Otis J. Baughn Papers

Otis James Baughn was born in Hanly, Kentucky on April 23, 1877. He attended high school in Lexington and earned his liberal arts degree from Kentucky University (later re-named Transylvania College) in 1903. After a brief residence in South Dakota, he returned to Kentucky and married Mary Holman Fairhurst on June 27, 1906. The couple had two children: Elizabeth and Alfred F. In June of 1909, Baughn was awarded a Bachelor of Law degree from Transylvania College of Law and relocated to Florence, Arizona with his family later that year. Upon admission to the Territory of Arizona Bar in January of 1910, he established a private law practice.

After Baughn moved to Arizona, he became interested in promoting reclamation projects and bringing irrigation to the desert. He was also instrumental in forming the town of Coolidge, located on the west side of the Southern Pacific Railroad, on land for which Baughn and others secured the railroad's right of way. From 1914 to 1922, Baughn served as a Superior Court judge in Pinal County. After completing his second term, he moved to Phoenix and opened a law office in 1923. A prominent Republican, Baughn was that party's nominee for Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court in 1916, 1922, and 1946. He was also a Republican candidate for the U.S. Congress in 1926 and sought the office of Arizona Attorney General in 1934. On February 11, 1948, Baughn and his wife died in an auto accident near Wittman, Arizona.