Don Lorenzo Hubbell

Don Lorenzo Hubbell (National Park Service)

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

Don Lorenzo Hubbell (November 27, 1853 – November 12, 1930) was a 19th-century trader instrumental in promoting the sale of Navajo art. He was also sheriff of Apache County, Arizona, a member of the Arizona Territorial Legislature, and after statehood a member of the Arizona Senate. He ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1914.^[1]

Biography[]

He was born John Lorenzo Hubbell, but gradually came to be addressed as "Don", a Spanish term of respect. He was born in Parajito, San Miguel County, New Mexico. He was the son of James Santiago Hubbell and Juliana Gutiérrez who built the historic Gutiérrez Hubbell House. His father had came to the Southwest as a trader on the Santa Fe Trail, settling in New Mexico in 1848.^[2]

He spent his early years as a Spanish interpreter for the U.S. Army. By 1876 he owned his first trading post at St. Johns, Arizona and he started a second trading post in 1878 that became very successful financially. He helped many Navajos become economically self-sufficient by showing them the patterns of blankets most likely to sell for a profit. He was well respected in the Navajo community for his fair dealings with them. He eventually created an empire of 30 such trading posts on or near the Navajo and Hopi Reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado with warehouses in Gallup, New Mexico and Winslow, Arizona.^[3]^[4]

The trading post at Ganado became the headquarters of Hubbell's numerous and diverse enterprises. He died in Ganado, Arizona. His trading post, now known as the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, still stands on the Navajo reservation, and is a National Historic Landmark. Another trading post, purchased by Hubbell in Winslow, Arizona in 1921, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[5]