Oral History of Millard and Pearl
Bingham
Written by: Joan Sinema
A Childhood in Binghampton
Millard Bingham remembers the days water flowed in the Rillito River, into carefully weeded irrigation ditches and finally into the big concrete pool. Millard recalls, "From my first memory as a boy to about when I was sixteen or seventeen, I remember the river coming all day long. Two enormous water ponds sat side by side near the north end of Alvernon Way and the river catching the surplus." He also remembers when River Road was an unpaved lane he and his buddies ran along from one farm to another. His memories are vivid and carry warmth and pride for the little farm village, where he grew. Binghampton is now just part of the city of Tucson.
All children love
to play and Millard was no exception. While
weeding the irrigation ditches the children would make a game of the work.
"If we didn't," Millard recalled, "it would have been
drudgery, since we weeded everyday. The
weeds would be all gone by dinner, only to be
back before breakfast." Nevertheless, the children would race to see who could get to
the end of the row fastest, who had the biggest pile of weeds, or who could stay
the cleanest on muddy days. "The
weeding of the irrigation ditches was our job, but we made it fun" mused
Millard.
School was also a
big part of Binghampton life for the children.
Although children first attended school in a little stucco building, next
to the later named Castro Place, Millard remembers
going to Davidson School. "I went to school during the week
there, and to church there on Sunday" claimed Millard. The school was built
in 1905 on land real estate investor Alexander Davidson donated.
The residents of Binghampton built the one room school.
A larger frame building was built in 1912 and by 1916 an adobe building
was also part of the school. Today,
children attending 
assemblies
at Davidson School would never know their auditorium was an adobe building built
prior to 1916. Millard
recalls, "I wasn't crazy about school until the Nelson family moved to
Binghampton from St. David. 
You
see Pearl Nelson was the Nelson's eleventh child, and she was just a little
girl, but so pretty. I used to say,
'Save her for me.'" Not
surprising after nineteen years of Millard asking for Pearl they did marry.
Pearl has many wonderful childhood memories also. She loved to take salt out into the fields and eat tomatoes "right off the vine." Pearl remembers peaches, apricots, corn and potatoes growing in the rich soil along the riverbed. Pearl would learn many skills to help her prepare for the inevitable day she and Millard would marry. Self-sufficiency was taught to all the children. Pearl remembers, "My mother churned her own butter, kneaded and baked her own bread, and pieced and made all the quilts on our beds. I can still see her at that old Singer sewing machine, feet working the pedals and her singing at the top of her voice."
Singing was
something enjoyed by the children and adults in Binghampton.
Pearl remembers, "We made our own fun.
We had plays and musicals." The
musicals became big
productions after Binghampton built their church at 3700 E. Ft. Lowell.
"We started it in 1927, but we didn't dedicate it until 1936, when
it was paid for." The church cost $40,000.00 to build and was built in stages.
First, the basement was built, and even though that was all they had,
there was a stage for their musical productions.
Making their own
fun included Friday night dances. "There
was usually a potluck and a dance, held to raise money to pay off the new
church," remembers Pearl. "When
we weren't singing and dancing, we were down at the riverbed having corn and
wiener roasts." In the 
summer
times everyone slept out under the stars, after working all day on their farms.
"Children were able to make extra money by working in the onion
fields" Pearl remembered. Millard
almost interrupted commenting, "When we weren't trying to sneak into the
strawberry patch."
By the 1930's families were having a hard time living off the land. Many families moved closer to work. In 1936, Millard's father, Jacob Moroni Bingham, saw the need for a suburban transit service and began the Mountain View Bus Line. This was the first public bus to the north and east sections of the growing Tucson community. Jacob began with one bus. It would run from downtown east on Speedway and north on Beverly Boulevard to the Desert Sanatorium. Today the Sanatorium is Tucson Medical Center. The bus route would then return to downtown along Grant and Campbell. By 1937 the business had acquired another bus, which served Amphitheater district. Millard remembers servicing the buses at night with his brother Elmer. He also recalls, "drivers would drop regular riders off in front of their homes instead of on the corner, and late at night they would go out of their way to take the women to their front doors."
Unfortunately, by 1940 three public transit companies began competing for the routes in Tucson. The Arizona Corporation Commission granted the expanding routes and Bingham's Broadway route to Tucson Rapid Transit. Jacob Bingham could not afford the court costs to fight the decision, so he sold his business to Tucson Rapid Transit. Jacob and Millard went to work for the railroad. Millard worked for the railroad until he retired.
Similarly, many families ended up finding work outside of Binghampton and needed to move closer to their work. Today, many things are different. The home Millard and Pearl raised their family in is a lapidary business. Only a few of the original families live in, or own homes in what was once Binghampton. Times have certainly changed, but for Millard and Pearl, their memories keep the water flowing in the Rillito River.