Today, Tombstone is a tiny town of 1,400 people that lives off of its Wild West fame. Daily re-enactments of the Gunfight at the OK Corral take place. Stagecoach rides are offered along Allen Street, which is in the historic heart of downtown. The Old Cochise County Courthouse is now a fascinating museum that is devoted to interpreting the history of this legendary town. The old courthouse is a state park and has been since 1959. It is Arizona's smallest state park, but one of the most heavily visited. It sat vacant for nearly three decades after the county government moved to Bisbee in 1929.
A 3 block stretch of East Allen Street is now closed to vehicles and has been turned into a pedestrian-only street. The only vehicles allowed are emergency vehicles and delivery trucks that supply the stores in the area. Of course, the stagecoaches are also allowed. This stretch of the street was closed approximately five years ago after being discussed for several years before that, but the closure was postponed because the post office was located in that area. After the post office was moved to another part of town, the street was closed. At first, dirt was dumped on top of the asphalt to give the street more of a frontier look, but, every time it rained, the dirt turned into a sea of mud and flowed downhill, creating a horrible mess. Today, the street is still paved which does not add to the Wild West ambience at all, but the business owners do not want the pavement ripped up because they think it will make their businesses too dusty, and yet they want the street to look more authentic. Hmmmm. I think the pavement should be torn up, but I guess I really don't have a say in the matter.
One block away, there is a short stretch of East Toughnut Street that is closed to traffic. I noticed this on my visit to Tombstone last month. I am not sure what the reason for this closure is, but it does not seem to correspond to a partial closure of that street a few years ago. That closure was due to the fact that a mining tunnel underneath Tombstone has caused a portion of the street to collapse. Therein lies one of Tombstone's biggest problems today. It is severely undercut by mining tunnels that could cave in at any time because the miners a century ago cut their subterranean tunnels too close to the surface of the ground in their quest to extract as much silver
and other minerals as possible.
The Tombstone of today is a busy town, but nearly all of the employment is of the minimum wage variety. What surprises most people is the fact that the Tombstone school district is one of the poorest school districts in Arizona. After decades of holding high school and middle school classes in dilapidated facilities, they finally built a new middle school/high school combination on the edge of town, near the water treatment plant. However, they cannot afford to build outdoor sports facilities until the old high school and middle school are sold. They are currently playing baseball on the football field, on the edge of the historic district, even though the bathrooms were condemned by the city a few years ago and spectators have to use port-a-potties. They are playing baseball and football amongst abandoned buildings. The old high school is abandoned except for the gym, which is still used for basketball practice on an alternating basis between the boys and girls teams, and as dressing rooms for football games. The tennis courts at the old school are in such bad shape that they are almost unusable. Opposing teams have complained about Tombstone's sports facilities, but the athletic league knows the school district is doing everything they can to alleviate that situation.
Tombstone is a town that survives because of its legendary past. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Arizona, but there alot of problems that threaten this little town and many of the problems are the direct result of the town's legendary past.
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