Winslow is a town rich in history, with the beginnings of the town be traced back to Native Americans, homesteaders and the pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), among many others.
Currently, the Winslow Historic Preservation Commission is engaged in a project that will bring part of that history, known as the Birthplace Cabin, into the downtown area from Brigham City on LaPrade Lane.
According to local historian and Historic Preservation Commission Commissioner Kenn Evans, “The Birthplace Cabin is believed to be one of the first two cabins built in the Winslow community. The structure was one of the first permanent structures in town. This cabin sat at the center of Williamson Avenue and Third Street in what is now the Bank of the West parking lot for over a half of a century.”
There is no official record of who built the cabin originally, however, most historians believe it to have been constructed by George Cresswell, a local hunter, trapper and trader sometime between the late 1860s and 1873.
Evans continued, “The cabin marked one of a few scarce homesteads in the Middle Little Colorado River Valley before the arrival of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad. When the early settlers of the LDS Church came to the area to establish the Little Colorado River Settlements in 1876, there were folks in the area homesteading the land along the proposed railroad route.”
Cresswell, as Evans explained, “Constructed the cabin will butt and pass construction. The roof is a combination of purlin and rafter construction with wooden shake and metal can tiles. The interior was grouted with mud and covered with cardboard to keep out the elements. The interior still has one of the Babbitt Mercantile Snowdrift lard boxes nailed to the wall.”
Cresswell lived in the structure possibly until Winslow prospector Franklin Harvey French and his family moved in in 1887. French and his wife Emma Batchelor Lee French called the cabin home while building their dairy ranch in what is now Bushman Acres.
The French family, and namely Emma French is the reason the Birthplace Cabin is well known in Winslow. French Road in Bushman Acres is also named after them.
Emma French, according to documents provided by Evans, was a prominent figure in Winslow. Born in Sussex County, England in 1836, she traded one year of service to the LDS Church for steerage to the United States in the late 1850s. Upon her arrival, she was part of a migration of church members from Iowa to Salt Lake City, Utah. While on the journey, she acted as a nurse and midwife despite not having formal medical training.
She married her first husband John Doyle Lee in 1858 and became his sixth wife, birthing nine children.
Because of Doyle’s participation in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the family was forced to move to Arizona where they operated a ferry service on the Colorado River that came to be known as Lee’s Ferry. Upon Lee’s death, his widow continued to operate the Ferry for two more years.
Evans explained, “Widowed, Emma married Frank French in 1879 in Snowflake and they moved to Holbrook. While there, a flash flood injured workers and passengers on a train. She acted as the nurse (for) the railroad workers.”
In 1887, the French family moved to Winslow into the Birthplace Cabin. Evans said, “At times the railroad would send a train to bring Emma to help take care of injured rail workers. She was known as Dr. French and she helped multiple women as well as the rail workers, including Navajos and prostitutes in the delivery of their children.
“She became known as Dr. Grandma in Winslow due to her abilities and her kind nature. She assisted the contract doctors in the area, and she was on call from Flagstaff to Gallup. She was especially skilled as a midwife and she was ahead of her time in demanding sanitary work areas.”
Emma French died in 1897 and was one of the first people buried at Winslow’s Desert View Cemetery. She was inducted into the Arizona Woman’s Hall of Fame in 2019.
The Birthplace Cabin was also home to several other important early Winslow residents and is the second oldest cabin in Arizona. The first is the former Arizona Territorial Governor’s Mansion in Prescott.
Other residents of the Birthplace Cabin included Fred Hayes who operated the Sam Hayes Shoe Shop in the cabin and Cecil McCormick who took ownership of the cabin in the early 1940s and used it as a jail when needed while he was employed by the Sheriff’s Office.
According to Evans, the cabin was donated to the city by Mr. and Mrs. McCormick and was relocated to the City Farm at Brigham City National Historic Site in 1981 in order to better preserve it. It is now going to be moved to a parcel close to its original location at Williamson Avenue and Third Street. Evans said the effort will be to, “Celebrate it and to use it as a tool in the interpretation of our community history and to share it with our out-of-town visitors.”
On Monday, April 18, McCauley Mechanical and Construction donated the cement pad for the cabin floor and foundation. It was overseen and finished by Hardy Masonry of Winslow. A final date for when the building will be placed in the location has not been determined.
“The relocation and installation of the edifice is being made possible by the generous donations of materials and labor by Winslow merchants and volunteers. Future plans may include a protective cover over the edifice, interpretive signage for the park, and in partnership with the City of Winslow Arts Council, and a mural depicting the edible flora of the upper-Sonoran grasslands of the Winslow area,” said Evans.
Donations for the project can be made at City Hall, located at 21 N. Williamson Ave. The commission will accept monetary donations as well as contributions of artifacts.
Evans concluded, “We are currently looking for a buckboard or freight wagon, a hitching post and wagon wheels to accent the edifice depicting materials used in the daily life of Winslow’s earliest residents. Thanks to the Winslow Historic Preservation Commission for another great project that preserves our history.”
