Even before Arizona was a state, it was a hotbed for extremism. Images of gunfights and brothels were thrust upon it by writers back East, but it wasn’t far from the Wild West mentality adopted in the territory. 

Settlers, some looking for an escape from government control, found haven in the hot deserts of early Arizona, clashing with the Native Americans already living here. 

Arizona teemed with residents sympathetic to the Confederate cause, and when the Civil War ended, an outsized share of Southerners settled in the territory.

Another group made its way to the sparsely populated land. Brigham Young urged Mormon families from Utah to Arizona to broaden the church’s reach at a time of sometimes violent resistance to polygamy sweeping the nation. 

With these groups came divergent ideas about race, religion and politics. Arizona was positioned to be an unsettled hellscape from its very beginning.

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