Coconino County AZ Archives Biographies.....Babbitt, David ? - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Connie Sheets clsheets1@prodigy.net March 10, 2008, 4:29 pm

Author: Unknown

Portrait and Biographical Record of Arizona (Chicago:  Chapman Publishing Co., 
1901), p. 934

Transcribed and submitted by:  Connie Sheets, 11 Feb 2008

David Babbitt

The commercial interests of Flagstaff have been materially strengthened by the 
successful stock and mercantile operations of the Babbitt brothers, of whom 
there are four, David, George, William, and Charles.  Like the majority of 
those who come to Coconino county, they were at first interested in the cattle 
business exclusively, which was started upon their arrival in Arizona in 1886.  
Upon the surrounding mountains they raised large numbers of fine stock, to the 
extent of between six and eight thousand head, and for three years were 
remarkably successful in their chosen line of work.

In 1888, David Babbitt, the senior member of the cattle firm, opened a hardware 
store in Flagstaff.  Beginning in a small way, he had worked up quite a 
business by the end of two years.  In 1890 the brothers bought out the store 
and stock of Emerson and Gibbons, general merchants, and formed the mercantile 
company of Babbitt Brothers.  The trade accorded them was so satisfactory that 
David Babbitt erected a portion of the present building.  Since then from time 
to time additions have been made to accommodate an ever-increasing trade, and 
there are now two floors, with an exhibition space of 130x120 feet.  A general 
department store is the result, the five departments being each under a 
different manager.  In addition to a complete line of general necessities, the 
firm deals largely in Navajo Indian blankets, secured from the posts on the 
reservations, and shipped from here to all parts of the United States.  Other 
items of revenue are the large quantities of Indian baskets and curios which 
pass through their hands and find a ready sale among all classes of people who 
are sensible of the gradual passing away of these picturesque aborigines.

The Babbitt Brothers are also interested in the cattle business in Kansas, with 
headquarters in Dodge City, near which they have an enclosure covering thirty 
sections of land.  In connection with their mercantile enterprise they have a 
commissary at the Arizona Lumber & Timber Company’s mill and a branch at 
Winslow.  They also have trading posts for the Indians at Willow Springs, Red 
Lake and Wolf’s Post Coconino county.

Besides his other interests, David Babbitt has mine holdings, and is developing 
a copper mine in the Grand can(y)on.  He is a stockholder in the Copper King 
mine, belonging to the Ohio Copper Company, which secures from the mine an ore 
with an output of twenty-five per cent copper.  At one time he officiated as 
mayor of Flagstaff, and at this writing he is a member of the city council, as 
well as one of the most prominent men of the entire county.  He is one of those 
men who possess the true western grit and determination and who are of 
incalculable value in the building up of localities and towns.



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