When you think of Arizona rivalries, competitions like the annual territorial cup between Arizona State University and University of Arizona come to mind.
But there’s an even older feud dating back Arizona’s pre-statehood days — the battle between Tucson and Prescott over which city would be the territorial capital of Arizona.
Despite Tucson’s status as an older and more established community, the first Territorial Legislature adopted Prescott as the first capital in 1864.
Lawmakers were wary of Confederate sympathizers in southern Arizona during the Civil War, while Prescott had prosperous goldmines.
Shortly after the war, the Legislature moved the capital to Tucson, through a one-vote majority.
Stuart Rosebrook, executive director of Prescott’s Sharlot Hall Museum, says Tucson’s merchants had strong political sway.
“They knew how to flex their muscles and they wanted to bring the territorial capital to Tucson because there’s a lot of money and a lot of contracts," said Rosebrook.
Rosebrook says the capital moved back to Prescott a decade later. But the back and forth became tiresome, so in 1889 it moved one last time — to Phoenix.
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