Allen Street is the spine of the Tombstone Historic District, a boardwalk-lined stretch of Victorian commercial buildings that has been a National Historic Landmark since 1961. The district covers about six blocks and contains most of Tombstone's saloons, museums, and shops — all within easy walking distance of each other.
The buildings along Allen Street date almost entirely to 1880–1882, built fast and cheap to serve a booming mining population. Despite fires, floods, and decades of neglect, much of the district survived intact. Walking the boardwalks in the early morning — before the reenactors take their positions and the gift shops open — gives the clearest sense of what this place actually was. Look up at the second-story facades; many retain original woodwork and painted signs that have simply been left in place for 140 years.