Little rusty iron globes top the pillars in front of the old courthouse that’s now the Cobre Valley Center for the Arts in Globe, Ariz.
The town owes its name to a round nugget, or “globe,” of silver that was found in the area in the late 1800s. It resembled a miniature earth, according to Linda Lopez, the Director of the Gila County Historical Museum.
Photo Courtesy of the Gila Valley Historical Museum
Globe’s history influences every aspect of the little Eastern Arizona community. Founded at the height of the Wild West as a mining town, Globe’s past includes stagecoach robberies, outlaws and the drama that comes with the boom and bust of mining through the years.
Now, horse-powered cars instead of horse-drawn carriages cruise the historic Broad Street that runs through downtown. And the old buildings that line the street stand as relics of the early years, like the town’s own Roman ruins. Several buildings, once occupied with the old JC Penney’s, local banks, and even several brothels, sit empty. The train station that once brought in people and carried out copper is closed.
“A lot has changed,” said Lopez, who’s lived in Globe all her life and now works at the Historical Museum with her retired husband.
At this point, the town struggles to know how to move forward. Both residents and community leaders wonder how to attract newcomers and expand the economy. This conversation about Globe’s progress isn’t new and it isn’t simple.
Some want history to define Globe, to hold on to the past that made it great in the first place. Others want to move the past aside and make way for more modern ideas. And of course, as with the tale of the three bears, some fall right in the middle.
Police Chief Mark Nipp is a relative newcomer to the town, but he’s seen the differing opinions among the Globe residents.
“There’s one camp that believes that we’re just fine the way we are, we don’t want big business, we don’t want corporate America to invade and potentially ruin the charm that Globe has. And then there’s a thought that we need to seduce these big companies and try to convince them to come to Globe and try to be like everybody else, and have big box stores on every corner.”
“And then there’s the middle ground, which I think is the most practical and most realistic. We need to consider our history. We need to consider our landscape and the geography of the city and what we really can and can’t accept, or even support. And grow a little bit without destroying the history, but not so much that we destroy the history,” said Nipp.
Holding onto history
Globe was officially founded in 1878 after the big silver rush of 1875, said Gila County Historical Museum Director Lopez. In the beginning, there was a big mixing of cultures, as people came from everywhere. According to Lopez, as soon as people got off the boat on the East Coast, they somehow heard that Arizona was the place to go.
Photo Courtesy of the Gila County Historical Museum
The silver ran out by the 1880s, but by then, said Lopez, copper was recognized as the future of the mining district. In 1886, the Old Dominion Mine, the mine in Globe at the time, produced 22 million pounds of copper.
By the 1890s, downtown Globe had a big city band and a hanging tree – everything a town could need. There’d been a robbery of a Wells Fargo Stagecoach and the Apache Kid’s trial in the old courthouse.
During World War I, copper came in high demand, and the town boomed. Lopez said that by 1919, about 1,400 people were employed by the Old Dominion Mine in Globe. Many immigrants were employed there, including Croatians and Italians, bringing a Mediterranean touch to the city.
Globe, a town that always relied so heavily on mining, fluctuated with the ebb and flow of the industry through the years and survived periodic worker strikes and closures. The first major strike happened at the Old Dominion Mine in 1917, and it threatened the town’s future. The strike, Lopez noted, got so vicious that the government had to step in, going so far as to send federal troops out west. Then, when the Old Dominion Mine closed in the 1920s, the town was in trouble again until Globe miners began working at the nearby Inspiration Mine. Later, in the 1970s, a nine-month long mining strike at the Inspiration Mine threatened Globe for good.
“It almost destroyed the town,” said Lopez, whose ex-husband worked at the mine at the time.
Lopez said that mining has always been the town’s major industry.
“I’m so thankful for the mines,” said Lopez.
Obstacles to progress
Globe’s long dependency on mining is just one of the town’s obstacles to moving forward. The generation gap between the old and the young also hinders the town’s progress.
The younger generation doesn’t have the connection to the mines or the drive to work in them like the older generation. According to Lopez, some of the younger generation work at the mines, but it isn’t like it was before.
“In the old days, that was their livelihood,” said Lopez.
The younger group finds other ways to make a living. Some leave town, whether for school or something else. The new generation also isn’t as interested in continuing the family business, whatever that may be. Many family businesses, like local grocers and clothing stores, have closed their doors after years because there was no one to take over. Some of these businesses occupied spaces along Broad Street, which is one of the reasons why the once bustling main street in town is now much quieter.
Globe leaders also struggle to make the town a place to both work and live. Many of the people that work in Globe live other places. Fire Chief Gary Robinson said that some of his full-time fire fighters work all the way out in the Valley. And he said that miners are still affected, moving temporarily to find work.
“I talk to people on a regular basis that may work here, but most of them have had at least some time in their life when they’ve moved to some other place like Nevada and mined for a while because of slow times here,” he said.
Several people, including Robinson and Police Chief Nipp, acknowledged that Globe struggles to compete with other places in various aspects of life. Nipp said that the housing, for example, isn’t shiny and new.
“In Globe, there’s just not a lot of new houses. Some of the houses are a hundred, a hundred plus years old and it takes a special kind of person to move from a brand-new modern home and live in a house that’s 100 years old,” he said.
Chris Cecil was born in Globe, raised his family in Globe with his wife Dana, and then retired in Globe. He also said that the town, as it is now, isn’t competitive to outsiders.
“We can’t attract ‘em. We don’t have the professionals,” said Cecil.
Broad Street in Globe isn’t as busy as it once was.
Though Robinson, Nipp and Cecil said they understand why people aren’t moving in, Lopez said that many Globe residents are upset by the commuters. According to Lopez, they don’t like that people come to Globe to work but then don’t pay taxes or contribute to the local economy on a daily basis.
And the economy is a concern. The mining industry has always been fickle, and the mines are still the main employer for Globe residents, said Cecil.
“If it folded up, there would be a lot of people hurtin’,” he said.
Additionally, according to the Census Bureau, the estimated median income in 2014 was just under $43,000, which was about 15 percent lower than the median income of Arizona.
Lopez also talked about the changing economy throughout her lifetime.
“Years ago, in the old days, we used to have a lot of grocery stores. Now we just have the Safeway.” She continued, “We have no big stores that come in. We have Wal-Mart, and that’s it.”
Robinson mentioned that the town also has physical barriers to growth.
“We are surrounded by forest on three sides and Indian reservation on another side, so it does present a challenge for available space,” he said.
Aubrey Moran, 25, has been a resident of Globe nearly all his life. A self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist, he talks freely about how hard life in Globe can be.
“It’s really hard to get any money when there’s not enough jobs, so there’s a lot of people that are homeless or on the streets constantly. There’s a lot of drugs out here,” he said.
One of the main problems that Globe Police deal with is drug use.
Though some of Moran’s theories are difficult to prove, he seems to be right about the drug issue.
“Globe does have a significant drug problem,” said Chief Nipp.
And according to former resident Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, drug dogs were frequently at the high school during his time there.
One of the biggest obstacles to Globe’s progress is actually a single person. But, according to Lopez, nobody knows much about this person except that it’s a man by the last name of Wilkes.
He owns many of the buildings in downtown, several of them right on Broad Street. He doesn’t do anything with them and refuses to sell. They are some of the most dilapidated of all. Rumor has it that he’s doing research.
He’s holding on to history and holding back the town.
The man Wilkes wasn’t available for comment, though, according to another media source, he doesn’t speak to anyone.
All of Globe’s challenges circle back to the conversation about the role of Globe’s history in moving the town forward.
Looking to the Future while Embracing the Past
Though residents and community leaders are unsure about how to move the town forward, they aren’t paralyzed in taking action.
“They are making some strides to try and attract some bigger employers to the area to hopefully kind of supplement and grow the economy a little bit,” said Robinson.
But the biggest movement for Globe’s progress and development seems to be coming from newcomers.
Museum director Lopez mentioned that she’s seen two women come in to the museum several times over the past couple months. Lopez said they’ve bought up a half-block of houses and plan to renovate and restore them, while staying true to the original history of the buildings.
Chris Cecil agrees that Globe needs new faces. He said Globe would benefit by younger people with new enthusiasm to energize the town.
And though some of the younger generation have left, some have come back and are actively participating in the community.
For example, Adrea Ricke, 36, left Globe to go to school at Northern Arizona University. After moving around the country, she moved back with her husband two years ago because she missed the town where she grew up.
“At the end of the day, I basically just wanted to come home,” she said.
She is now the librarian of the Globe Public Library.
And Nipp said that he and his wife love Globe after living here for just a year and a h
alf, even in spite of the challenges.
“Globe has changed our lives. We didn’t realize how stressed we were living in the Valley. And we’re not sure if we’re ever going to leave Globe, we love it that much, “ he said.
Though the town doesn’t quite yet know how to proceed, residents and authorities are hopeful for the future. They hope to find modern solutions to the obstacles that Globe faces, like dependence on the mining industry, the barriers to growth, the drug problems and the mysterious businessman, while maintaining the historical integrity of their town.
Because after all, it may be small, but Globe is their entire world.
