From Church Plaza to the American Hotel

The Tarnished West

A Restaurant on Church Plaza

On May 20, 1879, the Tucson Citizen carried a short announcement from Miss Nellie Cashman. She would open a new restaurant two days later on the south side of Church Plaza. The advertisement promised the best meals in the city and said Cashman would personally supervise the cooking and dining departments.

The restaurant opened on Thursday, May 22. Five days later, another advertisement supplied its name: the Delmonico Restaurant. The wording was otherwise much the same. The tables would be supplied with everything the market afforded, and customers were invited to judge the claim for themselves.

Those advertisements correct a date often repeated in later accounts. Cashman did not open the Delmonico in July or August 1879. The contemporary newspaper notices place its opening on May 22. An advertisement cited from August was part of the restaurant’s continuing promotion, not its opening announcement.

Church Plaza was one of the centers of nineteenth-century Tucson. Cashman’s notices placed the Delmonico on its south side, but they did not identify a street number or individual building. No exact modern address has yet been established.

By January 1880, the Delmonico was advertising meals at all hours. The copy still claimed Cashman had just opened a new restaurant, although the business had been operating for more than seven months. The line was old advertising copy, not evidence of a second opening or a move.

A Reputation Sold

Cashman did not simply abandon the Delmonico when Tombstone began drawing merchants and miners southward. She sold an established business.

On June 2, 1880, the Tucson Citizen reported that Mrs. M. J. Smith had purchased the Delmonico. Smith had long operated a millinery establishment in Tucson and intended to devote her attention to the restaurant. The newspaper said the Delmonico had attained an enviable reputation under Cashman’s efficient management.

That notice provides the clearest end point for Cashman’s Tucson restaurant. The sale had been completed by June 2, although the exact transaction date has not been found. Six days later, a Tucson advertisement used her Delmonico reputation to promote her Tombstone business. It identified her with both the well-known Tucson restaurant and a furnishing, boot and shoe store in Tombstone.

The sequence was practical. Cashman opened the Delmonico, built its reputation, sold it, and carried that reputation into the new mining camp.

Into Tombstone

Cashman entered Tombstone first as a retailer. Her store carried furnishing goods, boots and shoes. She also invested in mining claims and became active in Catholic and Irish causes. A June 1881 newspaper profile credited her energy with helping erect Tombstone’s Catholic church and named her as treasurer of the local Irish Land League.

The same profile described her as a well-known restaurateur who had worked in mining communities across the West. Some of its claims reach beyond what the surviving records presently prove, but its tone is revealing. By 1881, Cashman was already familiar to miners and merchants throughout southern Arizona.

Restaurant work soon drew her back. In September 1881, the Arizona Weekly Citizen reported that Cashman had leased the Russ House in Tombstone. The building was undergoing a thorough renovation, new furniture had been provided, and the newspaper said it would be almost a new house when it reopened.

The Russ House served its first dinner in early October. The venture was brief, at least in its original form. On December 19, the Tombstone Epitaph reported that Cashman was offering her half interest in the business for sale at a bargain. The newspaper added that the house was doing some of the finest business in Tombstone. The notice proves she offered her interest; it does not, by itself, prove when or to whom she sold it.

The Cunningham Family

Cashman’s sister, Fanny Cunningham, had been widowed and came to Tombstone with her children. The sisters’ family responsibilities and business affairs became closely connected. By the spring of 1882, they were preparing another restaurant together.

Their new establishment was the American Hotel on Fremont Street near Fifth. A newspaper advertisement named Nellie Cashman and Mrs. Cunningham as proprietors and described the hotel as new and complete. The location was separate from the Russ House.

Inside the American Hotel, the sisters fitted a long, large hall as a dining saloon. On May 1, 1882, the Tombstone Epitaph announced that the restaurant would open that afternoon in an elegant and elaborate style. Cashman and Cunningham promised meals as palatable as any available in the city.

Three years after opening the Delmonico on Tucson’s Church Plaza, Cashman had again placed her name over a dining room. This time she was working beside her sister in Tombstone. On the afternoon of May 1, the American Hotel restaurant opened for business.

Research Notes

Tucson Citizen, May 20, 1879, page 2. Opening announcement stating that Cashman would open a new restaurant on Thursday, May 22, on the south side of Church Plaza.

Tucson Citizen, May 27, 1879, page 3. Advertisement identifying the new business as the Delmonico Restaurant and repeating the Church Plaza location.

Tucson Citizen, January 2, 1880. Delmonico advertisement offering meals at all hours. The printer’s notation indicates that this version had been running since November 24, 1879.

Tucson Citizen, June 2, 1880, page 3. Business-change notice reporting Mrs. M. J. Smith’s purchase of the Delmonico and describing the restaurant’s reputation under Cashman.

Tucson Citizen, June 8, 1880, page 3. Advertisement connecting Cashman’s Delmonico reputation with her Tombstone furnishing and boot and shoe business.

Arizona Weekly Citizen, June 5, 1881, page 2. Early profile of Cashman discussing her restaurant work, mining-camp reputation, Catholic church work and Irish Land League position. Several biographical claims require independent verification.

Arizona Weekly Citizen, September 25, 1881, page 3. Notice that Cashman had leased the Russ House, was renovating it and intended to open within days.

Arizona Weekly Citizen, October 9, 1881, page 4. Report that Cashman’s Russ House had opened and served its first dinner.

Tombstone Epitaph, December 19, 1881, page 3. Notice that Cashman offered her half interest in the Russ House for sale while the business was reportedly doing well.

Tombstone Epitaph, May 1, 1882, page 3. Opening notice for the American Hotel restaurant, naming Cashman and Cunningham and describing the new dining saloon.

Tombstone Epitaph advertisement, May 1882. Lists the American Hotel on Fremont Street near Fifth and names Nellie Cashman and Mrs. Cunningham as proprietors.

Points Kept Uncertain

• The advertisements locate the Delmonico on the south side of Church Plaza but do not establish an exact modern address.

• The December 1881 notice establishes that Cashman offered her half interest in the Russ House for sale. It does not establish completion of the sale.