Casa Grande, Arizona – Week 1

We have been here in Casa Grande for a little over a week.  For the most part the weather has been pleasant with clear skies, not much wind and warm enough to keep water aerobics from being cancelled.  This is our second visit to Desert Shadows; we spent last Thanksgiving here as well and enjoyed the visit enough to plan an encore this year.

Our friends, Galen and Betty Jo, are here as well and last Friday we made a day trip to Florence.  They hadn’t toured the Pinal County Historical Museum so we made that our first stop.  This little museum has become one of our favorite places to visit, thanks to the historian/docent who has an endless supply of stories about the wonderful array of characters who’ve passed through Florence over the decades.  Every city has an industry for which it is noted – Florence’s claim to fame is Incarceration.  It’s home to two state penitentiaries, several privately-owned prisons and a number of specialized facilities, including one for juvenile offenders.  The first prison was built to relieve crowding at the territorial prison in Yuma and so the museum features many artifacts from those days, including the gallows trap door and a two-seater chair for the gas chamber which eventually replaced the hanging tree. 

Florence was once a well-heeled mining town and the museum has fine examples of some of the more upscale accoutrements of a by-gone era.  The Western movie hero, Tom Mix,  was killed in a car accident not far from Florence so one exhibit features photos and mementos of his presence in Florence which he visited on a regular basis.  Gene Autry was another movie cowboy to spend time in the area visiting friends who owned ranches nearby.

After a thorough examination of the museum’s displays, we walked around the historic downtown.  The visitors center was in the process of vacating the two-story brick building known as the Conrad Brunenkant City Bakery (built in 1889) and moving to the first Pinal County Courthouse; it’s also known as McFarland State Historic Park but was closed shortly after being renovated due to state budget shortages.  It’s great that the city will be able to make use of this wonderful old building, which dates from the late 1870s.

Another interesting structure on the walking tour is the Silver King Hotel, once the social center of the city and considered the height of elegance at the time.  It now houses a restaurant and several small shops, including one that sells what must be the most expensive fudge in the state. 

One of our favorite stories has to do with the second Pinal County Courthouse, built in 1891 and now undergoing renovations.  It looks pretty much like every other government building of that era but what makes it special is its clock tower.  The county went over budget in constructing the courthouse and didn’t have funds left for the internal workings of a clock.  So the hands were painted on and it is forever 11:44 in Florence, no matter what time you get there.

Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be a disappointment.  We recalled having a delicious ample dinner last year at a pretty modest price.  This year the meal was mediocre at best, cost $2 more than last year and seconds were not allowed.  Each family was asked to bring a salad or dessert, most of which went uneaten.  Rumor has it that turkey sandwiches will be served on Black Friday for $4 per person….using turkey we’ve already paid for.  We won’t be participating and we’ll likely find somewhere else to spend next Thanksgiving.  Meanwhile, we have a lot of confetti salad left over.

We have a little less than a week left in Casa Grande before moving up to Apache Junction to hibernate for the winter.  There are a couple of other attractions  we’d like to visit before leaving but it remains to be seen if we can get organized enough to accomplish much.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.