Advice about a fictional wild west town?

[ClearDragon]

So for part of my giant fictional universe I have been making up a frontier town to be set in southwest Arizona.
I am making a 3d modal of it so I can get a better feel of how the scenes will be and where the characters will have to be walking and such. But I'm not sure about the layout.
Like would it be unusual if the "fancy" hotel is right across the street from the town hall? Would the sharifs office be in town hall or its own building? And other similar things like that.
I just want it to be like how real frontier towns would be.

 

[Queshire]

Some quick searching came up with this;

 

[ClearDragon]

Some quick searching came up with this;

Oh thats interesting, I'll watch that now.

 

[pmmg]

 

[pmmg]

I dont think those things were well planned out. They just kind of go where they were first built.

 

[ClearDragon]

Oh thats cool. I'm gonig to downlaod that and use it as a reference.

 

[Miles Lacey]

A good place to start would be to think about what led people to set up the town in the first place. Did they find good grazing land and enough fresh water for cattle farming to thrive? Did they find gold or some other precious metal? Or was it a stop for stagecoaches, trains or even the post (e.g. the Pony Express)?

The primary reason for the town being founded will largely shape what the town has. A town built near a gold mine will have a totally different appearance from a town built to serve the needs of cattle ranchers.

Most of these towns were founded between the 1860s and 1880s and had largely disappeared by the outbreak of the First World War. A lot of them were built around a post office, a railway station or a hotel. Once they were closed down the town died.

In theory, there's no reason why a town hall could not be built across the road from a hotel. Town planning laws were largely absent in those days....

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Often places are grouped based on the needs of people. butchers, bakers, produce, general stores tend to be in the same area to allow people to shop with minimal travel. Taverns, brothels, and hotels tend to be together. Police stations and jails can be used to separate the two sections. Any other buildings or businesses can be scattered throughout. Another option is to have ethnicity or races play a role in sectioning the town.