A huge round of thanks goes to the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona for the grant provided to the Patagonia Museum by the South32 Hermosa Community Fund.

Trust us, we have lots of projects lined up that will be completed with this generous donation. It will primarily fund the creation and installation of a mural for the Lochiel Schoolhouse Welcome Center by Patagonia Schools students under the direction of the Patagonia Creative Arts Association. We’re also planning the creation and installation of a roadside sign at the Lochiel Schoolhouse so travelers can get an idea of the remarkable history of this little red building.

This photo shows you where we stand now in terms of the restoration project on the 100+-year-old building that is located southeast of Patagonia in the San Rafael Valley. Looking pretty good, isn’t it? We can’t wait to show you the “after”  that will come from the next round of changes.

In addition, Old Main will benefit from the grant as we’ll be able to fund the completion of the ADA ramp on the entrance to the building, pay for the restoration of the high school art class territorial school signs on the museum grounds that has faded in the Arizona sun and invest in new lawn care equipment to be utilized both at the museum and Lochiel. If you’ve been visited us recently, you know mowing the grounds by hand is a huge undertaking so our volunteer groundkeepers will appreciate the upgrade to a riding mower.

Once again, the board and members of the Patagonia Museum send a hearty round of thanks to the CFSA and the South32 Hermosa Fund for their generous donation that will allow us to continue the work of preserving the memories of eastern Santa Cruz County.

The venue that is now home to the Patagonia Museum closed its doors in 2015 as the “longest in contiguous use” elementary school in Arizona. Hundreds of kids passed through its doors in the 101 years it was in service as a school. The halls are much quieter now so it’s no wonder that we were happy to arrange a private tour for 12-year-old Cole & 9-year-old Natalie, at the request of their aunt who writes our favorite “Glimpses of the Past” series for the local newspaper.

Like most kids, they loved the playground and the bright mural painted by talented local artists but they also enjoyed exploring the current exhibits in the Museum.  The Cowbelle’s room is dedicated to the rich history of ranching in Santa Cruz County and is full of western artifacts that intrigued Cole & Natalie. When they learned there were 7 saloons located on the main street between 1900 – 1910. they agreed it’s likely that some of those cowboys spent the night chained to “the Patagonia jail tree” when they were too intoxicated to ride home safely. Note: The re-enactment was thoroughly enjoyed by the adults on the tour.

Educating people about the rich and diverse history of the people, places and things that typified eastern Santa Cruz County is the reason the Museum exists. Based on the note our curators received after their visit, we’d say our mission was accomplished.

The Museum is open Thursday – Saturday from 2 to 4, year-round. Drop us a note if you’re in the area outside those hours and we’ll do our best to ensure you too can see the sights.

Article and photo by Marion Vendituoli. Reprinted by permission of the Patagonia Regional Times.

Descendants of Mary Kane, who was one of the first women to vote in Arizona, gather in front of the suffrage sign at the Patagonia Museum.

Thirty people gathered at the dedication of the suffrage marker at the Patagonia Museum on May 15. After a short business meeting, Museum President German Quiroga introduced historian Mary Melcher. Melcher was the lead historian for the Arizona Women’s Heritage Trail and served on the committee for the National Votes for Women Trail (NVWT), which “seeks to recognize and celebrate the enormous diversity of people and groups active in the struggle for women’s suffrage.,” according to its website.

Melcher described the struggles of early suffragists in Arizona, which culminated in an initiative to give women the vote that passed in 1912, shortly after Arizona gained statehood.

The historical marker at the Patagonia Museum, one of approximately 250 markers throughout the U.S., names two of the 23 women who voted at the site in 1915, Amalia Valenzuela and Mary Kane. In the audience at the dedication were several descendants of Mary Kane, who was born in Mexico in 1863. The women must have been able to read, according to Melcher, as a requirement for voting was the ability to read a line of the constitution in English.

“Today we honor these women,” Melcher said, noting the importance of continuing the fight for “voting rights for all”.

What does it take to turn a blah beige handball wall into a work of art? A vision, a few gallons of paint and the help of some talented local artists. Voila, a few months later, the Museum can now boast that we have the spiffiest spot in town for a special photo op right outside our front doors.

The project was conceived of by our curator and approved by the board but the real work was done by the artists.  The art teacher at Patagonia Union High School led the way supported by the director of the Patagonia Creative Arts Association and a band of volunteers.

As a reminder, the Museum is open from 2 to 4 Thursdays – Saturday but the photo op in the front yard is available anytime.

Both literally and figuratively.

The literal reference is tied to the completion of the first phase of one of the big interior projects. We have new lights! The fluorescent lighting in the hallway has been replaced by the 2021 version of the lights that hung in the building back in 1914. Pretty slick, wouldn’t you agree?

The figurative reference is tied to the fact that the lights are on because our doors are open. We are once again welcoming visitors from 2 – 4 Thursdays – Saturdays. And yes, the board and the volunteers are very happy about that fact.

While the doors were closed, the curating team was hard at work creating new exhibits for the public to enjoy. Thanks to the generosity of the Brent Bowden estate, the Museum is the proud owner of the candy counter from the store that stood at the corner of 3rd and McKeown in the ’20s. Granted we haven’t stocked it with Baby Ruth bars, Chuckles or candy cigarettes, but we think it looks perfect displaying an assortment of non-edible items that were likely for sale back in the day.

There are still a number of items on the “to do” list including raising funds for those cool lights in the four exhibit rooms plus the construction of the eagerly anticipated ADA ramp but in the meantime, please stop by when you’re in the area to see what we’ve been up to.

We’re managing to stay busy. In fact, the Museum’s doors being temporarily shuttered has provided our curators with the perfect excuse to rearrange. All in the spirit of creating new “old” displays for our patrons to enjoy in the future.

Patagonia is located in mining country so we’ve added new artifacts to those exhibits that are anchored by a huge mineral display case that is on long-term loan from the Cypress Mines Corporation.

We’ve recreated a turn of the century classroom because the building the Museum is housed in was the longest in-contiguous-use elementary school in the state at the time it closed. Serving the community from 1914 – 2014 is quite impressive, don’t you agree?

Small town commercial enterprises deserve mention so we’re currently featuring a scaled-down version of A.S. Henderson’s general store, as well as some cool old surveying tools and signage from the Bob Lennon collection.

In fact, there is so much that we want to share with the public that the board approved the conversion of the classroom that had been used as a meeting room into a public display area. The curator’s plans for that space include updated exhibits featuring the trades that have made Patagonia a thriving community over the past 100+ years.

Carolina and Hannah, the hard-working young women who are the current student docents, helped us with the first new exhibit, a tribute to the medical community in Patagonia. There’s no doubt that Dr. Delmar Mock is is the most well-known and beloved medical professional having served the area for 38 years. Affectionately known as “Doc Mock”, the town named a large portion of its park system in his honor. That said, it’s interesting to note that the original doctor in town was a woman, Dr. Eva Stevens Henderson, who obtained her medical degree in 1902. The story of women in the health care field in Patagonia continued with locally born Carolina Valenzuela Montoya who was Santa Cruz County’s first public health nurse. The family healthcare clinic in town was originally named after her, another tribute to the role of professional women in the wild west.

That’s a sampling of what we’ve been up to while our doors are closed. Stay tuned for updates as our curators continue the work of making old things seem new again.

The National Votes for Women Trail and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation have honored the Patagonia Museum by sponsoring a suffrage sign marker that will be displayed on the grounds of the 1914 Grammar School. In 1915, a special election was held in Santa Cruz County and the Grammar School was the voting site for the Patagonia community. At the time there were at least 31 women registered to vote in Patagonia. The suffrage sign will honor these women and Amalia Valenzuela and Mary Kane in particular, as Hispanic women who pursued their right to vote at a time when it was unacceptable in much of the country.

The 1913 Official Register of Electors listing Mary Kane as one of six registered voters in Crittenden.

A brief ceremony to celebrate this suffrage sign marker will take place along with our annual meeting on Saturday, January 23, 2021, at 10:30 am, on the grounds of our museum facility, 100 School Street. Mary Melcher who received her Ph.D from Arizona State University in American History, will be our guest speaker. Mary is an oral historian, consultant, curator, historian, author and the driving force who made this recognition possible.

The board of trustees sends a heartfelt thank you to Arizona Humanities for the grant recently awarded to the Patagonia Museum. Funding for this grant was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The monies will be used to offset our operating expenses that would normally be covered by our fundraising efforts.

In case you are unfamiliar with their work, Arizona Humanities is a statewide 501C3 that has supported public programs that promote understanding of the human experience with cultural, educational, and nonprofit organizations across Arizona since 1973. You can find more about them on their website.

A field trip to the local museum may not sound like fun to every kid but in this case, we’re pleased to report a good time was had by the Lobos from Mr. CW’s 5th grade class.

FRONT ROW: Mr. CW, Kannon, Alex, Losiram and Tristan   BACK ROW: Erika, Vivi, Amaya and Isela

The good times began when we learned Mr. CW had taught in the facility towards the end of its 100-year run as the elementary school in Patagonia. Several of the students also shared fond memories of the classrooms from their kindergarten days.

The hosts (our curators Tom & Linda Shore) are both former teachers so they devised a way to work a bit of learning into the trip. The kids teamed up to complete a crossword puzzle based on the clues they discovered in a scavenger hunt in the displays in the former classrooms.  Entertainment included a rendition of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” on the player piano. Yes, there was dancing.

It was only fitting that the field trip ended with a few minutes spent on the jungle gym….for old time’s sake. Kids only, just like it was back in the day.