Mary Edith “Mollie” Fly (c. 1847–1925) was a pioneering American photographer who, with her husband Camillus “Buck” Fly, documented life in Tombstone, Arizona, during its 1880s silver-mining boom. Born in the U.S. and raised in San Francisco, she married Buck in 1879 and moved to Tombstone, where they established Fly’s Photography Gallery. Mollie managed the studio and boarding house, taking portraits of residents while Buck captured historic images, including Geronimo’s 1886 surrender. Despite personal challenges, including Buck’s alcoholism and their separations, Mollie ran the studio solo after his 1901 death until 1912. She donated their negatives to the Smithsonian and retired to Los Angeles. Inducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989, Mollie’s work preserved a vivid record of Tombstone’s frontier era.
Early Life and Background
Mary Edith McKie, known as Mollie Fly, was born around 1847, likely in the United States, though details of her early life remain scarce. In the late 1850s, her family relocated to San Francisco, California, where she spent her formative years. Little is documented about her education or how she acquired her photographic skills, a rarity for women in the mid-19th century. Mollie married twice; her first marriage to Samuel D. Goodrich ended in divorce after two years. In 1879, she married Camillus Sidney “Buck” Fly, a photographer, in San Francisco, marking the beginning of their shared professional and personal journey. The couple later adopted a daughter, Kitty Fly.
Arrival in Tombstone and Establishment of Fly’s Photography Gallery
In December 1879, Mollie and Buck arrived in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, during its silver-mining boom, when the town was rapidly growing into one of the American frontier’s last boomtowns. They initially set up a temporary photography studio in a tent, capitalizing on the influx of miners, merchants, and adventurers. By July 1880, they had constructed a 12-room boarding house at 312 Fremont Street, which included their permanent studio, known as Fly’s Photography Gallery, at the back. Mollie played a pivotal role in managing both the boarding house and the studio, especially when Buck was away on photographic expeditions. As one of the few female photographers of the era, she took studio portraits for 35 cents each, capturing the diverse faces of Tombstone’s residents, from miners to merchants.
Role in Recording Tombstone’s Events
Mollie’s contributions to documenting Tombstone’s history were significant, though often overshadowed by her husband’s more publicized work. The Flys’ studio was strategically located near the site of the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881, one of the most iconic events in Old West history. Buck was an eyewitness to the shootout, which occurred just outside their studio, and reportedly disarmed a dying Billy Clanton while armed with a Henry rifle. Curiously, no photographs of the gunfight’s aftermath were taken, possibly due to threats from the Earp faction, though Mollie and Buck’s studio captured portraits of many key figures in Tombstone, including founder Ed Schieffelin and surgeon Dr. George E. Goodfellow.
While Buck gained recognition for his photojournalistic work, including the only known images of Geronimo’s surrender in 1886, Mollie ensured the studio’s continuity. She managed operations during Buck’s absences, producing photographic postcards, such as one captioned “Arizona Prospectors, Tombstone,” which offered rare glimpses into the town’s daily life. Her work, though less credited, helped preserve the visual record of a bustling frontier town marked by saloons, stagecoach robberies, and mining ventures.
Challenges and Resilience
The Flys’ personal and professional lives were fraught with challenges. Buck’s heavy drinking led to their temporary separation in 1887, and by the late 1880s, Tombstone’s economy declined as silver prices fell and mines flooded. In 1893, the couple attempted to open a new studio in Phoenix, but the venture failed, prompting their return to Tombstone a year later. They separated again in the late 1890s, with Buck establishing a studio in Bisbee, Arizona, where a fire at the Phelps Dodge Mercantile Company warehouse destroyed many of their glass-plate negatives. After Buck’s death in Bisbee in 1901, Mollie ran the Tombstone studio solo for another decade, demonstrating remarkable resilience. In 1905, she published a collection of Buck’s photographs, Scenes in Geronimo’s Camp: The Apache Outlaw and Murderer, preserving his historic images of Geronimo’s surrender.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1912, Mollie retired after a second fire destroyed her studio in Tombstone in 1915. Recognizing the historical value of their work, she donated the surviving negatives to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. She then moved to Los Angeles, California, where she lived until her death in 1925. Mollie’s contributions as a pioneering female photographer were posthumously honored in 1989 when she was inducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame.
Mollie Fly’s role in recording Tombstone’s events was integral to preserving the town’s legacy as “The Town Too Tough to Die.” Through her management of Fly’s Photography Gallery and her own photographic work, she captured the essence of a volatile frontier era, contributing to one of the most comprehensive pictorial records of early Tombstone. Her perseverance as a woman in a male-dominated field and her dedication to her craft ensure her place as a significant figure in Arizona’s history.
Sources:
- Legends of America, “Camillus Sidney Fly – Photographer and Lawman”
- Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame, “Mary ‘Mollie’ E. Fly”
- Wikiwand, “Mollie Fly”
