[Vision2020] Some history about the USS Arizona you probably didn't know

[Kai Eiselein, editor]

I didn't and I grew up in Nogales/Santa Cruz County.

>From the Nogales International

Construction of battleship #39 began at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1914 with
no fanfare in a minor news account noticed by the Mayor of Nogales, Captain
Leander W. Mix, whose pride in his adopted state of Arizona then only two
years old, inspired him to lead a movement to have battleship #39 named the
U.S.S. Arizona. In due course, the Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels
and his Undersecretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt agreed and the
naming process began. Tradition dictated that the people of a state so
honored by the naming of a U.S. Navy battleship donate a ceremonial sterling
silver service set for the officer's mess.

Allen T. Bird, publisher of the Nogales' first newspaper, The Oasis,
attended a meeting of the newly formed Arizona State Board of Trade
consisting of the union of several chambers of commerce. At this meeting,
Bird proposed that the state of Arizona donate a silver service. A vigorous
debate followed over the matter of using copper, more representative than
silver of Arizona's mining industry.
After some wrangling, the ASBT instructed Reed and Barton Silversmiths to
embellish the U.S.S. Arizona's silver service with copper elements.
Additionally, to honor Arizona's copper miners, the ASBT board ordered a
bronze statue of a shirtless copper miner carrying a pick and shovel
included with the silver service. Reed and Barton, pleased to comply,
presented an estimate for the silver service and bronze statue of $9,000. A
state committee organized to raise the money appointed Nogales Mayor Mix as
Chairman and Nogales publisher Allen Bird as Secretary. In short, it fell to
Nogales and Santa Cruz County to raise the $9,000 for the U.S.S. Arizona
gift - no small task, considering that sum in 1916 would buy four new homes
in Nogales.

Raising $9,000 proved to be very difficult producing only $1,800 leaving Mix
and Bird desperate. After several schemes failed, salvation came from Mr.
William Clark of Montana who owned the United Verde Copper Mine in Jerome,
Arizona who sent $5,000. With most of the funds in hand, further fund
raising efforts throughout Arizona produced the balance with single largest
contributor after Mr. Clark being Santa Cruz County citizens who raised
$586.25. On December 27, 1919, Mayor Mix presented the silver service and
statue to the commander of the U.S.S. Arizona, Captain John Dayton.

The ceremonial silver service of the Arizona remained on board until January
1941 when removed as the battleship was "stripped for war" when assigned to
the Pacific. The Arizona met its famous fatal fate in December of that year
but the silver service and statue survived in storage until after the war
when assigned to the U.S.S. Tucson and then to the U.S.S. Adriondack until
1953 when Arizona's Congressional delegation and the Governor prevailed upon
the U.S. Navy to return the Reed and Barton creations to the state of
Arizona. There the magnificent silver service and statue again returned to
storage until the 1970s, when through the efforts of Mrs. Raul Castro, wife
of then Governor of Arizona Castro and now Nogales residents, the silver
service and statue found its' permanent home on display in the Arizona State
Capitol.

The Nogales connections to the most famous battleship of all time are
numerous. The Mayor of Nogales, Captain L. W. Mix, conceived the idea to
name the great ship after our state; Nogales' first newspaper publisher led
the charge to create and raise the money for ship's silver service; a future
Nogalian, Esther Ross, later Mrs. Garrett Wray, owner of a well known
Nogales curio store christened the U.S.S. Arizona; and a later resident of
Nogales, Mrs. Raul Castro, rescued the silver service and statue from
obscurity. (The home of Captain Mix is the present site of 1934 U.S.
Immigration building by the border and the home of Allen T. Bird remains,
now the site of Vega Doors on Crawford Street).

The beautiful and moving display at the state capitol building does justice
to the great ship, the silver service and miner's statue. In addition,
U.S.S. Arizona memorial displays exist at the University of Arizona Student
Union and at the site of the great ship in Pearl Harbor. But none of these
pay proper tribute to Captain Mix, Allen Bird, Mrs. Castro, Santa Cruz
County and Nogales for their roles in creating and preserving the fabulous
history and artifacts of the greatest symbol of World War II. This writer,
hoping to borrow the U.S.S. Arizona silverware display for the centennial
celebration of the 1904 Santa Cruz Courthouse, traveled to Phoenix to meet
the Arizona Capitol curators and was denied the loan of the silverware. A
promise yet unfulfilled was made to recognize Nogalians Mix and Bird in
capitol display. Nonetheless, residents of Santa Cruz County and Nogales can
take pride in our historical connection to this most famous symbol of
American resolve and determination to preserve our liberty.
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