01. Dr. Chandler's Origins

Veterinarian and town founder, Dr. Alexander J. Chandler, was born in 1859 in the small town of Coaticook, Quebec. His father Joseph Chandler was a baptist minister. His mother, Mary Ann Lorimer, married Joseph after his first wife died.   Chandler attended McGill University in Montreal.  Graduating in 1882, he worked as a livestock inspector for the Canadian government before going into private veterinary practice in Detroit.  In 1887 officials from the Arizona Territory went to the United States Department of Agriculture for a recommendation for the newly created office of Territorial Veterinary Surgeon.  Dr. Salmon, the Chief of Animal Husbandry, looked no further than A.J. Chandler, who was making a name for himself in Michigan.  The territorial officials were quite surprised when he took the job, since it meant a heavy cut in pay.