Outlaws Billy the Kid, John Ringo and Sandy King roamed the streets. Inside the saloons, gamblers ran the tables. Shakespeare (figure A) in the 1870s and 80s was a rough place filled with a motley collection of souls hoping to strike gold or silver in the local mines. There was no law here.
Shakespeare didn't have a violent beginning, though. For centuries, it was a welcome oasis in the desert for Native Americans, Spaniards and pioneers--the site of a natural spring. In 1870, silver was discovered in the hills, and the quiet oasis became a rough mining town named Ralston.
An enterprising Englishman named Col. William George Boyle knew he could make money off speculators, but he had to do something about Ralston's reputation. So Boyle renamed Main Street to Avon, the hotel became the Stratford and the town, in a fit of poetic optimism, was dubbed Shakespeare.
The walls of the local saloons were pockmarked by bullet holes (figure B), though the only victims were insects. Shooting flies off the walls of the local drinking establishments was a popular sport among locals.
Life in Shakespeare continued untroubled until 1893. A depression that year caused the mines to close up and businesses to shut down. The adobe homes of Shakespeare soon melted back into the earth from which they came. Today it is a reminder of dreams past, of a once lively town waiting to be awakened.
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