Southwest Jewish History

 

Volume 2, Number 4, Summer 1994

The Solomons of Arizona Territory

They were one of the great Jewish pioneering families of the Southwest and they have left legacies that remain very strong to this day.

Anna Freudenthal Solomon and Isadore Elkan Solomon came from the old country to the United States, going first to the Territory of New Mexico and then coming into Arizona in 1876. They settled in a tiny community of adobe mud houses, but through their ingenuity the village of Pueblo Viejo soon became Solomonville, Territory of Arizona. Mr. Solomon supplied charcoal to his cousin's mine at Clifton, then he and Anna built an important merchandising empire, branched out into a famed hotel known simply as Solomon Hotel where one could stay for a day and have three meals for one dollar.

Anna made certain that all her children married within the faith and so the Solomons spread, through marriage, to Holbrook, Globe, Phoenix and Tucson. In this issue of SJH we present the abridged memoirs of both Mr. and Mrs. Solomon.