Mr. & Mrs. Henry E. Cordes Collection

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Volume:: Eight original black-and-white photographs, four copy black-and-white photographs with negatives, one copy negative, and eight picture postcards
Views include:: Cordes, Arizona buildings, Cordes family, Mayer, Arizona

Biographic Note:: Born in Germany in June 2, 1850, John Henry Cordes emigrated to New York in 1869. While working there, he met Elise Schimpf. Schimpf, who was born on March 8, 1853, had also come to New York from Germany, at the age of 18. A romance blossomed between the two, but in 1875, Cordes decided to head west to seek his fortune. Years later, he sent for Elise (who went by the nickname Lizzie.). They were married in a Phoenix area church on October 30, 1880. They lived in Gillett for the next three years, where their first child, Charles Henry, was born. On January 25, 1883, John Henry bought Antelope Station, southeast of Prescott, for $769.43. He applied for a post office in 1886, using the name Antelope. The request was denied as the name was thought to be too similar to Antelope Valley, so John Henry reapplied using his surname, and the station became known as Cordes. While living and working there, John Henry and Lizzie had six more children: Henry George (who died at age 3), Lucy Johanna, William Harrison, Frederick James, Grace Sophia, and Mynne Anne.
: Cordes was located on the only road running from Phoenix to Flagstaff, and featured the post office, a general store, bank, bar, lodging, restaurant, and a shearing and dipping station for the fall and spring sheep drives between Flagstaff and New River. John Henry also built a school, in 1905, for his children when the school at Big Bug closed.
: In 1908, John Henry sold the station to Charles Henry and moved to Prescott with Lizzie, Grace, and Mynne. Three years later, the family relocated to Tempe, so the girls could attend Tempe Normal School. Lucy and Mynne, like their older brother Charles, both attended Los Angeles Business School. Grace became a teacher, and Mynne worked in government service. William and Fred worked at the sheep station, then became partners in a cattle ranch at Turkey Creek. John Henry died on March 19, 1919, a victim of the influenza epidemic, at the Turkey Creek ranch. Lizzie died in Mayer on August 19, 1929.
: The same year that Charles Henry purchased the station from his father, he married Mary Elizabeth Chastain. The couple had six children, and operated the station until 1938, when they sold it to their son, Henry. In 1948, rumors spread that the proposed Black Canyon highway would bypass Cordes. Henry acquired land near the freeway site, and in 1956, he built at bar and restaurant at what would become known as Cordes Junction. In 1961, he constructed a Chevron station and restaurant which he sold in the 1980s.
: For related information, see the Cordes Manuscript Collection (#110), and Bechtel, Robert B. and Mynne Cordes Jarman, “Cordes and Cordes Junction,” Journal of Arizona History 26(4), p. 429-450.

Cline Library
Special Collections and Archives Department
Northern Arizona University