Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Virgil Earp Home (The Earp Family Series)

This is one of those entries I struggled with in how I was going to present this. I went with a compromise. I will get to that down below.

Virgil Earp was really the "leader" in Tombstone since he had the authority as a law enforcement officer. I do not want to spend too much time rehashing that so let me just refer those who are not too familiar to a quick read of the Wikipedia article about him:

Virgil Earp Wiki

For those that want a more serious treatment of his life then I would refer you to this book:

Chapput, Don. Virgil Earp: Western Peace Officer. Affiliated Writers of America. Inc. 1994.

After the attempt on his life, then the eventually death of Morgan mentioned in the previous entry, Virgil moved back to Colton, CA. After recovering, keep in mind his left arm was permantly crippled, he was elected the first marshal of the town of Colton. His time as marshal in Colton was nothing like Tombstone where he faced gunmen and cattle rustlers on a daily basis. It was a lot more routine with him doing menial jobs and making simple arrests. He eventually left that job and tried to start a business in nearby San Bernadino.

During his time in Colton he had purchased a house that is still standing. I have been near this house a few times. I do have pictures of it, but I decided I will not post them here. I have a rule with this blog, that except for special circumstances, I do not like to post pictures of houses that are privately owned with people currently living in them. I know they have been working on the house and were doing so when I was recently there.

Instead, I decided to just post the historical picture of the house. Right here:
Since the location is published in so many official books and on the internet I will just go ahead and say that it is at 528 West "H" Street. You will be able to recognize the house as it is today from the above picture. If you do go to this location please be quiet and respectful. I suggest you just "pass by" on the street.

I'll get back to more Earp family locations some other time. My next entry will deal with one of my favorite movie locations.