Holbrook

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Holbrook, Arizona

In 1881, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad laid its tracks through an area that was known as Horsehead Crossing. The following year a railroad station was built and the small settlement was called Holbrook in honor of H.R. Holbrook, the first chief engineer of the railroad. A year later, when the first post office opened, James H. Wilson became its first postmaster.

Primarily called home to cowboys, cattle ranchers and railroaders, the settlement soon took on all the vices of a typical Wild West town, complete with a saloon called the Bucket of Blood. Law and order were non-existent, gambling was popular, and painted ladies far outnumbered "proper women.”

Many years later, Route 66 would barrel through town giving the community a whole new flavor.