Road Trip

It was time for another field trip for Grandpa and me.  This time I drove south east to a town called Florence.  I had never been there before and it's claim to fame when I was a kid was that it was where the prison was.  The trip was beautiful with all of the green in the desert and the blooming wildflowers.  Just before we got into the downtown area there was a small mountain that had a pyramid shaped monument on it.  I found out later that it is called Poston Butte and it is where Charles D. Poston, known as the Father of Arizona, was buried.  During World War II Florence had the largest P.O.W. camp for German and Italian soldiers.  (A side note: We had a family in our ward when I was growing up and he had been in that camp.  After the war he went back to Germany and brought his family back to Phoenix to live.)  There was also a Japanese Internment camp located there.  Florence is the county seat of Pinal County and is considered a National Historic District.  The courthouse was built in 1876 and the high school in 1887.  Both are still being used.  Another claim to fame for Florence was the death of a famous actor named Tom Mix.  He was speeding and lost control of his car.  There is also a marker there for him.  The town was small but interesting.  I didn't get pictures of much of the interesting things because if I stop the yelling begins!  I just enjoy the fun places we see as we drive by.   I am thinking about where we will go next!

This is a historical marker about Charles Poston

This is one of the six prisons in Florence.

Florence also had a silver mine at one time.