This Yuma Territorial Prison Guard badge is made using 14 gauge copper that has been double dye struck for a lasting design and “antiqued” for that used look.
The Yuma Territorial Prison was built by inmates beginning in 1875. That year, the Territorial Legislature prepared a bill that designated Phoenix as the location, but secretley, a pair of Yuma County legislators changed the bill and replaced Phoenix with Yuma. The bill passed and the prison opened in 1876.
During its 33 years of operation, the prison was in a perpetual state of construction, much of it undertaken by the inmates themselves. In the course of planning the new facility in 1875–1876, prison commissioners regarded engaging an architect as an unnecessary expense and held a contest to obtain building plans. A.L. Grow of Yuma was the winner, receiving $150 for design. Convicted felons helped realize the prison according to his plans, seven of whom were among its first inmates.
Before overcrowding forced the relocation of inmates to a new facility in Florence, the Yuma Territorial Prison held over 3,000 offenders, including 29 women. In 1909, it was decommissioned as a penal institution and the complex served briefly as classrooms for Yuma Union High School students from 1910 to 1914. During the Great Depression, though it was used to shelter the homeless. Beginning in 1941, the former prison operated as a city-run museum. It became a state park in 1961.
