File talk:Wyatt Earp House and Gallery House-2-1879.jpg
Incorrect house?
[edit]
Sorry, despite popular belief and a huge statue out front, this building on the southeast corner of Fremont and First in Tombstone was never Wyatt Earp's home. It's a unfortunate mistake many make due to that big statue and the plaque out front. The owners of that property are putting one over on the public.
On February 13, 1882, Earp mortgaged his home to James G. Howard, for $365, promising to repay the loan within three months. The Epitaph lists Lots Three and Four of Block M as the property that Wyatt and Mattie collateralized to Howard for this loan. Earp never paid, and Howard foreclosed on the property in 1884.
Frank Waters in his “Tombstone Travesty” manuscript, which he published in 1960, quoted Allie, Virgil’s wife, as saying they all had lived on the southwest corner of First and Fremont. Wyatt and Mattie’s house was 90 feet west on Fremont St. of the corner where Virgil and Allie’s house stood. According to the mortgage description and an 1881 city map by M. Kelleher, City Surveyor, Virgil and Allie occupied Lot One, while Wyatt and Mattie had Lots Four and Five. The mortgage describes the location as "The house and lot on Fremont Street situate[d] about one hundred feet (more or less) from the Southwest corner of Fremont Street…"
So while the "Wyatt Earp House and Gallery" on the southeast corner of First and Fremont with the statue out front is often cited as Wyatt Earp and Mattie Blaylock's home, this is an error. For a complete description of the confusion and the correct location, see Wyatt Earp's Tombstone Home Site Discovered.
Please request to have this file renamed as "Wyatt Earp House and Gallery". Meanwhile, to avoid misleading people, I've removed it from the Wyatt Earp article.
-- btphelps (talk) (contribs) 22:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)
- Very interesting and valid observation. I can see where the owners would want to make a buck or two the confusion. tell you what, I will do what is just and what you recommended. The photo will be renamed and moved to "Wyatt Earp House and Gallery" with a new description. Plus I will add a note to the article as to the fact that the house in question should not be confused with Wyatt Earps house regardless of it's name. This will be of help to our readers who may visit Tombstone. Marine 69-71 (talk) 20:11, 24 May 2018 (UTC)
- Do we even know if this structure is historical or a modern reproduction? -- btphelps (talk) (contribs) 01:15, 26 May 2018 (UTC)
