Photo by Linda Kor This plaque, Black Austrian Pine and petrified wood have been placed on the lawn of the Historic Navajo County Courthouse in Holbrook to commemorate those individuals who worked to preserve the county’s history at the museum located in the courthouse.
A Black Australian Pine tree and memorial plaque have been placed at the Navajo County Historical Courthouse in Holbrook in memory of those who dedicated their time and provided items to be displayed at the museum within the courthouse. Those who have worked to make the museum what it is today include Garnette Franklin, Mary Lee, Gladys Pearson, Joy Nevin, Gilbert and Nevert Scorse, Edith Hunter, Joe Rodriquez, Vada Carlson, Ross Barnes, Elsie Oakes, Laura Saline, Ralph Lewis, Tommy Thompson, Dean Thomas, Jessie Hillebert, Zelda Gray, Melissa Prather, Vic Bork, Marlin Gillespie and many, many more. In 1975, Navajo County employees moved out of the historic courthouse into their new quarters at the governmental complex at the south end of Holbrook. The annex space at the courthouse continued to be used by the county for storage and for the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office drug task unit offices. Just prior to that, the Navajo County Historical Society was organized by residents of Winslow and Holbrook, and later Show Low, Taylor and Snowflake added members. In 1981, Franklin and others began creating displays in the downstairs rooms of the historic courthouse for Holbrook’s centennial year. She and others, including Gillespie, Carlson, the Scorses, Nevin, Rodriquez, Thomas, Saline and other society members worked with the county, the city and Holbrook Chamber of Commerce Director Teri White to establish a county-wide museum for the historical society. It opened in 1983 when the chamber located its offices in the space used today for the school room display. Show Low, Snowflake, Taylor, Holbrook and Winslow each established its own branch of the historical society, but also had items in the county museum. Establishing exhibits in the courthouse building, which was not designed to be a museum, was a challenge the group resolved through ingenious ideas and efforts. One such handicap was that the wainscot and woodwork in many areas had been repeatedly painted over the years. Nevin stepped up to address that issue and spent hundreds of hours removing the layers of old paint. As the years went by each of the historical society branches established its own museum, with Winslow the last group to start one in 1987. Over the years many have devoted their talents and time to document the museum’s collections and to expand the exhibits. Thousands of hours have been donated to record information on the treasures housed at the old courthouse. Since 2011 more progress has been made to record the numerous items in storage, gather the data on each item and place it in an exhibit. The result is many new and expanded displays. The records themselves have been entered into the museum software program and eventually all will be cross-referenced. There are many people to thank for their support to make possible a free-admission museum that contains the legacies of so many who lived and worked here. Just as important are the dozens of volunteers over the years who were dedicated to establishing and maintaining a museum for Holbrook, a facility that is dedicated to the preservation of the community’s history for generations to come. The pine, the memorial plaque and the petrified wood that holds the plaque were donated by Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co. and an anonymous donor.
