Have  you  ever  heard  or  learned  about  the  Yuma  Territorial  Prison?  Do  you  know  where  it  might  be located,  or  know  any  other  specific  detail  about  it.  The  Yuma  Territorial  Prison  is  a  prison  located  in  220  N.  Prison  Hill  Road,  Yuma  Arizona  in  the  United  States.  This  prison  is  currently  a  museum  today  that  can  be  visited,  and  you  can  also  learn  about  the  history  of  Yuma  when  you  are  touring  it.  Anyone  is  welcome  such  as  children  and  adults,  to  visit  this  prison  and  learn  about  its  history.  During  the  winter,  it  is  open  from  October  1st-  May  31st  from  9am-  5pm  and  it  is  open  in  the  summer,  from  June  1st-  September  30th  from  9am-  5pm.  The  prison  opened  in  the  year  1875  and  closed  in  the  year  1909.  “On  July  1,  1876,  the  first  seven  prisoners  entered  the  territorial  prison  at  Yuma  and  were  locked  into  the  new  cell  they  had  built  themselves.”  “A  total  of  3,069  prisoners,  including  29  women,  lived  in  the  walls  during  the  prison’s  33  years  of  operation.”  “The  Yuma  territorial  prison  was  under  continuous  construction,  with  labor  provided  by  the  prisoners.”  “When  the  prison  ran  out  of  land  to  build  on,  a  new  facility  was  built  in  Florence.”  The  year  1909  on  the  month  of  September  15,  the  last prisoners  were  transferred  to  a  new  prison  in  Florence,  Az.  From  Yuma  to  Florence  was  about  200 miles  to  destination.  During  this  time,  it  was  the  most  dangerous  with  so  many  crimes  being  committed.  Overtime,  the  Yuma  Territorial  prison  increased  the  population  of  prisoners,  at  times  prisoners  were  treated  well,  and  a  part  of  the  Yuma  territorial   prison  was  used  to  build  part  of  Yuma  Arizona.   Do  you  know  the  history  of  how  the  Yuma  Territorial  Prison  was  built?  “Fernando  de  Alarcon,  who  accomplished  Coronado  on  his  search  for  the  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,  passed  this  site  in  1540.  Padre  Kino  saw  the  present  location  of  the  Prison  and  the  Quartermaster’s  Depot  in  1683,  and  Padre  Graces  established  a  mission  directly  across  the  river  and  was  later  killed  there  by  the  Indians  in  1781.  Yuma  began  to  experience  the  American  westward  surge  when  countless immigrants  crossed  by ferry  from  Yuma  on  their  way  to  the  California  gold  fields  in  1849.  In  1850,  a  military  pot  was  established  at  Yuma, and  when  rich  placer  gold  strikes  on  the  Colorado  River  precipitated  a  gold  rush  in 1858,  Yuma experienced  a  boom.  In  1871  Yuma  incorporated  and  became  the  county  seat  of  Yuma  County.”  The  Yuma  Territorial  Prison  was  founded  even  before  Arizona  became  a  state.  The  prison  was  authorized  by  the  Territorial  Legislature  in  the  year  1875.  The  prison  was budgeted  $25,000  to  be  built.  When  the  prison  opened  the  first  prisoner  was  William  Hall.   The  ground  of  the  prison  was  broken  on  April  28,  1876.   After  this  happened,  some  of  the  prisoners  had  to  fix  this  problem  by,  being  put  into  work  to  build  their  own  cells.  In  the  year  1878,  the  first  female  put  in  prison  was  Lizzie  Gallagher  and  the  first  escape  was  J.  Lewis.  In  1882,  a  water  tower  was  built  and  it  was  put  on  top  of  a  water  tank.  In  the  next  couple  of  years,  a  Sally  port  was  built,  a  hospital  was  established,  four  prisoners  were  dead  and  one  was  wounded,  the  first  female  named  Manuela  Fimbres  gave  birth  to  a  baby  boy  in  prison,  a  women’s  cell  was  built,  and  dark  cells  and  maximum  security  cells  were built.  Over  the  years,  they  made  modifications  to  the  prison,   so  it  would  be  secure  and  strong.  The  prison  was  closed  in  1909,  but  the  Yuma  High  School  was  at  the  prison  until  1910.   Yuma  High  School  is  the  oldest   high  school  in  Yuma  Az.