SINCE 1975 Henry Taylor and Pamela “Sam” Green, proprietors of the Hotel Weatherford, have been preserving this historic landmark. An Arizona native, Henry Taylor, the was raised in the lodging business and took on this project to restore history and provide an authentic "stay" for guests. The Taylors consider themselves to be caretakers of the Weatherford Hotel and can now say that they have left the hotel better than they found it and through all of its history, it has remained one of the most renown hotels in Flagstaff. The only remaining project is an addition at the rear of the building to accommodate a new fire escape and elevator tower, planned for completion in the near future.
They were honored during the annual Arizona Governor’s Tourism Conference on June 23, 2015; for their 40 years of restoration efforts and the successful preservation of this Flagstaff landmark.
John Weatherford rides into town and opens his grand new hotel.
The first mention of Texas-born John W. Weatherford in Flagstaff’s newspaper of the time, The Coconino Sun, describes the young deputy riding into town. He was coming here to dispel rumors of killing among the posse that had been trying to settle the Tonto Basin Graham-Tewkesbury feud, which was later immortalized in Zane Grey’s "To the Last Man". Arizona was still a territory in the Wild West and he Aztec Cattle Company, the Hashknife outfit, had just about finished moving 33,000 longhorn into the region, with cattle rustlers in their dust. Denis Mathew Riordan — Indian agent, lumberman, railroader, and philanthropist — has just purchased the Ayer Lumber Company. Timber, cattle, and the railroad rule the economic landscape. It is 1887 and Flagstaff is an island of commerce and culture in this changing land. The AT&SF railroad workers had already brought the rail to Flagstaff on on their way to California and San Diego.