Winter Gateway 2022

Courtesy photo/Graham County Historical Society
An early 1900s photo of the Taylor’s Cyclone Store in downtown Safford’s
Riggs Building
Ginaveve’s:
From
courthouse
to coffee
house
BY DAVID SOWDERS
Assistant Editor
In 1901 cattleman J.J. Riggs built what
was then the highest two-story building
in Safford, Arizona. A hundred
and twenty years later, still standing on a
corner of Main Street, that structure is the
home of Ginaveve’s Marketplace and The
Main Street Bean coffee house.
The Riggs Building started out, in part,
as a general store – Taylor’s Cyclone
Store, which did business on the first floor
from 1901 to 1904. Upstairs, the building
housed a Masonic Hall. The first building
in town to have concrete sidewalks around
it, through the years it was home to such
stores as Young & Ridgway and Settles
Market. In 1915-1916 the Riggs Building
even served as a temporary courthouse
while the current Graham County Courthouse
was being built, and was the site of
county offices.
In 2012 John and Jenny Howard bought
the building and opened Ginaveve’s Marketplace
on the ground floor. Starting out
as a gift shop, two years later Ginaveve’s
branched out to carry olive oils, balsamic
vinegars, olives, flavored pastas and other
gourmet foods - all of which they still
offer. In 2016 the store’s kitchen was expanded
to introduce panini sandwiches,
and a variety of gelatos were added.
David Sowders/Copper Corridor
In 2021, the Riggs Building is home to Ginaveve’s Marketplace and The
Main Street Bean. See GINAVEVE’S, page 9
8 Gateway to the Copper Corridor 2022