Visiting Globe, United States: Top Sights on Foot

The best things to do in Globe include discovering its historic churches and landmarks, with the Elks Building, Holy Angels Church, and St. John’s Episcopal Church offering a close look at the city’s early twentieth-century character. Globe is also connected to Arizona’s mining heritage and the wider high-desert landscape. Neywo has a free audio guide for Globe with three narrated places, available in 11 languages.

What to see in Globe

The most important sights are concentrated around Globe’s historic streets and reveal different aspects of the city’s architectural and community history.

Elks Building

The Elks Building is one of Globe’s distinctive historic landmarks. Built in 1910, the three-story structure served both as a meeting hall and as a theater. Its Romanesque design gives it a strong architectural identity, while its long, narrow proportions—about forty feet, or twelve metres, wide and one hundred feet, or thirty metres, long—make it particularly striking.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. It is a useful starting point for understanding Globe’s historic built environment and the civic life that shaped the town.

Holy Angels Church

Holy Angels Church stands out for the contrast between its sturdy tufa-stone walls and the coloured light of its stained-glass windows. Built in 1916, the church is primarily Romanesque Revival in style, with Mission Revival influences. A four-storey bell tower rises beside the building, which measures 96 by 46 feet and rests on a reinforced concrete foundation.

The stained-glass windows were designed and made by Emil Frei Senior, founder of the Emil Frei Studios of St. Louis. Their coloured light gives the interior a memorable atmosphere. The church also contains an organ made by the Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois.

Holy Angels Church reflects the effort invested by Globe’s community in creating a more substantial place of worship. It replaced the earlier wood-frame and stucco Sacred Heart Church, and its construction became part of the city’s architectural history. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

St. John’s Episcopal Church

Built in 1907, St. John’s Episcopal Church is another historic place of worship in Globe. Its simple appearance reflects the city’s early twentieth-century character, making it a notable stop on Oak Street.

The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona. Together with Holy Angels Church, it shows how different religious communities contributed to Globe’s historic landscape.

Globe’s mining and historic character

Globe developed as a mining settlement and first prospered through silver extraction before copper became the area’s dominant industry. The town’s name is linked to an unusually large, rounded piece of silver found nearby.

Mining remains central to Globe’s identity, alongside ranching, tourism, and recreation. Broad Street, the main route through the historic district, brings together preserved buildings, local businesses, and a traditional atmosphere that reflects the town’s frontier past.

The city’s heritage also includes the Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park and Museum. Its name comes from the Apache language and means “place of metal”, connecting the region’s Indigenous history with its long relationship to mining. The site adds archaeological and cultural context to Globe’s historic buildings.

For more destinations in the state, explore Arizona. Globe also provides a different perspective on the region from nearby Phoenix and Tucson, two of Arizona’s larger cities.

Explore Globe with Neywo

Neywo’s free Globe audio guide includes three narrated places. Each story plays as you reach the place, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Open the app while exploring the city and listen to the story of each landmark when you arrive.