arizona and decided to move here, and this is when they came to Flagstaff. When they got to Needles on the train they had to wait until the bridge was finished before they could come on, so they were among the first passengers to pass over the Colorado River over the new railroad bridge. I think that my grandfather had a dairy and he also had a store at one time, which was burned in the big fire of 1892. After that is when they moved back to Downey and then Bill, my father, came back. He moved to Downey and he only stayed there for a while, and then came to Flagstaff.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay. They sold the homestead when they moved, or?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes. It doesn't say here but I believe they did, and I think Babbitts bought that, but I'm not sure. I know that the house stood for a long time.

SUSAN ROGERS: It's not standing now, is it?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, they tore it down.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did your father tell you about his life on the homestead, and what did he do?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, he was the oldest in the family. He peddled milk, I know. In fact, one of his customers was Sandy Donahue, who had a saloon---you've probably heard of him. He didn't necessarily use the milk, but he wanted my dad to have the money, so, he bought a gallon every day.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did he have any other memories of Sandy Donahue?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I can remember him personally coming up to the house, do you?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I remember his wife used to visit my mother. He was a little, short guy, as I remember. Of course, you know kids have a different idea and he might have been a big man, but he didn't look like it. But, I can remember him coming up here and I don't remember his saloon or anything 'cause we were never allowed to go on what they called Front Street, "Railroad Avenue." We were never allowed over in that end of town at all.

SUSAN ROGERS: But, Sandy Donahue was a respected man about town in those days, wasn't he?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, yes, I think so. I can just remember him coming up to the house once in a while but I don't remember anything he said or did, or anything like that.

SUSAN ROGERS: Now, you said he was married. Do you remember his wife? Somebody else, in another interview, told me that they didn't think that Sandy Donahue was married.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, he was married 'cause I can remember his wife. She was a short, dumpy little woman and real jolly; unless, I've got her mixed up with someone else.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you know if they had any kids?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, I don't think they had any kids.

SUSAN ROGERS: Can you tell me anything else about the homestead? Did he go to school when he was here?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, they went to school, he and his sisters. They went to school over here at the first schoolhouse, over there by the college. He didn't talk too much about school, and I don't think that my dad finished school.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: He didn't go past the 6th grade, I don't think.

SUSAN ROGERS: So, probably, most of his schooling was here in Flagstaff, wasn't it?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, it was.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did he ever say how he got there? Did he have to ride a horse?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, they probably rode horses, or hiked, I don't know. In those days they could cut across a lot of country, and it probably wasn't too awful far. I guess there wasn't anything there.

SUSAN ROGERS: When he came back, what kind of business did he get into, then?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, he worked mostly as a cowboy on Babbitt ranches. I remember that he used to tell us that he was cook for a cowcamp at one time. And, I remember one time he told me that he ran away from home because he thought he was working too hard. Then, he went down around Humboldt and Dewey and was hauling freight. He was working for somebody down there, and he was just a young boy, about 14 or 15 years old at that time.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: It was soon after that that he hauled freight to Lee's Ferry.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: With oxen teams. It took several days to get there and back, and they had to go through Indian country.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did he ever have any adventures with the Indians?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No. He worked on the reservation at a trading post. Did he work there before he and mother were married?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, that's where they went on their honeymoon.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, that's where they went on their honeymoon, and then, he worked for two years, and he learned to speak Navajo, but my mother did not like the reservation. She had to do a lot of cooking there for the people at the trading post. Then, she became ill, so they had to come back to town.

SUSAN ROGERS: Could you tell me a little bit about your mother? Where did she come from?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Mother was born in Kansas; Coffeyville, Kansas, and they came here when she was just a young girl. They stopped on their way for over a year in Trinidad, Colorado. Her father was a sheepman.

SUSAN ROGERS: What was her maiden name?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Lockwood. And I think that her family moved here after---I'm sure they moved here after the Switzer's moved here. Her father was shot over some feuding between the sheepmen and cattlemen. They felt fairly sure who had killed him, but there was no way to prove it and nothing was ever done about it.

SUSAN ROGERS: Who killed who?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: My grandfather was killed in an ambush.

SUSAN ROGERS: Oh. Can you tell me when that happened?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: It was while mother was just a young girl.

SUSAN ROGERS: She could remember just a little about it, right?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: She remembered when it happened, because they were all at home at the time.

SUSAN ROGERS: Was this near Flagstaff?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah. It happened south of Flagstaff somewhere.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: It was south of Rimmy Jim's trading post, down in the Chavez Pass country. Rimmy Jim's trading post was about 40 miles east of here, and then south about 15 miles.

SUSAN ROGERS: Could you tell me something about the details of this?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I really don't know a lot about it.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I didn't know the location until my dad and I were riding from the Rimmy Jim trading post south to a ranch which is about 30 miles south of there. When we were going through the Chavez Pass country, he told me that that was where by grandfather had been shot. That was the first time I knew where it had happened.

SUSAN ROGERS: But, they didn't have a trial afterwards, right?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No. They couldn't prove anything, but they were pretty sure.

SUSAN ROGERS: That it was an Indian?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No, it was another sheepmen.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: The cattlemen had hired it done 'cause grandpa was a sheepmen and the cattlemen were the ones who had hired it done.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: It seems to me that somebody told me that it was a sheepmen that killed him.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, I didn't know that.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did they ever tell you anything about the problems between the sheep and cattlemen, and can you tell me anything more about that?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: That's all that ever affected us in any way.

SUSAN ROGERS: And so then, how did you father and mother meet?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Shall I go ahead and tell the story?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Oh, yes, I think that's a good story.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: During these years when he worked as a cowboy, he met Nettie Lockwood, that was my mother. On their first meeting, he chased her around the wagon, trying for a kiss. But she out maneuvered him, he vowed that he was going to marry her in retaliation, and, marry her he did, some years later. Nettie Lockwood came to Flagstaff, and I think it was 1885. This was 1881 but my mother said that she had come to town after my dad did. She was of Irish descent with long auburn hair and snappy blue eyes, weighing close to 100 pounds. She married Mr. Switzer in November of 1897 and this happy union continued for 65 years, ended by the death of Nettie. She often told me about the first time she ever saw my dad that, she looked at him and when somebody went to introduce them, she said, "Oh, that old, homely thing. I don't want to have anything to do with him."

SUSAN ROGERS: So, how did he win her over?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I guess just persistence, I don't know what else. But, we were going for a ride one time up on the peaks, my husband and I had Mother and Dad, and Dad told me that that was the road that my mother and he had taken. It took them two weeks to get to Willow Springs where they went, before he went to work for the trading post.

SUSAN ROGERS: They worked at the trading post, for how long?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I think it was just about 2 years.

SUSAN ROGERS: And then, did they move back in to town?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay. What business did your father go in to then?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, he ran for the office of County Treasurer, wasn't it?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: He was clerk to the Board of Supervisors for three years.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Then, he was County Treasurer.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: He was the first County Treasurer after Arizona became a state.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: After that term he decided to go into business and he opened a little shop on Aspen Avenue, a harness shop, with saddles and equipment and other equipment for cowboys. And, as his business expanded- the first shop was up on Aspen Avenue, east of San Francisco Street. Then, after that, as the business grew, he moved to a little shop which was just about where the bakery is now. It's a little restaurant now, what's the name.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Choi's.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And, there he expanded his business and opened an auto shop because, in those days, all cars had cloth tops and needed repair often. Then, he put this as part of his business as well as the saddle business. What else did he have then?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: He had a shoe-repair shop.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: He had a shoe-repair shop, and a harness and saddle shop. What else did he have?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, when he moved up to Aspen...

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Then he went around the corner, he got Finley's big store. It's a three story building on San Francisco Street and at that time it was the tallest building in Flagstaff. I think it was the tallest building in Flagstaff until they built the Arizona Bank.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, that’s right.

SUSAN ROGERS: That was a long time ago, wasn't it? Okay, was that when you got into the hardware business?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: But, one time in that store he had an auto shop, hardware, harness, saddle and shoe-repair shop. Then, he added a drugstore.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: All in the same building.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: When he moved the drugstore and sold the saddle shop, and ended up with the hardware store. He even had a storage business.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, I remember that, because the top floor was not usable as part of the store so he just stored things up there for other people.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you say that that building was originally the Finley Building?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes.

SUSAN ROGERS: What kind of business was that?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: He had clothing.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: He had a hardware and clothing store.

SUSAN ROGERS: Now, was he the one who built it to be three stories?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Um-hum. You can still see signs coming through the paint with Mr. Finley's name on it. My dad soon sold out all of the clothing merchandise that he bought because he wasn’t interested in that particular line.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you ever work in the store?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, yes, we all did. All of the girls, as they got old enough, worked in the store.

SUSAN ROGERS: Would you like to tell me a little about your family, other brothers and sisters?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, there were nine children. Two, the oldest and youngest, died in infancy. The other children are still living.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you want to go through and name them and tell me where they are?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: My older sister, Reba, lives in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Another sister, Ardelle Sykes, lives in Prescott, and my sister, Louise McCrea, lives in California. Agnes, and I and my brother, Bill, all live here in Flagstaff. The other brother, Kenneth, lives in Glenview, Illinois.

SUSAN ROGERS: They're kind of spread out, right?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Since my father didn't get very much of an education and since we called it a "normal school" in those days, since that school was here, he was determined that each one of us would get a teacher's certificate. And we all did, but my sister, Ardelle. She took a business course at a later time but did not get a teacher's certificate. Three of us taught, Louise didn't like it, she only taught for one year. But, Reba and I taught several years. Agnes never did teach.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, I went into business.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: But, as soon as we were through school we were on our own then. Before we finished school, we were never allowed to work. Our dad always said that our mother needed us at home. She needed us there more than we needed to work. We did some babysitting, though.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: We peddled milk.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, we did. One interesting thing, we always kept two cows, and chickens. And in the summertime, we would take the cows and gather up the neighbors' cows along the way from our home, and pasture them in a pasture that was located where the Flagstaff Hospital is now, in that mesa. We'd take them up in the early morning and in the evening we'd have to go and get them. A friend of my father's, called Rimmy Jim, he was a cowboy and had a ranch, and every summer he'd bring in two or three of his horses for us to ride in the summertime. That was one of our best pastimes, was to ride horses back. The horses, of course, came in handy when it came time to get the cows from pasture.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you live in that house on Birch and Verde all your life?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes.

SUSAN ROGERS: When you peddled milk, can you tell me exactly?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, well, we had certain customers that we'd take a quart of milk to. I will always remember Lena Laney, and she was one who had to have a quart of milk every day. I don't know how much we used to deliver, but I know I used to get awful mad because I had to go the longest, so I thought. She lived way down by the Emerson School, and I thought that was a long way.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I took milk someplace up on Elm Street because, I never forgot, there was a dog that went after me every time I went by, no matter which side of the street I was on. That dog came after me, and I was scared to death of it.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Do you remember the little old lady who lived up on the corner of San Francisco and Dale? And she had 12 little, nasty poodles.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes. Those weren't the dogs that used to come after me, though.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I used to get so mad at those little poodles---they wouldn't bite anybody but they were sure a nuisance, and made a lot of noise.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you remember who owned them?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Oh, I don't know who she was, but I can still see her standing on the porch, blaming us for getting her dogs excited, but all we did was to pass.

SUSAN ROGERS: How much did you sell the milk for? Can you remember?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I don't remember.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I can't think either. Mother sold the milk and sometimes butter, and that was her spending money, and the little extra that she used to get, but we'd always churn the butter; trim the cream. My sisters always had to take their turn learning to milk. Did you ever?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I learned, but I was awful slow, and the poor old cows got awful impatient, so dad never insisted on me doing it very often.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: About the time that it came around to my turn to learn to milk, why the city passed an ordinance that we couldn't have animals within the city limits, and we had to get rid of the cows and chickens.

SUSAN ROGERS: Approximately in what year was that?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I really don't know.

SUSAN ROGERS: Well, was it in the twenties, or somewhere around then?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, I think it must have been earlier than that, because we were all still in grade school.

SUSAN ROGERS: It must have been somewhere in the teens. Did you have a barn behind your house at that time?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, and the building is still there.

SUSAN ROGERS: The barn is still there, then?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: It's been altered and changed to some extent, but it's still standing there.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you have very many neighbors over there?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No. For years that was the only house up there in the neighborhood, but later on, there were many of course, later. Well, I don't know, Heller's old house was the next one.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: It was there a long time, and ours was the one to the south.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: The one to the north, wasn't it? Oh, there were several, but they remodeled them.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Oh, and there was that other big one to the south.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, yeah, that's where Babbitt's Lumber is.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, and that was there for a long time, too.

SUSAN ROGERS: Now, was this Henry Heller, is it Henry Heller?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Heller, well, I don't know what his name was.

SUSAN ROGERS: Wasn't he a livery-stable man, or something?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Could be. I think there was a liveryman at that time.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you remember anything about him?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, not too much.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you know J.A. Vail?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, my folks did, but I don't remember him.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Mother used to talk about the Vails.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you remember Judge Doe?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, yeah, I remember him. He used to scare me to death.

SUSAN ROGERS: How come?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, he was a big man, and he was very sober, but I can remember him walking down the street with that cane.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I don't remember him.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Minnie's house, you know Minnie's house, it was over there on Beaver, the white house where McBride's lived for so long, that was Judge Doe's house. I just barely remember those people, and he was probably a real nice man. The way he always looked, he was always cranky-looking to me, and I was always afraid of him. He never did anything to me that I remember.

SUSAN ROGERS: Is there anybody else you remember in particular?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I can't think of anybody in particular. A lot of people used to come up to the house. There was Charley Spencer, that's who dad worked for, when they were hauling ore from Lee's Ferry, and when they had all those oxen. Another interesting thing that I can remember my dad telling me on this same trip was, when he told about gathering oxen or steers for this team, and they had bought some from Babbitts. He drove them out to Lee's Ferry, and they had to cross the Colorado River, which was kind of dangerous, but they got 'em all out there and they had 'em all bedded down for the night, or so they thought, but they all took off and went back home, back to the ranch, so they to go back and get them all up again. They wanted to go back to their own territory. And for years, those ox yokes were stacked in our yard up there. My dad got tired of them being there, so, he cut them all up for firewood. Right after he got them all cut up, a movie company came to town and wanted them. He was so provoked that they had been there all those years and nobody wanted them.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay, you've told me something about your childhood chores. Do you want to tell me a little bit about school and where did you go, and how many grades there were?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: There was only one school and that was Emerson School. There was an elementary school at the college which was where the teachers learned to teach. Then there was little school called Brannen School. This was mostly for the Mexican children because it was south of the tracks, and it was close to the mill. We all went to Emerson, which was just down the street from our house.

SUSAN ROGERS: Were there any Mexicans at Emerson?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Very few at that time.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, I think there were some.

SUSAN ROGERS: What about Blacks?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: You know, at that time, there was only two black families in town, that I can remember and that was the Fullers and the---

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And the Dorseys.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, the Dorseys weren't here then, they came later. It was the Johnsons, they used to peddle tamales.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: The Dorseys came about then, I thought.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, they came when Cady bought the mill and they came from Louisiana with all that bunch. You see, there was another one, the Fullers, they lived over on this side of Judge Miller, that was Mrs. Judge. But he was the first garbage collector in Flagstaff, this Miller was. The Johnson family lived up here on Cherry, somewhere up there because, remember, and they were the only colored family on this side of the tracks. And, Mr. Richardson sold them that house, and everybody in town had a fit, but nothing was ever done about it.

SUSAN ROGERS: Then there were no problems?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, no, they were a well-liked family and a good family.

SUSAN ROGERS: But they were the only family north of the tracks, right?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes.

SUSAN ROGERS: Were there any Mexicans north of the tracks?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No, I don't think so, do you?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: There weren't any for a long time, I know that.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, weren't there some Mexicans up on Coconino Avenue?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, yes, up in Old Town there were several Mexican families. They were all up there close to the mill, but most of them were on the other side of the tracks.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And, most of the children who went to, what we used to call the "training school" over at the college, were Mexican.

SUSAN ROGERS: Well, okay, how about the Indians? Were there many of them around?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No Indians, they were all in boarding school, probably, out on the reservation.

SUSAN ROGERS: Tell me something about Emerson School? What about your classes there?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: One vivid recollection that I have was in the spring, when I was in the 4th grade. Our room was on the second floor and we could see the River de Flag, which runs just to the east of the playground. This particular spring there had been lots of snow and there came a warm spring, and lots of runoff. The river kept rising that day that I remember and we could see the water from the school windows. And, my biggest concern was that the water was going to flood before I could get on the other side of the bridge and get home.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, wasn't that the time that they let school out early so that those kids that lived east of the river could get across before it flooded?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I think so, and it's gonna happen again. Of course, that was before they put a dam up in China Canyon.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: They've taken that dam down, haven't they?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No, it's still there.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, is it still there?

SUSAN ROGERS: Now, this China Canyon, what area is it in?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, it's just in back of the junior high school.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay, why was it called that? I think they also call it China Gardens, or something like that?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I never heard of that name.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Laura Hogan lived in that part of town, and she said that they always knew it as China Canyon because there was a little Chinaman who had a little store near there.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, I can remember the Chinese family that was here.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, she says that that's where it got its name.

SUSAN ROGERS: So, was there just one Chinese family or was it just one Chinese man?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, there used to be, long years ago, when my dad and them first came here and when the town first started, a Chinaman downtown, well, it was later than that, 'cause I can remember his dog. Me and my dogs. He had a little restaurant right along by the side of the hotel and the reason that I remember his dog, is that it was a big St. Bernard, and I'll always remember that dog; he was so big. I was always afraid that he was going to get after our little mongrel.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I had never remembered that place being call China Canyon until they started talking about putting the junior high school up there.

SUSAN ROGERS: Then, that's how somebody came up with that name?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes.

SUSAN ROGERS: You don't remember that man who lived up there, do you?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I don't remember him either. I remember those gardeners, were they Japanese? They had gardens there, well, where Cheshire Estates is now, up against the hill and then they also had them out to what they called Black's Farm. I don't know what they call it now, though.

SUSAN ROGERS: In what area is that?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Up north of there.

SUSAN ROGERS: Just about near Cheshire?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, it'd be across the road from Cheshire, about where John Babbitt lives, up around in there.

SUSAN ROGERS: What did they have in these gardens?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, it was produce, I think.

SUSAN ROGERS: Were they selling it, then?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I remember a woman who lived with us, and we always called her Auntie Haskins. She took me out there one time, not to Black's Pond, but to the other place, and I never will forget it, 'cause there was a little girl there and she had her feet bound. You know, the Japanese used to do that. Auntie Haskins tried to make them take the bindings off of her feet but they wouldn't do it. I'll always remember that. It gave me the creeps.

SUSAN ROGERS: I can imagine. Okay, let's get back to Emerson a little bit. How big a classroom did you have?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, I don't remember. Course there weren't that many children in school, of course.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No.

SUSAN ROGERS: Were you in the same classroom at that time?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No. We were all divided by grades and there were eight grades, with a kindergarten. A Mrs. Bertha Kennedy was principal at the time I was going to school.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: She was our English teacher, besides. She was mine, anyway.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: She often teased me but she never did teach me at school. Then, many years later, I went back and taught at Emerson. She said, "Well, I'm going to get to be over you after all." But, I can remember when we would line up when recess was over or at the beginning of school. We'd all line up in front, and then one of us selected one of the big girls, and we were always so proud when it was one of our big sisters, who stood at the top of the stairs with a triangle and beat on it to keep time and we'd all march in. We could hear it all through the building and the lower grades would march to their room and the upper grades would march to their rooms. Do you remember that?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, I remember that. You know, I've often wondered what ever happened to that triangle...somebody made off with it, I guess.

SUSAN ROGERS: What did you think about the discipline? Did you feel that it was strict?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, we had discipline at home, too. We were never allowed to talk in any way disrespectful to our teachers. If we had any poor teachers, we didn't know it because we had to give them the same respect that we'd give any older person. If we were punished at school, we'd get punished at home, too. We would never feel "put upon", it was just our way of living.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: We minded the teachers 'cause that's what they were there for.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And, if we didn't mind, as I just said, we got punished at home, too. Mrs. Kennedy was very strict, even when I taught for her, she was still very strict. Consequently, When I taught school, I was also a disciplinarian, and that was the first rule of order in my room and, from there, we went onto our subject matter, and I think the children learned better and faster, because they felt secure in their place and they knew where they stood with me.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you have any particular teachers that stand out in your mind? Those that were either good or bad?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Laura Kinsey, she taught me in the fifth grade. I used to have to stay in school lots of times. You know in those days you had to memorize so much. And, I'll never forget the day I stayed until 5:00, trying to memorize "Barbara's Britches," and I finally did it. She wasn't real mean about it but she just knew we had to do it, and if we didn't get it done during class, we'd just have to stay after school. You know, I don't remember having a while lot of homework.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No. We never had very much.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: We did it, if we didn't have time to get it done in school. We stayed after school, or stayed in during recess but we didn't bring it home.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: We had to finish at school.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: It was terrible to have to stay in at recess, 'cause you sure did miss a lot.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I even had to stay in after school in high school. I had one Latin teacher, and, if you didn't get it during class, you came back after your last class had ended, but you learned.

SUSAN ROGERS: How about extracurricular activities? Were there any special ones that you can remember?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Not in grade school. We had recess and played whatever we wanted to outdoors.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: There's only one thing I remember in grade school, and, you know Miss Linney, was my 7th or 8th grade teacher? We had something, I don't know whether it was a club and I don't think it was Girl Scouts, they didn't have them then, but we did have Campfire Girls. But, we'd have candy sales in the hall once a week and we raised money for something, I don't know for what. I always remember that Miss Linney always bought divinity and we'd sell it for a penny a square. She made it three tiered strawberry, chocolate and white, and we'd sell if for a penny a slice. That wasn't a very big slice, but golly, for a penny, that was sweet stuff.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: You'd have to pay a nickel for it now.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: But, I don't remember what the money was used for but I remember the Campfire Girls organization.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: When we were going to school, they quarantined for contagious diseases, like measles and chicken pox. When I was in the 6th grade, my brother got the measles, and, as each of the older sisters came from school, my dad would meet them at the gate and he'd send them to an aunt's house to stay so they wouldn't miss any school. But when it came to me turn, they let me in 'cause dad figured that mother would need one daughter there to help and, since I was the youngest, it wouldn't hurt me so much to miss school, and it made me very angry to think that everybody got to go and stay with an aunt and I didn't. So, I went in and rubbed my face against my brother's face and did everything I could to get the measles but I never did.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I'll never forget that day because as I came home, she yelled out the upstairs window and told me what the trouble was and I had to go to my aunt's and Ruth was packing my suitcase. Do you remember this?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: You'd throw a dress out the window and yell, "You have to take this." All the neighbors could see and I was so embarrassed when she held up a petticoat and I'll always remember that day. That was very embarrassing "cause you were so mad.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Then, after three weeks, it was a three-week quarantine, and I went back to school. There was a teacher, I won't ever forget that teacher, she was a 6th grade teacher, Miss Leedom, says, "What are you do in here?" And I said, "My doctor gave me permission to come to school." That's the only time I can remember being real sassy.

SUSAN ROGERS: Were you angry for the whole three weeks that were home.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Oh, no. I enjoyed it very much after I found out what it was going to be like.

SUSAN ROGERS: What kind of things did you used to do in the summertime? Did you go on any trips or did you stay in the area?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, we never went on trips, except Sundays. My dad was very, I don't know the word I want to use but he had his store open six days a week, and Sunday was "family day" and we often took just day trips. Always we'd go on a picnic, maybe out to the reservation. One time I remember going out to Mormon Lake to visit my mother's brother and his family and that was an all-day trip ‘cause we went horseback riding. Later on we went in the car. We always enjoyed the trips to the reservation because we'd get out there and set up our campfire and we thought that we were the only people in the whole world 'cause you wouldn't see a soul. But the minute the coffee started perking, there would be two or three Indians show up to share our lunch.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you used to go to Oak Creek at all?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, because we went down there a couple of times but it was an exhausting trip because, our car, and we only went there in the car, and it was too big to go around some of the curves and we had to back up and it upset my mother terribly. I can only remember us making one trip down there.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, and I remember, too, that on those trips when we'd get one of those switchbacks, my dad would make us all get out of the car. Then, he would back up and maneuver the car around the curve and we'd all pile back in again, until we got to the next curve. It was an all day trip, so we didn't go too often. I think there were more times when we went to Lake Mary to fish and play in the water.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you go to the Grand Canyon much?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I can remember only taking one trip to the Grand Canyon, the time we took Aunt Lou with us. We knew the Berrys, who ran what they called Grand View Hotel, and I don't know whether it is still standing or not, but it was one of the older ones out on the rim of the canyon. We went out there one year and visited them, and they used to live here in town in the winter and they were very good friends of my mother-in-law. I can remember that one trip because, Aunt Lou wanted to go. We started to walk down from the hotel and my dad said "Don't go any further," because the rim of the canyon was right there and there was no fence or anything around it. It scared me to death.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I remember one trip that my dad took us on when he took us to the state fair in Phoenix. At that time it was a two-day trip. We would go by way of what used to be called the Black Canyon, it's where the highway is now. We'd go down as far as Mayer, and stay at Mayer the first night, and then the next day go on to Phoenix. The only time I remember driving, we got to Mayer and there weren't any rooms at the hotel so we had to drive on to Cordes, which was a little place right on the edge of the canyon and there was a bridge across it so we stayed there for the night.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: You remember what we had for breakfast?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, we had quail for breakfast and hot biscuits, and I was too bashful to pick it up in my fingers, so I missed out on the quail.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I remember that it was frosty and there were a lot of hunters up there, who would go out every morning. I'll never forget that.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I remember one trip I went on. My grandmother came from California to visit and they thought she shouldn't, I think this was the idea, that she shouldn't go back alone on the train so they sent me with her. I couldn't have been more than ten or twelve but in those days, you got on the train in Flagstaff and the first stop was Ashfork to have dinner. You'd go into the Harvey House dining room, and they didn't have a menu because they did things quickly and just brought around the big platters of meat and dishes of vegetables and you took what ever you wanted. I was shy and the waitress would say, "Would you like to have a pork chop?" And I'd say, "No, thank you." All the waitress heard was the "thank you," and after about three pieces of meat on my plate and my grandmother put a stop to it.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I can remember going on picnics to Walnut Canyon and we used to walk down in the canyon a lot, not where the trail is now, it was more to the west.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: There was a house there and I'll never forget, it was built around a big pine-tree.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I don't know whether that house is still there or not. I haven't been out to Walnut Canyon for so long.

SUSAN ROGERS: What do you remember about some of the early celebrations, 4th of July and Christmas?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, I can remember the 4th of July they used to have down at the courthouse. And the street there on Birch Avenue that used to be, well, they used to have footraces, and I can remember my one sister always entering into this, and they'd see how far they could carry an egg in a spoon. They had to carry the egg so far without dropping it, and they had sack races and three-legged races, and things like that. They always had fireworks.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did they?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, they had fireworks up until the year that Mr. Miller got his leg blown off. Then they quit 'em.

SUSAN ROGERS: In what year was that, do you remember?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I don't exactly remember now.

SUSAN ROGERS: What happened?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Something didn't go off right and he went over to see what had happened and it went off, and they had to amputate his leg.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: We used to save our money for weeks ahead of the 4th of July so that we could buy different kinds of fireworks and firecrackers. Then, we'd always enjoy them in the evening, and I always liked to shoot off the firecrackers.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, then, we used to have 4th of July celebrations, across over where the college football field is now. And, later on I guess, they had a rodeo but I don't remember the rodeo. I remember the races.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I remember the races and the Indians coming to town and putting on that race they called a "chicken pull"---you've heard of that, haven't you?

SUSAN ROGERS: No, would you tell me about it?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, they'd bury a live chicken in the ground, with just its head sticking up and then, the Indians would go around in a circle and as they would go by the chicken, they'd reach down and grab its head and cut it off.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: On horseback.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And, the Indian that finally pulled the chicken out of the ground would then take off and all the rest of 'em would chase after him, trying to take it away from him. Whoever ended up with the chicken got the prize.

SUSAN ROGERS: Were there any special speakers that came in or anything?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I can't remember any, as they say, "speechifying."

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I can't either. I just don't remember.

SUSAN ROGERS: What about Christmas, was it celebrated especially in your own family or did Flagstaff celebrate it especially in the community?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, most of our Christmas celebrations were at the church. There was always a program at the church.

SUSAN ROGERS: What church did you go to?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: The Federated Church.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay. Were your parents married in that church?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: You know, I don't know where they were married.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: When we were children there was a little church right across on San Francisco Street from the courthouse, and that was the Presbyterian Church. It's been moved and now stands on South San Francisco Street.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you ever go to that church?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Um-hum.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Then we went, remember that little church, it was up in the courtroom, pap's church?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I don't remember that church.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: You went there for a while.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, when they built the Federated Church, that was the Presbyterian and the Methodist and the Baptist, and they called it the Federated Church.

SUSAN ROGERS: What other groups were there?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I really don't know.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did they really used to have big celebrations for Christmas, and did the whole town end up celebrating?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, it was all the members of the church and the children usually gave the program, and there was usually a Santa Claus.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And, when we were children in school, there usually was a Christmas tree at school, too, and a Santa Claus. There was a janitor, Mr. McGookin, and he came around to each room and put on a program for us. Then, at home, we always had a Christmas tree, and gifts on Christmas morning after Santa Claus came.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I will always remember that tree because it was lit with candles. Remember, our dad would just light it once and we could look at it but we'd have to put it out immediately 'cause of the fire hazard.

SUSAN ROGERS: Was it lighted, like on Christmas Eve?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes, usually it was Christmas Eve, I remember that.

SUSAN ROGERS: Then was the whole tree lit with candles?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay. Do you remember when World War I ended?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: They had some kind of a program down on the corner by the courthouse and they were going to burn the Kaiser in effigy. I don't remember anything about the speeches or anything like that because there were about ten of them but when they got ready to burn the figure of the Kaiser they couldn't get the material, whatever it was to burn, and my uncle, my dad's brother, who was living here at that time and had a model T Ford. He went over to his car and in, those days, each car had a can of gas, can of oil and a can of water and other things like that, it was just part of the equipment. He went over and got his gas can, and splashed the figure of the Kaiser and it burned and I was so proud, because my uncle saved the day. It must have been a warm day and I can remember that there were lots of people there and everybody was celebrating.

SUSAN ROGERS: What about the depression and how did it affect your family and Flagstaff?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes, definitely. I remember that I went to work, and I was working for my dad at the time and my dad said, when I got to work, and very calmly he said, "Sister, I want you to go around the corner to the bank." I knew it was early, 'cause I knew I had never gone to the bank that early before. He told me to go ahead and then come back to the store. I went, and of course, the bank was closed and there were a lot of people standing around, milling around and talking. I rushed back to the store and all that my dad said that I can remember was, "Oh, well, that's what I was afraid of." He knew something that I never did know.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, he was on the board of directors.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, he was on the board of directors, but my dad, he lost some money, just like everybody else did. I'll say this for my dad, he paid back every cent he owed, I don't know how they did that. Anyway, he paid his bank debt; he managed to clear himself. I'll always remember the people he dealt with in his hardware business, when they heard about it, they all wrote letters stating that they would carry him until he got on his feet. People just don't do that anymore, they don't think of thing like that. They were all good, loyal customers, but that was the reputation my daddy had. They knew that he'd come through as soon as he could and that was something.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I was teaching at the time and I had saved my money so that I could go to the University of Kentucky for six years, 'cause that's where my father came from, back there in Lexington, and Cyntheiana was where most of his folks lived, and I thought it would be fun to go back there. My sister and I had made a trip a year or two before, so, I had most of my money in traveler's checks. I was lucky, because those were spared. My savings account that my dad had fussed at me for years to save, I lost that. I got a little better than half of the money that I had in the bank back, but I was fortunate. That fall I can remember that we didn't get checks for teaching school, and they took drafts on the county and the bank would cash them for us. They had to hold them until the county made them good.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you remember the flu epidemic of 1918?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I do.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Most of it, I mean some of it, and I remember the horrible parts of it. My mother, I always think of this, none of us, save for one sister, who did have the flu, but a very light attack of it. But, my mother very fastidiously scrubbed the house every day with Lysol; I can still smell it. She made us bundle up and go outside and play every day; she never let us sit around the house. We'd get pretty bored, we were not allowed out of the yard.

SUSAN ROGERS: Nobody was going to school?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, the schools were closed. I know that there was a hotel just down the block from us, was turned into a hospital, and, there was another little house across the street from the jail, where the Arizona Bank is now, they put some real bad cases there. I remember that it wasn't very big. And, of course, the schoolhouse was turned into a hospital. There were any number of places that were turned into mortuaries. But, I'll always remember as cold as it was, my mother made us go outside and play. She thought that the fresh air was good for us and, I guess it was 'cause none of us got the flu. People all around us, our neighbors had it, and several of them died. My mom just knew that was good for us, I guess. But, that Lysol, it was awful.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I can remember that our mother still had Navajo rugs. She had beautiful Navajo rugs, she didn't especially like them, but she just put Lysol on them and kept them clean that way.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you or your family have any close friends who died?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, our neighbors. There was Bill Gray, remember Bill Gray? I think that some of the Dikinsons did. There were quite a few, I can’t remember their names, but I can remember that there were quite a few people. In those days, of course, it was such a small town that everybody was your friend, really. We knew everybody.

SUSAN ROGERS: About how long did it last, do you remember? How long was school out?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I don't remember that either. I just know that it was a long time.

SUSAN ROGERS: Like a couple of months, you mean?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Oh, yes, at least.

SUSAN ROGERS: Where did they bury all of those people?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: You know, that I don't know. They never discussed things like that at our house.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Not in front of children.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, not in front of children. They never did discuss any illness, hardly, of any kind.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: We were sent from home if there was---well, if there was a funeral, we weren't allowed to go. We were sent to one of our aunts or someplace.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Which I think was a good idea.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay. What can you tell me about prohibition?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, that was when our dad had the drugstore, he had it during that time. I know that there were certain people in town who were not allowed... There were some medication that were tonics or something like that, and they had a lot of alcohol content. We had a list of all those people and they were only allowed to have so much each month, maybe one bottle, like Virginia Dare wine was a tonic in those days, it wasn't a wine, and it was only sold in the drugstore. And, there were certain people that were not allowed to buy it, only just a certain amount. It was kind of hard on them. Then, I remember one time, there was an Indian silversmith here in town, and he used a little alcohol lamp which, you know, the silversmiths all used to use. I never will forget, there were some government men who came in, I guess you'd call them revenuers, and questioned dad about his sale of alcohol that he was selling in his paint business. This Indian was buying it, but he wasn't using it in his alcohol lamp. He was drinking it so we had to quit selling it.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Another thing that my dad quit selling on his own was "canned heat,", they used to put some kind of stuff in a little brown can and put it under a sauce pan or something, so that they could heat it up, and they called it canned heat. They'd just strike a match and the alcohol, it would burn. My dad discovered that there were certain people that were melting that and drinking it, and it was very detrimental to their health, especially to their eyes.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, that one young painter, you know, he just didn't know what he was doing.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: My dad just took it off the shelves, and refused to fool with it anymore.

SUSAN ROGERS: Who was this painter?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I really can't remember, but he died. He lost his eyesight and I just remember dad saying that he went blind, but I don't remember anything else about it. He used to trade with us all the time, he wasn't a very old man, but I just can't remember him, but I can see him in my mind's eye.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you used to hear about the bootleggers at all?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Not too much.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I don't think too much.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, we were younger, but my one big brother brought dad a bottle of alcohol, do you remember that.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And it was white, just the color of water. My dad never drank much. He just put a tape on it that said "Alcohol," and put it down in the bottom of the desk. Agnes was cleaning the desk one day, when she was working there, and came across it and she said, "Oh. That's good, I'll clean my typewriter with that." Well, she soon found out that it was the wrong kind of alcohol and it gummed up her typewriter.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: My dad had a fit.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Years later, after my husband and I were married, dad was remodeling the barn and putting a new floor in. Sid was up there with the contractor, and they were digging it out and getting it ready and they came cross a couple of bottles of what they called homebrew that some fellow had given to dad and he had just shoved it under the floor of the barn and had forgotten all about it until it was dug up years later.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I can remember my dad selling charred kegs 'cause the sheepherders used to buy all these kegs because they brought the sheep up and down the trail in those days and they'd use them on the side of the packing door but, during prohibition, there were a lot of other people besides the sheepmen that bought them. I remember one man, I don't remember his name or anything, but dad always kept these charred kegs down in the cellar, where it was kind of damp, and this guy always had 'em delivered to the back door so people wouldn't know what he was buying. Evidently, that's what he was keeping his homebrew in.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you remember any big fires when you were children, or even later on, big floods or any big blizzards.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, the River de Flag used to flood every year, every spring, and over where the college is it was all boardwalks and the boardwalks used to float around. And, then, do you remember the big snow when the theater caved in? They sent us home from school because they thought that Emerson School was going to cave in, which it didn't ever do.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And hasn't yet.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: And hasn’t yet. I always remember we came home from school and we took our time because we knew it wasn't time for school to be out. I guess we played in the snow, we used to lay down and make angels and everything, remember?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Oh, yes.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, we had a good time. We got home and my mother wanted to know where we'd been and we said we were coming home from school and we had left school at such-and-such a time, and we were so mad because we didn't know how on earth she knew that we'd left school that early, it took us two hours to get home. We never did know but I suppose our mother had her way.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, we dressed warmly and the houses weren't heated as well. We had fireplaces and wood stove in the bathroom and then, of course, the kitchen range. But we had on long underwear and wore leggings that we strapped on over our legs.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: And buttons.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: And buttons, and we had mittens and we were really dressed warm.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you used to ice skate at all?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I never did learn.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: There was no place to ice skate except at Lake Mary and, in those days, the roads weren't kept open and besides, our father wouldn't let us even swim in Lake Mary.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: We used to go up to Black's Pond. I can remember going up there with somebody.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I can't remember even ever trying.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, I went up with my cousins, Leonard and Buster.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: We coasted on sleds, the street right by our house was quite steep. We'd go up a block or two from our house to the top of the hill and we could coast clear down to the courthouse.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: We always had a big fire up there, remember?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: As a big treat, mother would always give us some potatoes to roast over the fire.

SUSAN ROGERS: Was the fire on the hill?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, a bonfire.

SUSAN ROGERS: Were there a lot of kids up there?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: In the summer we used to play games, remember, run-sheep-run, and all that.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, and all the kids played in the street, 'cause there wasn't much traffic to bother with. We had our horses to ride of course, and all the other kids would come to ride with us. I first learned to ride on an old white mule that was very gentle. Any number of kids could get on his back, slide off his tail and right under him. But just let a bicycle show up and that old mule would rear up on his hind legs, dump us all off and take off. He didn't like bicycles.

SUSAN ROGERS: As kids, do you remember any big crimes or crimes that seemed big to you?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No, I don't remember anything big like that, do you?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: You know, it was funny, my sisters used to get in trouble because, just a block from our house was the county jail right there by the courthouse, it still is here, and, they used to get in trouble, because they'd loiter along and talk to the men in jail. And, once, I remember, they tossed a quarter out to one of my sisters, remember that?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Reba, she spent all of it on candy. Then, she was afraid to go home with the candy because she knew she'd get in trouble so she hid it in a vacant lot next to the house. But she got found out, anyway.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: My dad, I don't remember him ever, ever spanking any of us, but he would be real strict with us, and then, he would turn right around and give us ten cents, or something, after he'd got the message across.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you remember any big artists or painters that lived in the area, or scientists? Or even the people that came through that really made an impression on you?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: The only ones that I remember were the Coltons.

SUSAN ROGERS: Now, did you know them personally?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes, very well.

SUSAN ROGERS: Can you tell us something about them?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, I know that they first came out here, and bought the house where they live now, but it burned. I know that Mrs. Colton was quite a famous painter, but of course, he didn't. I never knew any of their children except Ferrell, and the oldest boy died. My dad and Dr. Colton were very good friends, but I don't think I remember any others.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, we knew of that Mr. Aiken.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, Louis Aiken.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: We didn't know him personally, but I remember driving past his grave at the cemetery and my father made the remark that that was the only grave at the cemetery at that time, that was the only body that had been laid from the south to the north instead of east and west like all of the other graves. It was because Mr. Aiken wanted to be facing the peaks when he was buried, I don't know why that made such an impression on me.

SUSAN ROGERS: Now, I don't know anything about him, can you tell me about him?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, he was a famous artist. He especially painted things. Well, one of his most famous paintings was of the Grand Canyon and it's up there in Verkamp's store. He was a very good artist, I don't know too much about him.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Bruce Babbitt....

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Bruce Babbitt wrote a book on him and it contained many pictures of his paintings.

SUSAN ROGERS: You mentioned the cemetery. Do you remember when they moved it?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, it's always been where it is.

SUSAN ROGERS: There was one, you know, where City Park is now. That wasn't the one you meant, was it?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I didn't know that there was one there.

SUSAN ROGERS: So, as far as you know, that's the only one there is?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes. All of our folks are buried there, except for my dad's parents.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, because when we were children, on Memorial Day, they always had services at our grandfather's grave.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: You know, they still do.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, because the bandstand is out there.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: He was something in the Civil War. Our grandfathers fought against each other in the Civil War, and my mother's father lost an arm in the Civil War. He was a captain, I think.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: They always hold services there every spring.

SUSAN ROGERS: Now, when you were little, were there big Memorial Day services?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: There's always been a Memorial Day service. They used to have a parade, I guess they still do.

SUSAN ROGERS: As schoolchildren, did you used to march in the parade, or do anything special?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I don't ever remember taking part in it.

SUSAN ROGERS: Let me ask each of you how you met your husband? How many kids you each have? Mrs. Griffin, would you like to begin?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, my husband was a native of Arizona. He was born and lived in Chandler. We met here in Flagstaff and at the time we met, he was working for some of his cousins. They were plasterers, and he was learning the trade with them, and we were married in the fall of 1936. I had decided the spring before that I didn't want to teach anymore, so I resigned and did odd jobs around town during the summer. Then, that fall, a teacher quit without notice so I did teach until we got married. In those days, married women were not hired as teachers.

SUSAN ROGERS: What was the philosophy behind that?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, in those days, a married woman's place was in the home, taking care of her house and children. The young, unmarried ladies needed the jobs, so it just wasn’t done, that’s all.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did anybody disagree with this at that time?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No, I don't think so. It was just one of those things we accepted. After I was married, we'd been married only a short time, one of the school teachers that taught over at Beaver School announced her marriage, she'd been married for a year, secretly, and it made the superintendent a little angry, so he wouldn't let her finish the year, and he hired me to substitute. I was married, but he said, would I fill in until he could find another teacher. I think then, just for spite, he never looked for another teacher because I taught for the whole semester. When we were married, my husband was working here in the summertime, and then going to the Phoenix area in the winter because there wasn't much building in Flagstaff, but, we finally settled down here and stayed here in Flagstaff. When he returned from the service in World War II, he started plastering again, at that time, he was contracting on his own. My father owned a trading post out on the highway and it was due to come up for lease, so we leased it and my husband ran it for several years.

SUSAN ROGERS: Mrs. Anderson, will you tell me something about your husband?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, I don't know how I met Chet, only, that he was working at a service station and we were married in 1937. He is a native Arizonian. He was born in Pinedale, Arizona. He was working for Webber Brothers and about a year after we were married, we had our own service station. Then, of course, the war came along and put us out of business. We couldn't get gas, we couldn't get tires. At that time was when we bought the warehouse, where we are now. He went into the storage business and we had a little wholesale grocery for a while. Then, the fellow who was running that for us left, so we got rid of it, and just have the warehouse. We've always had the feed business.

SUSAN ROGERS: This is the trading post you were talking about, right?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yes, it was.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: The bean-cleaning business was important then.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, yeah, then we went into that because the thing they raised around here was pinto beans. It was all dry farming, so Chet put in a cleaner and we cleaned beans. In fact, the warehouse used to be full and we did a lot of government storage of beans and the government bought most of the beans from us. Then, after a while that went by the wayside, all of the farmers went into soil banking and the subdivisions started.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Sid and I didn't have any children, but Agnes has two.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: A boy, Richard, who is a lawyer in Camp Verde and Jane who, hopefully, will finish school this year, college. She's had a hard time all these years in making up her mind what she wants to do.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did she finally decide on something?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay. I think we just about hit up on everything, unless you want to tell me about your teachings at Emerson a little bit; kept mentioning memories.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, I taught my first two years in Ashfork. Then, I thought that I’d rather teach closer to home and I was able to get a job at Emerson, and I taught there for about six years; usually the third and fourth grades. As I say, Mrs. Kennedy was my first principal and, when she retired, Laura Kinsey, who had been a teacher at Emerson School ever since we were in the fifth grade, she became our principal. Then, like I said, I had had enough of teaching and to resigned. That summer I met Sid and we decided to get married in the fall.

SUSAN ROGERS: Okay. How do you feel about the school system now? Do you think that there have been a lot of changes in Flagstaff, for good or bad?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, I don't like to get into that because, I said before, I was a disciplinarian and I think it's too bad that the children are allowed the freedom they are today because I think children learn better and feel better and are happier when they have discipline and they know where they stand, and what's expected of them. They have a feeling of security and are much better able to work. Naturally, most of the things they do in public schools now are against what I believe.

SUSAN ROGERS: Mrs. Anderson, you said that you had gotten your teaching certificate, but didn't you decide to go into business instead?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I never did like teaching but, because my dad insisted I get a teacher's certificate, I did but, on every elective subject I had, I took business courses, shorthand and typing. My first job after getting out of school, was at the Central Commercial Company who built the building where we are now. So, I really haven't progressed very far, I'm right where I started. Then, I went to work for my dad after the Central Commercial Company sold out, I went to work for my dad over at the store.

SUSAN ROGERS: Both of you went to the normal school here, right?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Right.

SUSAN ROGERS: Can you tell me a little bit about the early days at the school? Did you live at home?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Oh, yes, and we walked back and forth. It was about a mile, I think.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Four times a day. We even walked home for lunch.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: My older sisters went to high school there, as well as the normal school, because that was the only high school. When we were in high school, they put the high school classes down in Emerson School so it was really crowded down there.

SUSAN ROGERS: So, then, you went to high school at Emerson?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes. I went two years there and you went three years, I think.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, yeah, I did.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Then they built the new building which has been torn down already and Agnes was in the first graduating class at that high school.

SUSAN ROGERS: So, Emerson was a high school for three or four years?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, 'cause I went there for three years.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, because after high school. she went to college.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: They still had high school at the college but I believe it was just for out-of-town students.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: They could live at the dorms and go to high school.

SUSAN ROGERS: Could you tell me a little about the college and where were your classes?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, there was the....As you go in the north entrance, off of Sitgreaves, the first building there on the right was the elementary school or training school as we called it. Then, there was Old Main, and there were two men's dormitories, Taylor and Bury halls, and there were two women's dormitories. Then, there was a little building between, was the dining hall. All of our classes and the business office and the library were all in Old Main.

SUSAN ROGERS: The library was in Old Main, too, right?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, on the second floor. Everything was in the same building. They built the little rock houses that they used for married students, but I don't remember when those were built.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I don't either.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: They were only used in the summertime because that was the only time that there were any married students, teachers that came back to go to summer school. Before those were built, they had a big dairy back there.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, it was just about where those little houses are.

SUSAN ROGERS: Plus the activity center right there, too.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yeah. They had a big barn and some of the students worked there way through school by taking care of the dairy cattle and supplying milk for the dining hall. We felt sorry for those people who had to live in those little rock houses because they were so far from the main activities at school. Now, they're right in the middle of things.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: My dad and mother always had two college students, well, almost always. They were working their way through school. A boy, to help dad with the chores and a girl, to help mother with the family. They got there room and board.

SUSAN ROGERS: I was just going to ask about that.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: They went to school and quite a few finished school that way.

SUSAN ROGERS: Do you remember any special classes or teachers you had then?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: At college?

SUSAN ROGERS: Yes.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Well, we all remembered Dean Lintz, Dean Minnie Lintz. She was the psychology teacher and she was a good teacher and strict.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Very strict.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: I remember Mary Boyer. Agnes and I were at a disadvantage because, our two older sisters, Reba and Louise, who went up there first were both good students and they made straight ones, and then we came along and were nothing but average. We sure had a row to hoe. But, I always liked Mary Boyer because I looked like my older sister, Reba, and I think that she just had the feeling that, if I looked like her and acted like her, I was just as smart as she was. I don't think she ever graded my papers as closely as she should have.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I always remember Dean Lintz. I didn't get very good grades and I had to work for everything I had and I remember Dean Lintz kept me after class, the psychology class. In those days the school was run quarterly, four quarters per year. And, I always remember that psychology book because it was by Gates and it was part of the course that we had to get done in a quarter cause there would be a new text for the next quarter. Well, she kept me after class and wanted to know what was the matter and why I didn't do this and why I didn't do that. She mentioned the name of my sister, Reba, which just made me light up. And I said, "Well, being that you've been teaching for a long time and you said that in big families there was always one dumb one in the family, and I'm it." I turned around, walked out and slammed the door behind me. I was so mad at the way she compared me with my sister. She got a kick out of that, and she used to tell that story quite often; she really got a bang out of it, but I didn't think she had at the time.

SUSAN ROGERS: Can you think of any other little stories.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: I liked her. I liked Dean Lintz very much.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: My father had the drugstore first and then the hardware, then he bought the Flagstaff Pharmacy, it was a drugstore right across from the depot.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Well, he moved his drugstore round to there.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, but, wsan't there a drugstore before that?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: No. He started it there.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Oh. There was a soda fountain in there and he hired a lot of college students to work there. One of them was Andy Devine. He was a local fellow around here for a long time and he was working his way through school. I can remember my sister, Louise, saying, "Andy didn't work his way through school, he ate his way through school." He'd dream up some of the worst concoctions at the soda fountain and he was always big and fat anyway.

SUSAN ROGERS: Was that kind of a social center for the college students?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Yeah, it really was, a lot. And, you know, something that I always resented, and I shouldn't, but my dad would never let us work behind a fountain. He never let us work behind the fountain.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: No, and he wouldn't let us have anything at the drugstore unless we paid cash for it. He thought that most of the things sold at the drugstores were luxuries anyway and if we were going to have them we'd have to earn the money and buy them ourselves. And we did. It was good training.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: We never even got a free coke. Remember, we had to buy all of our own cokes or whatever they served then.

SUSAN ROGERS: What other social activities did the college students do?

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: We had dances at school. Ashurst auditorium was there and that's where we had most of the dances. While we were in high school we used to have parties at our home, dance parties at one home or another.

AGNES M. ANDERSON: At whoever had the biggest house, ours was one of them.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, we had quite a few parties at our house.

SUSAN ROGERS: Did you ever have any parties at the Monte Vista, or at the Bank Hotel?

AGNES M. ANDERSON: Not the Bank Hotel, that wasn't even a big hotel, that I can remember. But the Monte Vista, of course, was built at about the same time I got my first job, over there at the Central Commercial Company because, I know, my boss let me off to go to the opening. And Tommy Savage, remember, was my dad's shoemaker. He was a deaf mute. He was the one who got the prize for naming the Monte Vista.

SUSAN ROGERS: I think we have covered quite a bit in this interview.

RUTH MARY GRIFFIN: Yes, I think so. Whether it will be any good or not, that's something else.

END OF INTERVIEW

This was told to his daughter Ardelle Sykes by Mr. Switzer, during a visit in 1966: When a young man, I lived in the home my father had on the rim of Switzer’s Canyon. My family had moved back to California when this took place. I received a message by an Indian runner to bring a team and wagon and meet James Black, whose team had given out. Jim and partner were digging a well on land near Grand Falls which would hold their mining claim for a year. During the digging, a bucket was lowered into the well on a cable. The bucket was filled with dirt and taken to the surface by the cable, also. The well was about 10 feet deep, the hook that held the bucket onto the cable broke and the bucket fell and killed the digger who was assisting J. Black. Due to the strong feelings over mining claims, Mr. Black was afraid to take the body back to Flagstaff, so he sent the messenger in to Mr. Switzer, not telling him any details. Mr. Switzer got a younger brother of Mr. Black to accompany him, and they drove out and met the Black Company at the edge of the Cedars, or near Turkey Tanks. Still claiming the horses had given out, they transferred the dead man to Mr. Switzer’s wagon and he drove back to town taking the body to the mortuary. He returned home and not long afterwards, James Black drove his team at a good gate past the Switzer home. The team had lots of spirit, but Mr. Black needed a decoy to get the corpse to town.

This story was told by Mr. Switzer to his daughter Ardelle Sykes one afternoon during a visit in 1966
THE WEST DURING THE LATE 1800’S: A true story as told by William H. Switzer who was in his early twenty’s when it happened. Walter Hill was a prominent Cattleman in and around Flagstaff, Arizona. Due to the size of his cattle spread he owned many fine horses. During this time there had been a gang of horse thieves in the northern part of Arizona. They finally stole some of Mr. Hill’s horses. He went to the sheriff about it and offered to accompany him to run the thieves out of town.; They were able to track them down to a cabin owned by Colin Campbell, near the Grand Falls on the Colorado. Mr. Hill dismounted and crept up to the cabin, he looked through the window seeing the thieves, but they also saw him and shot him in the head. The sheriff rescued Mr. Hill and assisted him back towards town. They reached the edge of the Cedars near Turkey Tank and made a camp. Mr. Hill was unable to travel further and became apprehensive of his life. Feeling sure he was about to die, he asked the sheriff to go back to the cabin and bring back one of the thieves. He wanted to kill him before his time was up. The sheriff did just that and when he returned to the camp with his prisoner, Mr. Hill was so weak he could not get up from his camp bed. However, he did have the strength to hold his pistol and immediately shot the thief. Mr. Hill recovered from his wound, but the bullet left a deep hole in his forehead the size of one’s little finger in circumference and quite deep. The scar he carried to his grave. This is the way justice was meeted out in the early days.

A history of William Switzer written in 1970, that was collected from the Switzer sisters at the time of the interview: William Asa Switzer fought in the Civil War with the South, while Lou Rebecca attended private girl’s schools surrounded by colored help. After the war Mr. Switzer decided to move west, so the family of three children boarded the Northern Pacific Railroad for San Francisco. This was in 1874 and after reaching San Francisco they took a steamer for Los Angeles and finally settled in Downey, California. Mr. Switzer was a religious man with a good singing voice. He soon organized a youth choir and helped put up the church building. This same building is the “Church of Reflections” on Knott’s Berry Farm. These were the gold rush days and Mr. Switzer would be absent from home many days at a time prospecting. After nine years in Downey, through a friend, he learned of the future prospects of Flagstaff, Arizona and decided to move there. In 1883 he packed up his family, consisting of wife and six children and boarded the Atlantic & Pacific train and headed for Flagstaff. At Needles, California they were delayed three days waiting for the first railroad bridge to be finished. Thus, they were among the first passengers to cross over the bridge.; Mr. Switzer immediately took up a homestead east of Flagstaff and opened a dairy with nineteen cows. He was also a good carpenter and builder and soon was in the construction field. Switzer Mesa and Switzer Canyon are part of this original homestead. William Howard, being the oldest child, helped his father on many of the building jobs. He also peddled milk and often told about delivering a gallon of milk daily to Sandy Donahue’s saloon. Sandy didn’t use the milk but wanted “the kid” to have the money. The Senior Switzer opened a restaurant in the Babbitt Building just two days before the big fire in 1892 that wiped out most of the town’s business section. Young William owned half interest in some land close to Flagstaff, in the middle of which was a two-room house. Young William sold his half to help cover the fire loss, and the new owner cut the house through the middle, making a one-room shack on each piece of land.; In 1892 his father and family moved back to Downey, but after 22 months young Bill came back to make Flagstaff his home. During the next few years he worked mainly as a cowboy, mostly on the Babbitt ranges, but always interested in the town’s welfare. During those years he had met Nettie Lockwood. On his first meeting he chased her around the wagon trying for a kiss, but she outmaneuvered him. He vowed he was going to marry her in retalliation, and marry her he did some years later.; Nettie Lockwood came to Flagstaff in 1881, two years before Bill. She was of Irish decent with long auburn hair and snappy blue eyes, weighing close to 100 pounds. She married Mr. Switzer in November of 1897 and this happy union continued for 65 years, ending with the death of Nettie.; To this union were born nine children, two of which died in infancy, the other seven are: Mrs. Reba McVey, Fort Morgan, Colorado; Ardelle S. Sykes, Prescott, Arizona; Louise McCrea, Atascadero, California; Agnes Anderson, Flagstaff; Ruth Griffin, Flagstaff; William Switzer, Flagstaff; and Kenneth Switzer, Glenview, Illinois. After the marriage of William and Nettie they moved to Willow Springs, near Lees Ferry, for eight months. Due to ill health of Nettie they moved back to Flagstaff. William continued his interest in public affairs and came in off the range to become the Clerk of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors. He served the three years before statehood. He continued in public office and after a time was the County’s first Treasurer after statehood. At the end of this two years he had decided to go into business for himself and opened a harness and saddle shop on East Aspen. As the business grew he moved west on the same street and soon added a shoe repair shop. In 1920 he bought out the Sam Finley store of hardware and clothing. This was a three-story building ten years old (the highest in town at that time). Mr. Switzer soon disposed of the clothing to make room for the auto shop, hardware, harness, saddle and shoe repair departments. He later added paints and drugs. As cars became more plentiful, he abandoned the auto shop, saddle and harness shop, and eventually sold out the drug business which he had previously moved around to the present Flagstaff Pharmacy on R.R. Avenue. During these busy prosperous years he had opened a branch store in Winslow. No doubt, he had in mind building up a business for each of his sons. However, the war and changing times changed many things, and he sold the Winslow store. He eventually sold the store in Flagstaff to his two sons. Later, Kenneth sold his interest to Bill. Kenneth took a position with Rotary International and at this date (1970) lives with his family in Flenview, Illinois, a city close to his office in Evanston.; Mr. Switzer never tired of service to his community and had served on the school board, was Councilman when the City negotiated with the Santa Fe for its water rights on the San Francisco peaks. He was a charter member of the Rotary Club, and had taken an active part in the Flagstaff Board of Trade, which is now known as the Chamber of Commerce. He was a life member of the Masonic Lodge, joining in 1910, a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor in the Scottish Rite, second highest rank of the order, and was a past Master of the Blue Lodge. He also was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and served as Worthy Patron when his daughter Ardelle was the Worthy Matron. He was most proud that his wife and five daughters were Eastern Star members, and his two sons and grandson, Masons. I firmly believe Mr. Switzer lived up to his Masonry teachings as closely and faithfully as any member who ever lived.; History repeats itself so they say, and Kenneth was also elected to the City Council and became Mayor in 1950. The main issue at this time was also water for Flagstaff. Mr. Switzer’s biggest interest in his later years, was the Pioneer’s Historical Society. He worked untiringly not only to gather informative data from remaining pioneers, but was influential in obtaining the present buildings and grounds through the generous gifts of the County Board of Supervisors. He served as President of the Society and this interest was the spark of determination that kept him young and vigorous up to the time of his death in 1967, at the age of 97, just a week before his 98th birthday. His driver’s license was still valid at the time of death although he had not driven his car for the last two years.; Mr. Switzer’s word was his bond and when he went into business for himself, that was all he had to give when he borrowed from the bank. He was a wonderful father and husband. He worked long hours, but on Sundays he was ready to spend the day with his family. In the summer, they picnicked via horse and buggy, and eventually automobile. He believed in good education and saw to it that his children had one. The five girls are all graduates of Northern Arizona University, as now known. Both sons served for their country in World War II, as did his grandson Bill Saunders. He and Nettie never turned a hungry man away from their door. Oh, they worked for it if able, and they were always willing in those days. Nettie was called upon often to help in sickness and distress and gave of her time and talents unselfishly, never neglecting her family at home.; If only we of today could catch the fervor of these pioneers, having the strong faith in our Lord and fellowmen, we could rebuild this troubled world into a better place to live in.