● About our Museums

● Our Gift Shop & Feature Items

● Arizona Women/Heritage Trail

● Our Awards

● Books on the Grand Canyon State

● Our Featured Items

● Our Mission Statement & Board

● VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Click on our ARCHIVES PAGE to learn more about local history.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Payson Women and the Arizona Women's Heritage Trail organization.

Arizona 100: A Centennial Gathering of

Essential Books on the Grand Canyon State

The tile of the main article, and only article, in the Summer 2012 edition of The Journal of Arizona History, the quarterly publication of the Arizona Historical Society is:  “Arizona 100: A Centennial Gathering of Essential Books on the Grand Canyon State.”  Each title has a brief overview with reasons for the book’s importance to the understanding of Arizona history.  Of those 100 titles, three have direct connections to Rim Country; Filaree by Marguerite Noble, A Little War of our Own: The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited by Don Dedera, and The Rainbow Trail by Zane Grey. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK LIST

2010 - Rim Country Museum named one of top 10 western museums by True West Magazine for 2010.  See April 2010 issue of True West or visit www.twmag.com for more information.

2008 ~ Museum receives the Governor's Tourism Award.

1988 ~ Museum receives the Governor's Award for Historical Preservation for restoration of the Ranger Station.

"Andres and Delfina: A Saga of Hispanic Settlement in Arizona", written by Stanley C. Brown. -- Click Here for more info on this book & author --

"Skirting Traditions:  Arizona Women Writers & Journalists 1912-2012", written by 28 remarkable women. -- Click Here for more information --

GREAT selection of Zane Grey books, cookbooks, Western Books and Books on Local History.

The Rim Country Museum nominated the Emory Oak that stands in front of the Womans Club on Main Street as a Centennial Witness Tree. 

The "witness tree" program is part of the Arizona state centennial celebration.  Nominations were requested for trees believed to be at least 100 years old and therefore present when Arizona became a state in February 1912.

The Emory Oak was measured by Payson Forest Rangers to be 53 feet in height with an average crown spread of 66 feet.  The age of the tree was calculated using historical accounts, photos, personal testimonial, and the estimate of the two Rangers.  They felt the tree could easily be 200 years old.

Before Payson had a jail (1935), local history sources tell of the "chaining tree," an Emory Oak on Main Street where according to Rim Country History “The oak tree in front of the Womans Club [original spelling] was the ‘jail tree’ in early Payson where misdoers were chained until they could be taken to the Globe jail. Most ‘criminals’ were just good ol’ boys who needed a place to calm down their exuberance from too much ‘likker’.”  In a Mogollon Advisor story from 1982 a side view of the tree is shown with this story: “Payson’s history of law enforcement would not be complete without some reference to our jails.  For many years, Payson had no jail building.  Those who ran afoul of the law and were arrested were chained to an oak tree and remained there until an officer from the county jail in Globe could transport the individual to the Globe jail.  That oak tree still stands in front of the Payson Women’s Club and provides a shady rest for the sun baked native or visitor. Yes, the old timers say there were few who needed incarceration, but a very few have been left overnight and slept under the sky and under the old oak tree.”

The Emory Oak (Quercus emoryi) is native to New Mexico and Arizona. Its acorns are prized by both native wildlife and Native Americans because they are sweet and can be eaten out of hand.  The local Tonto Apache tribe, who make their acorn stew still today, must have appreciated the huge output of sweet acorns the tree on Main Street produced over the years.

The tree, which grows at elevations from 3,500 to 6.700 feet, can reach 66 feet in height with a spreading crown and stout branches. The Emory Oak is named for William Hemsley Emory (1811-87), leader of two southwestern expeditions  who discovered it.

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Betty Berryman, President

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Sandy Carson, VP/Archivist/Accessions Chair

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Nancy Purkey, Treasurer

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Patti Naughton, Corresponding Secretary

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Carol Sigsbee, Archive Assistant

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Lisa Rasley, Special Events Coordinator

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Donna Daly, Exhibits Chair

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Peter Bernard

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Diana Visdas

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Jeanne Casella