Featured Stories
The New York Store
The Polish-Jewish Korrick family opened up their store in the late 1890s. This was one of the first department stores in the Phoenix area along with the Goldwater and Diamond department stores.
Sam Korrick arrived in Phoenix in 1895 on a chance…
Lloyd Kiva New
After World War II, Lloyd Kiva New was a leading artist and designer in Scottsdale's burgeoning arts and crafts community before emerging as a national leader in arts education.
Born in Oklahoma in 1916 to Cherokee and Scot-Irish parents,…
Gammage Auditorium and the Baghdad Opera House
It all began with two men. One, a master architect. The other, a university president leading a small school toward becoming a major university. Gammage Auditorium resulted from that collaboration--becoming a symbol for ASU and Tempe and emerging as…
Recent Stories
Eisendrath House
The Eisdendrath House, managed by the Tempe History Museum, is one of the best examples of Arizona's Pueblo Revival style of architecture. It was built in 1930 by a wealthy Chicago widow, Rose Eisendrath. At the time, many affluent…
Monti's La Casa Vieja
La Casa Vieja, also known as Hayden House, has long been a pillar of Tempe's history. Charles Hayden purchased a tract of land along the Salt River. He eventually built a general store, flour mill, and ferry, giving rise to the name…
Sanctuary Resort
Sanctuary Resort on Camelback Mountain sits beneath The Praying Monk, a rock formation perched upon the proverbial camel’s head. This monk has been in pious meditation since long before humans resided in the Salt River Valley. If this monk, who has…
Mecca for the Wealthy
Forty-five years before The Sanctuary Resort on Camelback Mountain opened its doors as a luxurious paradisiacal resort, the property's story began in 1956 as the Paradise Valley Racquet Club. Created during the greatest boom in Arizona's tourist…
The Center of Mesa Revitalization
When walking through downtown Mesa, the relatively small-scale streets and buildings have a quaint feeling that does not hint at Arizona's largest arts center sitting squarely downtown on Main and Center Street. However, once you get within a…
The Parkway Theater
At the conclusion of World War II, a couple by the names of Joe and Alice Woods would purchase the building from the Chandler Improvement Company and convert it into the Parkway Theater; one out of three theaters that the couple would own in their…
Salt River Stories
A project by Arizona State University & Mark TebeauSalt River Stories brings the history, cultures, and communities of the Valley of the Sun, the Phoenix-Scottsdale-Tempe metro area to your fingertips. Salt River Stories is created by students & faculty at Arizona State University in collaboration with the community. It is powered by Omeka + Curatescape, a humanities-centered web and mobile framework available for both Android and iOS devices.
Read more About Us