Philip Drachman
Philip and Rosa Drachman in 1868
Philip Drachman was a pioneering Jew in local business and politics who became a universally-admired figure in late 19th century Tucson.
Drachman was born in Piotrków, Poland in 1833 near the city of Łódź. For most of the 19th century, Russian dominion over much of Poland led to the forced conscription of young Polish boys into the Russian Army. In an attempt to spare young Philip this hardship, his parents, Rebecca and Harris, hid him for months in an underground cellar that they had clandestinely dug out by hand. This caused Philip to have respiratory problems for the rest of his life, partially explaining his later attraction to Arizona’s dry, hot climate. He would end up leaving Poland in 1852, and sailed to America on the same boat as Michel and Joseph Goldwater, who would go on to be important pioneers in territorial Arizona as well.
After his arrival in New York, the timeline of Philip’s arrival in the Arizona Territory is not very precise. Records show, however, that on October 16, 1860, he was naturalized in San Bernardino, California, where his sister Augusta was living. Three years later he was to be found along the Colorado River working alongside the Goldwater brothers as well as other pioneering Jews, including J.S. Hyman, Moses Mannasse, and Isaac Goldberg, all of whom formed the “Colorado River Farming and Stock Raising Association.” In 1864, Drachman was listed as a notable local merchant in the Arizona Territory, with $1,000 in real estate and $4,000 in personal estate. Drachman went on to work in merchandising with his former partner Goldberg throughout Central and Southern Arizona and in 1867, Drachman formally established himself in Tucson. One of his first responsibilities was the management of one of the Zeckendorf Brothers’ stores which became permanent after the town was made territorial capital in that same year. Soon after he settled in Tucson, Drachman’s partnership with Isaac Goldberg expanded further, when they opened their general merchandise store, Goldberg and Drachman.
After more than a decade in the New World, Philip took a trip to New York in the aim of finding a wife. There he met Rosa Katzenstein, a cousin of the Zeckendorfs, and they married on April 1, 1868. The newlyweds departed for Tucson exactly a month later. Incidentally, they followed a similar path as the Goldwaters: after crossing the Isthmus of Panama and sailing by steamboat to San Francisco, Rosa and Philip made a stop in Los Angeles and then arrived in San Bernardino, where Augusta was still living. The final and most treacherous leg of their travel started on October 21st, 1868, when they left San Bernardino in a “four-horse ambulance which was a relic of the Civil War,” riding about twenty-five miles a day. After stopping in Yuma and Gila City, Rosa and Philip were escorted to Tucson by a freight team called the Arizona Schooners. Barring a few frights along the way, including encounters with gruff frontiersmen and passing the graves of unfortunate folks killed by Apaches, the couple arrived safely on November 15th.
Having returned to his business, Philip enjoyed success during the rest of his time in Tucson. He continued to work in merchandising and got involved in freighting and government contracting as well. In 1881, Philip opened up a saloon called the Post Office Exchange on the corner of Congress Street and Church Avenue, which became wildly popular, and he later owned a cigar store. The Drachmans were rich in their family life as well, as Philip and Rosa had ten children together: Phyllis, Harry Arizona - who was reported to be the first Anglo-American boy born in the territory - Mose, Emanuel, Rebecca, Myra, Albert, Minnie, Lillian, and Esther. Rosa, like many pioneer wives, was forced to raise the family by herself, in a house that had dirt floors and which was bereft of indoor plumbing, electricity, and gas. Harry, Mose, and Emanuel found success in Tucson, while all the others eventually left. The renown that Philip amassed extended into realms other than business; he served in the House of Representatives during the Fourth Territorial Legislature; he was a member of the Society of Pioneers; and he founded the B’nai B’rith Lodge of Tucson as well.
Philip Drachman passed away on November 9, 1899 after suffering from pneumonia. The fact that his funeral was the largest that Tucson had ever seen was a testament to how beloved he had become, and during the services, William Zeckendorf and H. Lowenstein conducted the Jewish rites.
Cholent and Chorizo, by Abraham Chanin
Jewish Settlers in the Arizona Territory, by Blaine Lamb
Photo credits: Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives