The Pioneer Museum in Flagstaff, Arizona is located in Coconino County Hospital for the Indigent. This is a very important historic piece in the area's history. This building was built in 1908 and was used as a hospital for the county for at least 30 years. It became known as the "poor farm" because of the residents within. As men aged and had no family to take care of them, they were placed in the county hospital to be cared for. Later, the building would be used as a boarding house and as a private residence. The Northern Arizona Pioneer's Society purchased the property and transformed it into the museum which opened in 1963.
The building itself serves as an important historical piece because of the various elements that date back to the time that the hospital was in place. There is a barn and root cellar that are now part of the museum. The barn, built in 1910, held workhorses and now holds many of the larger collections that the museum owns. The cellar is where food products were sold. The Ben Doney homestead, which dates back to 1908, also joined the museum's location in 1967, and became the location for craft demonstrations. In 1994, the addition of the Baldwin Articulated Locomotive which dates to 1929 was added to the front of the grounds.
Visitors to the museum are welcomed throughout the year. Educational exhibits, historic details all provide a living history of what the area was like a century ago. The museum also sponsors a variety of festivals and special events all year round.
