Tucked far South in the high desert of Arizona is the mist famous town of the American old west. Tombstone. In the mid to late 1800s thus Wild West town had it all. The riches of mining, 106 saloons, raucous hotels and brothels, some of the best characters in old west history such as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday who took part in the most famous gunfight in American history. The shootout at the OK Corral.
Right in the middle of it all sat the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Started by Carl Bilicke in 1879 as a big tent, the Cosmopolitan Hotel soon grew into a major establishment. Instead of the typical awful cot, Bilicke offered real beds so his popularity skyrocketed quickly. In only six months time the tent operation was replaced with a two story hotel offering fifty beds!
The luxurious Cosmopolitan Hotel had black walnut and rosewood furnishings, a ladies sitting room and the very first piano in all of Tombstone to entertain the guests. It was quite a place in the craziness of Tombstone where it was said a morning was not complete without a shooting.
There was a restaurant, a bar and a general store inside no outside the verandah was lined with orange trees. Many described the Cosmopolitan Hotel as the finest building in all of Tombstone.
Unfortunately the Cosmopolitan Hotel was burned to the ground in the huge furs of 1882 which destroyed a large swath of Tombstone. It appeared Carl Bilicke would rebuild after the fire but he soon decided against the idea and moved to Modesto, California.
The site of the Cosmopolitan Hotel lies on the main road in Tombstone, Arizona a must wonderful stop on your traveling adventures! There is so much to see and do there I promise you will not be disappointed.
