This is a town whose residents pride themselves on their community spirit and their Old West history, which includes the legacy of Bill Williams, a trapper and guide who founded the first post office here in 1881.
The historic timeline for Williams, located just 30 miles to the west of Flagstaff off Interstate 40, also encompasses a range of fascinating and somewhat quirky tales of logging, rodeos, steam trains, parades, saloons and, of course, outlaws.
Today, the roughly 3,000 residents of the town are working hard to establish new cultural traditions, while still honoring the old ones. The business climate melds with history, both propelled by the best-preserved stretch of Route 66 winding through town.
Hunt for the Right Building
On a hunt for an innovative cultural direction for the town, several of the co-owners of The Gallery in Williams, the nearly three-year-old art gallery on West Route 66 in downtown Williams, made a special pilgrimage last August to Jerome to visit an art center there.
Kris Williams co-founded the gallery with her husband, Tom, and two other long-time artists in Williams, Bonnie Dent and Harriette Hendel.
The gallery, an artists’ cooperative, has become the hub of artistic activity in town, a kind of “oasis of art in our community,” Williams observed. The gallery also has served as the headquarters for the successful campaign to launch the Williams Second Saturday Art Walk, which is in its third season and runs from May through October.
Originally inspired by Flagstaff’s First Friday Art Walk, the Williams version also is similar in form to the Jerome Art Walk, which takes place on First Saturdays.
In addition, Jerome has a unique four-building complex, a former high school that is now home to art galleries and studios.
“Our purpose was to see their art walk and to get ideas of how they do it, and to get ideas for our Second Saturday Art Walk,” Williams said about the trip to Jerome. “The artist studio complex in the old Mingus High School very much impressed us. On the way home, we were thinking, ‘Williams has an old building that hasn’t been used. Wouldn’t that be a great center for the arts?’ I talked to everyone I knew about it, hoping someone would sweep down and make it happen, but that didn’t happen, but I did keep talking to people.”
At the suggestion of Laura Kelly, who has worked for Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and the Coconino Center for the Arts, organizers in Williams were advised to look for help at Artspace, a nonprofit established in 1979 in Minnesota to advocate for the creation and preservation of affordable spaces for artists and arts organizations.
Big Dreams for a Big Building
The old building in question that many think might be suitable for an arts center is the former Williams Elementary School.
The solid, three-story, 40,000-square-foot structure occupies a city block between South 2nd Street and South 3rd Street just south of the downtown area.
Built in 1936, the school was closed in 1976 when a new school was built across town near the train tracks. Because it is older than 75 years, it qualifies for historic preservation.
The building is currently owned by Bruce Bennett, a real estate professional, who has told Williams it is the most sound structure in the whole city.
“It was abandoned by the school board because they found asbestos in it, and now that’s been taken out,” Williams said. “Bruce has told me that doing something on this property is his number one priority.”
Bennett has already had new roofs and windows installed on the two wings that extend out from the south rear of the old building. Inside, many of the spacious classrooms are being cleaned and repaired and have walls of windows that offer striking views of the Williams area to the north and the south. The natural light that floods in is perfect for rendering art, or even for dance classes in a studio setting.
Folks Funnel Through Williams
Dent, who is retired after a 37-year career as an arts teacher in town, agreed the building is special. “This is a fabulous building,” she said. “What I can imagine is that its going to be an international art center that brings artists from all over the world, giving them a place to stay, work and show, and have workshops if that’s appropriate.”
Work is moving forward rapidly on framing out five apartments in the two wings that are attached to the back south side of the building. These rental units, designed as live/work spaces for artists, will go fast, Williams predicts, as rental possibilities are limited in town.
Both Williams and Dent envision creating a quiet and wind-protected sculpture patio between the two wings that will be suitable for weddings and other events.
The Gallery in Williams folks see a great need for an art center in town. Some estimates put the number of visitors to Williams at one to two million every year, with many of those counted in the four to five million people who are on their way to the Grand Canyon, Williams noted.
“Many of those people going to the Grand Canyon funnel through Williams,” said Williams, as she walked around the copious interior of the former school on Saturday, May 10, before the monthly Art Walk. “That was one of our selling points to Artspace. We are a lot bigger than our community population indicates. We are also a geographically central location within the arts community of the region.”
Stephanie Brand, a travel and wildlife photographer who lives in Sedona, travels up to The Gallery in Williams, where she displays her work, so she can work shifts in the cooperative. She said the old school is in an excellent location.
“It’s so close to Route 66 people could walk to the school,” she noted. “I think that’s a critical element for tying the school into the businesses, and the businesses into the school. People love having retail they can walk to.”
Hoping to Offer So Much More
The fee to bring an Artspace team to Williams to assess the possibilities for an art and community center in the abandoned school building was $15,000. Money for that service was gathered from a variety of sources, including a Community Catalyst Fund grant of $10,000, arranged through Matt Ryan, Coconino County supervisor for District 4, a $4,000 Coconino County Community Incentive grant, and a $2,500 grant received from the National Endowment for the Arts that Artspace channeled through to the Williams Alliance for the Arts.
Fundraising events also brought in money, such as the Vino Van Gogh party in February, and a High Tea in the Old West in March, as well as a number of private donations.
“Artspace did come out and performed a feasibility report April 21 through 24, and we are waiting for the report, which will give us recommendations on the next step.”
Williams said.
In the meantime, the historic building has received a lovely new coat of buttercup yellow paint and indigenous trees are flourishing in the front yard. Hope is in the air as art lovers in Williams await a new community center.
“This is a small town, but we have a big footprint,” said Dent. “We can offer so much, and we could offer so much more.”
The next Williams Second Saturday Art Walk will be June 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. at various venues in downtown Williams. To pick up an Art Walk guide, visit The Gallery in Williams, 145 W. Route 66. For more details, call Kris Williams at the gallery, 928-635-3006. FBN
Betsey Bruner is a long-time journalist and photographer who operates her Words & Images freelance business in downtown Flagstaff.