Jennings Home

The Jennings Home is associated with Cyrus Morgan Jennings, who came to Taylor in 1887 and became one of the town’s most culturally significant figures. Cyrus was the keeper of the famous Jennings Drum, a historic instrument constructed by Major Edward P. Duzette from cowhide, birch, and hickory, which was used in the Nauvoo Legion Band in the 1830s.

Upon settling in Taylor, Cyrus started the Jennings Band. Tradition holds that he would walk out of his house beating the drum while other musicians would join him on the way to the old Church on Center Street. The band and drum played every Fourth of July until Cyrus’s death in 1909.

His son Renz L. Jennings, born in Taylor in 1889, went on to become an Arizona county attorney, superior court judge, and justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona (1960–1964). The Jennings Drum is now featured in Taylor’s town logo and continues to be played at dawn every Fourth of July.