The Sharlot Hall Museum is an open-air museum and heritage site located in the heart of downtown Prescott, Arizona. The museum was opened in 1928 by Sharlot M. Hall, Hall was the first woman to hold an office in the Arizona territorial government. The museum hold artifacts and pictures that began her collection for the museum from her personal collection. The museum was first named the Gubernatiorial Mansion Museum, but has been re-named as dedication to Hall and preserving the history and culture of the Central Highlands of Arizona.
Sharlot Hall
The museum grounds comprises almost four acres and includes 11 exhibit buildings, six of which are historic. This includes the Old Governor's Mansion built at its site in 1864 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Several historic buildings and structures were moved to the property, and include:
- Fort Misery (the oldest log cabin in Arizona, built in 1864, moved to this property in 1934),
- Frémont House (built in 1875, home of 5th Territorial governor John C. Frémont, moved to the museum in 1971),
- Bashford House (built in 1877 and was the Victorian home of businessman William Bashford).
Additional historic buildings built on-site include the Sharlot Hall Building (stone exhibit building built during the Depression as a CWA project) and the nearby Ranch House.
Additional exhibit buildings include the Lawler Exhibit Center, built in the 1970s and currently houses the museum's pre-history exhibit; the Transportation Building, built in 1937 and houses the museum's rolling stock; and the School House, built as a replica to the first school house built in Prescott in 1868.
The Old Governor's Mansion was built in 1864 (when Prescott, AZ was the capital of Arizona) and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
It was built at a cost of $6,000 by contractors were Blair, Hatz, and Raible, who reportedly underestimated the cost of transporting building materials and lost $1,500 on the contract.
Sharlot Hall Museum also has a Library and Archives, located across the street at 115 S. McCormick St., Prescott, AZ. It provides full-service research opportunities through its vast collections of rare books and special holdings of original documents, photographs, maps, and oral histories.