Published June 20, 2022, for State 48 A2Z
JUNETEENTH EDITION
It was 1897 when the daughter of former slaves and her new husband made the trek westward from Chicago, Illinois to Wickenburg, Arizona. When Elizabeth Hudson Smith and her husband, Bill, finally arrived in Wickenburg they were looking for a new home where people would be more tolerant of their race than in other parts of the country. Wickenburg, a small mining community at the time, was already diverse (especially in the late 1800s) with a community that consisted of Mexicans, American Indians, Asians, and Europeans.
Bill Smith was a Porter on the Santa Fe, Prescott, and Phoenix Railroad, when they married on September 28, 1896, in Chicago, Illinois, and, under a year later, they were on their way to Wickenburg to relocate for a better life. Elizabeth was well educated, that was one thing that her father, a freed slave with little chances in life himself, insisted on. When she arrived in Wickenburg by train on an evening in August 1897, she had learned to read, write, and speak French in addition to having an amazing head for finance and numbers.
Records do not indicate if there were any other blacks living in Wickenburg at that time but, it is believed that the Smiths could have very well been the first Black residents of Wickenburg. The Smiths got a room at the run-down Baxter Hotel. During their stay, the couple found out that Bill Baxter, owner of the hobbled hotel, an 1860’s adobe building that needed some major repairs, wanted out and offered the hotel to the Smiths who quickly agreed to the deal.
The Smiths not only fixed up the dilapidated inn but added a second floor to give Wickenburg its first two-story hotel. The new Baxter Hotel, a few blocks from the Santa Fe Railroad, was so impressive of a turnaround that it drew the attention of rail line officials who were not only in awe of the building’s transformation but with Elizabeth’s cooking as well. So much so that they approached the Smiths and requested that they build another hotel closer to the tracks. At the time trains did not have dining cars, so it was important to have a place with good accommodations and food close by for overnight layovers.
The Smiths were thrilled by the request but had already spent all their money renovating the Baxter and did not have the cash flow needed for a new construction venture. Somehow they found funding for the new hotel. It was rumored that Pullman Company had provided the funds for the construction, but many historians believe that the funds came from Bill selling his deceased mother's home back in Chicago. The new hotel, The Vernetta, was named in honor of Bill’s mother.
Phoenix Architect James Creighton was contracted to design and build the Vernetta which would be a two-story, red-brick hotel with a total of 50 guest rooms. The walls were 12-inches thick to help keep out the Arizona heat as much as possible. The Vernetta was also the first brick building in the town and had, a restaurant and a saloon in the lobby, in addition to a bank branch, post office, shoeshine stand, and a radio repair shop. Santa Fe Railroad officials were so impressed by the new hotel that they built a wooden walkway from the train station right to the Vernetta’s front door.
As far as the business was going the Smiths were crushing it. But, as far as their marriage was concerned, that was a different story. It seems that Bill had a little side action going with a bottle. He would get drunk and disappear for days or weeks at a time, and eventually, one day, he just never came back.
Elizabeth carried on as one of Wickenburg’s most successful businesspeople while hosting community events at the hotel. In 1909, she even opened an Opera House in the town, bringing in theatrical companies and local minstrel shows. She also managed to build up enough of a nest egg to buy, not only a ranch outside town but also a farm to provide meat and vegetables to the hotel.
While Wickenburg had a diverse population for the era, it was also very segregated. State laws did not allow for intermarrying between races, black children were sent to separate, segregated schools, and Native American children were forced into boarding schools so that they could be taught the “white way”. Laws had also been passed that limited job opportunities for anyone of color and Native Americans were not allowed to vote in their own land that had become white-Anglo controlled.
Then, on an infamous Monday in October 1929 (Black Monday), the stock market crashed thus ushering in The Great Depression. Like so many other Americans back then, Elizabeth lost nearly everything nearly overnight. The warm-inviting town that she called home for the past thirty-plus years was no longer quite so friendly or warm.
Over the years Wickenburg attracted a lot of transplants from back east and the south who refused to look at Elizabeth as the community leader that she was. Now she was solely a black woman to them, nothing more. The hotel suffered directly as a result when visitors would only stay in “white” hotels as the bias against minorities continued to grow. Even people that were her friends from church started to cross the street to avoid seeing or talking to her.
Despite the hatred and bigotry that was so openly prevalent in 1930s Wickenburg, Smith managed to keep the Vernetta Hotel operating right up until she passed in 1935. Despite her heavy losses from the market crash, she still managed to leave behind a $50,000 estate, which would be the equivalent of nearly $900,000 today.
Sadly, the bigotry and racism didn’t end with her passing. Even in death, the town continued to treat her like dirt, even refusing to allow her to be buried in the town cemetery, claiming it was for whites only. Her body was buried at the Garcia Cemetery, formally called the Old Catholic cemetery, outside of town at the time. The cemetery is located on North Tegner St, just a couple hundred feet southwest of the SR-93 traffic circle.
Smith was an amazing, smart, intelligent, and generous woman who gave everything of herself to the town of Wickenburg only to have her fellow residents and friends turn on her over the color of her skin and not the content of her character. It’s sad to see how this uneducated hatred of others simply because they look different, talk different, or behave differently has managed to survive from the dawn of time and always finds a way to rear its ugly head under the guise of patriotism and nationalism.
When you visit Wickenburg today be sure to stop by Smith’s Vernetta Hotel, now called the Hassayampa Building, which is listed as a National Historic Register site. Personally, I wish they would have kept the Vernetta name and called it the Vernetta Building; it would have been a very nice tribute to an amazing woman who not only overcame an extremely misogynistic world but also one that hated her solely based on her skin. The Hassayampa Building now houses offices and is located at the southeast corner of Apache Street and Frontier Street in Wickenburg,
When you visit the old hotel building, stop and say hi to Elizabeth. Her statue is out front of the building on the sidewalk, greeting passersby. First time I saw it I asked myself, "Why is her hand up like she is checking for cell phone reception?" I eventually found some photos of the same statue from a number of years back and she was holding up a lantern. So, logic dictates that her lantern must have been stolen or damaged, but it would be nice if Wickenburg or its historical society would replace it. I am not sure how long it has been missing but I can say it has been at least four years that I know of, and probably much longer. Very sad. It can't cost that much to replace it. Things that make you shake your head and wonder, "what if?"
This Juneteenth 2022, we remember and honor an amazing first-generation free African American woman who, despite racism and hatred that was thrown her way, kept persevering and succeeding as she fully understood that the best revenge over those who hate and revile you, is to achieve success. Thank you Mrs. Smith for your hard work and dedication to the town of Wickenburg. You were just amazing.
That’ll wrap things up for this week. As always, thanks for reading, stay safe, and happy travels. Be sure to like and follow us on social media (links below), share our blog posts, and feel free to give us your feedback. And, if you go somewhere in Arizona that you think others should know about, please let us know so we can add it to our travel list. We’d love to hear from you. Peace!
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