Tombstone is a historic city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was subsequently Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town grew significantly into the mid-1880s as the local mines produced $40 to $85 million in silver bullion, the largest productive silver district in Arizona. Its population grew from 100 to in this area 14,000 in less than seven years. It is best known as the site of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and presently draws most of its revenue from tourism. It along with houses the highest-rated brewery in the confess of Arizona.

The town was established upon Goose Flats, a mesa above the Goodenough Mine. Within two years of its founding, although far inattentive from any additional metropolitan area, Tombstone had a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor, alongside 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and numerous dance halls and brothels. All of these businesses were situated accompanied by and atop many silver mines. The gentlemen and ladies of Tombstone attended operas presented by visiting acting troupes at the Schieffelin Hall opera house, while the miners and cowboys maxim shows at the Bird Cage Theatre and brothel.

Under the surface were tensions that grew into deadly conflict. The mining capitalists and the townspeople were largely Republicans from the Northern states. Many of the ranchers (some of whom—like the Clantons—were next rustlers or extra criminal varieties) were Confederate sympathizers and Democrats. The rich city was unaccompanied 30 miles (48 km) from the U.S.–Mexico connect and was an entry market for cattle stolen from ranches in Sonora, Mexico, by a loosely organized band of outlaws known as The Cowboys. The Earp brothers—Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan—as without difficulty as Doc Holliday, arrived in December 1879 and mid-1880. The Earps had ongoing conflicts considering Cowboys Ike and Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, and Billy Claiborne. The Cowboys repeatedly threatened the Earps higher than many months until the deed escalated into a shootout upon October 26, 1881. The historic gunfight is often portrayed as stirring at the O.K. Corral, though it actually occurred a short distance away in an blank lot upon Fremont Street.

In the mid-1880s, the silver mines penetrated the water table and the mining companies made significant investments in specialized pumps. A ember in 1886 destroyed the Grand Central hoist and the pumping plant, and it was deemed unprofitable to rebuild the expensive pumps. The city nearly became a ghost town, saved lonely because it was the Cochise County chair until 1929. The city’s population dwindled to a low of 646 in 1910, but grew to 1,380 by 2010. Tombstone has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.