Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office

March 2015 to May 2016

In the 150-plus years since Arizona’s Yavapai County came into existence, the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office have steadfastly helped maintain “Law ‘n’ Order” in the county, from its territorial frontier days to 100-plus years of statehood. The YCSO exhibit included an extensive gallery of artifacts and memorabilia chronicling the history of the department and included weapons from all eras, antique handcuffs and leg-irons, an 1800s jail cell door, a Thompson submachine gun, and early “breathalizer” and a Prohibility-era “moonshine still” confiscated from area bootleggers. The exhibit was made possible due to the generous support of Wexford Health Sources, Guidance Aviation, Costco Wholesale, Republican Women of Prescott, Sturm, Ruger & Company, and the Sheriff’s office. The panels from the exhibit now reside in the Prescott office of the Yavapai County Sheriff.

Other Exhibits
Permanent Exhibit

Transportation Building

From bicycles to surreys, from freight wagon and stagecoach to classic 1917 Ford Model-T farm truck and Sharlot’s own Durant Star car, the Transportation Building hosts the Museum rolling stock.

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Did You Know?

  • In 1864, Yavapai County comprised more than half of the Arizona Territory, more than 65,000 square miles from Gila River north to Utah, and from the New Mexico Border west almost to the Colorado River.
  • In subsequent years, the "Mother of Arizona Counties" was carved to a smaller 8,128 square miles, roughly the size of New Jersey.
  • Tin badges, trusty steeds and weaponry (from six-shooter to rifle) were the only defense in enforcing law 'n' order on the deserts of the Arizona Territory.
  • Sheriff deputies of the Old West handled law enforcement issues with miners in the Bradshaws and along the Mogollon Rim, with rustlers and killers in Pleasant Valley, with homesteaders along the Verde, and with indigenous Indians from the Yavapai in the west, Apache in the southeast, Hopi and Navajo to the northeast, and Supai in the Grand Canyon.
  • Arrival of the auto -- including Studebaker's "The Sheriff" model, vintage 1925 -- did little to make travel easier as roads were washboard, jagged and tortuous.
  • With statehood, challenges changed. Prohibition brought on bootlegging; the Depression era saw drought and homeless issues, with robbery an oft-simple solution for feeding hungry families.