Monti's, a renowned dining establishment with a history spanning over six decades, was famous not only for its delectable steaks and the iconic Fountain Room but also for its haunted history.

Originally part of the historic Hayden House and the birthplace of Arizona Senator Carl Hayden, this establishment had been an integral part of Tempe since 1873. Until its closure in 2014, La Casa Vieja, or "old house" in Spanish, boasted a variety of uniquely named rooms, each with its own resident ghostly presence. 

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The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the subsequent Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, set in motion a long process of transformation as it ceded much of the land that would become the United States' American Southwest. Many “aspiring landowners” knew of the fresh land and acts such as the Gadsden Purchase further pushing such development. Among the groups who staked a claim in the territory were Mexican settlers (who migrated both before and after the war) making the Southwest, and Arizona, their own.

In the years following the Mexican-American War, and oddly enough just before the end of the Mexican-American War, there were very little to no Hispanic peoples recorded in Arizona. Within just 10 years, however, the number jumped from almost nothing to nearly 7,500 people. The Hispanic portion of Arizona grew to nearly 60 percent of the entire population. Not surprisingly then, the earliest settlers of what would become Tempe were Hispanic and inhabited what would become known as the San Pablo neighborhood, located at the base of what has become known as Hayden Butte.

Originally founded by Yaqui and other Native American Tribes (as well as the emerging Hispanic population), San Pablo soon became a large center for Hispanic influence and culture in Tempe. The people that moved into Tempe not only helped to bring the city its new culture and history, but they were also able to help build it up from its roots. Some helped to build the railroad system as well as other features of the local infrastructure, such as the canals and road system.

It was in this context that one of the town’s early leaders, Cresencio "Chris" Sigala, arrived in Tempe and left his mark not only on the city but also on the state. Born in Sonora Mexico, Sigala made his way to the Tempe area in 1874 and settled in the San Pablo region, although precisely where he lived is hard to nail down; most likely he lived on the fringes of the settlement.

Roughly two decades after migrating, Sigala joined the Arizona National Guard, serving from 1893 to 1896 as part of the C Company infantry regiment. After Sigala’s enlistment terminated, he left the guard until being recalled in 1903 because of a mine strike in Clifton-Morenci mines in Southern Arizona. The advent of the 8-hour day in the United States was a boon for workers, but the Longfellow Mining Company had reduced the workday from 10 to 8 hours but only paid the equivalent of 9 hours of work, meaning the mostly-Mexican labor force faced a ten percent pay cut. In the chaos that followed (including a torrential monsoon that led to significant flooding) the National Guard, as well as federal troops, were brought in to keep order.

The fact that Sigala commanded the C Company in which he had served all those years before (in a strike that was directed primarily against Mexican workers) reveals the complex position of Hispanics in the region. Mexican workers had gone on strike at Clifton-Morenci in an (ultimately failed) effort to obtain greater wages but were not supported in their protest by Anglo workers, revealing the underlying labor dynamics in the state. Even so, Hispanics maintained significant roles in many communities, as Sigala’s career emphasizes. Nonetheless, the role of Hispanics was becoming increasingly marginalized in an economy and society dominated by Anglos and discrimination.

Sigala was soon inaugurated as Tempe’s constable in 1904. Constables were local police officers who helped keep order although their role was less formal than modern-day police officers. Sigala’s duties included chasing down criminals, assisting the higher-ups, and performing various odd jobs in maintaining order. During his time as constable Sigala worked alongside other local notables, such as Carl Hayden whose father is often credited with forming the community and who later served as United States Senator for over 50 years. Although he was busy during these early years with being the Constable of Tempe, commitments like that did not impede his continued involvement with the National Guard. During 1910 Sigala continued to serve on the guard and even accompanied his men into a shooting competition in Ohio of that same year.

In the 1910s, Sigala helped to create the Liga Protectora Latina which was meant to protect the interests of Hispanics in the Southwest. Like other mutual aid societies of the period, the group itself was a protection and assistance agency that operated all over the greater southwest United States. It also protested segregation/discrimination in schools and in work places, a function necessitated by the growing discrimination against Hispanics as more and more white Americans migrated to Arizona.

Sigala died in 1937 after serving Tempe and the Southwest for much of his life. Unfortunately, Sigala’s contribution to that history gradually disappeared along with the Hispanic barrios where he had lived, which were lost to the expansion of Arizona State University in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as urban redevelopment of the 1970s. Even so, the roots of the effort to recover the stories of Hispanic Tempe and Sigala’s life were being laid in two important developments: the emergence of the Chicano Movement of the 1970s and the creation and professionalization of the Tempe History Museum in the 1980s. Curators at the Tempe History Museum have been at the forefront of recovering the story of Hispanic Tempe, featuring Sigala’s contributions prominently in exhibitions and collecting photographs and papers about his life. And, indeed, we see now how vital the Hispanic community (and leaders like Sigala) were to the development of Tempe and the state.

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On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which gave permission for the War Department to relocate Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the western United States to concentration camps. In March 1942, with the aid of US Census data and military support, the newly minted War Relocation Authority (WRA) forcibly moved more than 100,000 people into hastily conceived “evacuation” camps.

In Arizona, the hurriedly constructed Poston and Gila River Centers emerged: the Poston camp near the town of Poston in the Colorado River Indian Reservation, and Gila River camps south of Phoenix in the Gila River Indian Community. Built on Native American reservations, without the approval of Tribal Governments, the Gila River camps took only a few months to construct. Although the Gila River Indian Tribal Council rejected the Federal Government’s proposed lease twice, it narrowly approved the contract and the occupation of the land by the WRA camps. The lease agreement indicated that in lieu of payment, the WRA agreed to cultivate 8,500 acres of tribal land--a commitment the WRA never completed. The camps at Gila River came to be known as the Rivers Camps--named after Jim Rivers, the first Akimel O'otham killed in the First World War.

Canal Camp opened in May of 1942. Several hundred uniformly constructed tile roofed wood structures were to be the homes, offices, and entertainment spaces for approximately 14,000 people over the course of the next three years.

No insulation or air cooling units were provided to the majority of the structures, along with rudimentary furnishings. The barracks buildings were 20 x 100 square feet, with each building separated into four apartment rooms, each room large enough to house 3 to 4 people as a family unit.

As the smaller of the two Rivers camps, Canal was only intended to house 5,000 people. As soon as the camp was complete, approximately 6,700 internees were transported by train from the Turlock Assembly Center near San Francisco to the town of Casa Grande. The train cars available were old and frequently had no air conditioning or other comforts. Internees were then crowded into old buses and trucks for the 16-mile trip from the train station to Canal Camp. With only a few vehicles available, multiple round trips had to be made from train to camp, leaving those on the trains under armed military guard during the heat of the day to wait for the last leg of their journey.

Conditions were miserable. Water, gas, and electricity shortages plagued Canal Camp throughout the summer. Dust storms and monsoons were common through the hottest months and the overcrowded population struggled to adapt. Summer daytime temperatures soared, regularly exceeding 100 Fahrenheit through the months of July and August.

With little relief from the scorching heat, some internees dug out cellars under their barracks while others collected scrap materials and built rudimentary evaporative “swamp” coolers they installed onto the buildings. Ice water was supplied from the mess halls through a spigot sticking out of the wall. Ice was in short supply, so mess hall workers would put ice blocks inside the drinking water tank allowing a supply of cool drinking water without risk of the ice being stolen.

Many of the internees were farmers from California. While unfamiliar with the climate and soil of the Arizona desert, they worked with local farmers and learned to grow vegetables. With plenty of open land and access to the Gila River water from a nearby canal (for which the Canal camp is named), a successful agricultural program developed. By mid-1943 local newspapers reported that Rivers camps produced about $1 million worth of food, the majority of which supplied fresh produce to camps throughout the US. As a result of the camp’s farming success, a drying plant was created to preserve excess produce and was added to the list of camp-based industries.

Over the first year, the Rivers camps were praised repeatedly in local papers for their successful industries. The US Navy praised a small plant of 50 men at the camps for their efficient model ship manufacturing plant. Turning out around 100 ships per month, the models were used by the military in training exercises.

Over time, conditions in the camps improved, largely through the coordination and efforts of the internees themselves. With the relative freedom to self-govern inside the camp, block councils were developed to focus on day-to-day issues. A leadership council consisting of one representative from each block also convened for the purpose of working with the administration. Also, administrators of the camp hired internees to organize recreational activities. A library and school provided limited educational opportunities and a movie theater and a baseball diamond provided entertainment and recreation. The community planned festivals and events; they organized church services, theater groups, scout troops, and women’s clubs. Such activities fostered a sense of community for the interned Japanese Americans.

Playing sports became a very important pastime, with baseball being a particular favorite. Kenichi Zenimura, a baseball player who set about building a baseball diamond on a vacant patch of land at the camp, became instrumental in developing a 36 team league in camps throughout the country. His passion for baseball and his influence in the community earned him the title Father of Japanese-American baseball. A memorial to him and the league stands at Nozomi Park in Chandler, AZ.

In 1943, as a response to continued accusations of special treatment by the WRA, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Rivers camps to see the conditions for herself. She found the conditions uncomfortable and commended the internees on their resourcefulness. Not long after her visit, she began campaigning to disband the internment camps as soon as possible. The First Lady’s campaign was not well received by many, including Arizona’s congressional representatives.

Because the Military Zone 1 was designated the coastal states, if released, the internees would be unable to return to their homes. As alternate resettlement plans were discussed many Arizona residents, spurred by prejudice and fear, became distressed over the prospect of Rivers internees settling in Arizona. As a result, an appeal was made to the Undersecretary of War by Senators Carl Hayden, E. W. McFarland, and Representatives John R. Murdock and Richard F. Harless, requesting that Arizona be added to the Military Zone 1, thus blocking Japanese-Americans from settling within the state’s borders, citing a possible risk of violence.

In the end, the camps did not close until after the war was over. By November 16, 1945, all Japanese-Americans who had been incarcerated in the Rivers camps had returned to their home states to rebuild their lives only to find their homes and businesses sold off. The buildings and all reusable materials were removed from the camps, leaving little of value and broken concrete slabs behind, making the sites difficult for the tribes to redevelop. Former internees erected a memorial, but access to the site is limited. As the Gila River Indian Reservation holds sovereignty over the land, permission must be granted before visiting. In 2001 the US Park Service recommended an off-site memorial be erected to commemorate those Japanese-Americans who died in World War II, as well as those who survived the harsh years in captivity in Arizona. An official Federal monument has yet to be built.

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The Great Depression had a profound impact on the United States as well as greater Phoenix. In an effort to confront the economic and social costs of the Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued for a New Deal in which the federal government sought to put Americans back to work through building infrastructure and other vitally needed public projects. Among the programs he created was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The immensely popular program created jobs as recruits built facilities, roads, and other structures in hundreds of parks nationwide. This included both state and National Parks. In Phoenix, the CCC constructed buildings, performed landscaping, and excavated rocks at South Mountain leaving a visible imprint of the New Deal in the landscape.

Established in 1933 the CCC sought to put Americans back to work and to improve the health and morale of poor young men by taking them out to the countryside to do work. Over its nine years of existence, the CCC employed more than 3 million men, approximately 5 percent of the total U.S. male population. Recruits were 17 to 24 years old; they earned 30 dollars a month and served for 6-month intervals. Corps members worked for a maximum of two years. Young men earned a decent paycheck, learned valuable life lessons, and reshaped the American landscape in the process. In particular, the CCC made large contributions to National Parks.

In Phoenix, the CCC played a significant role in building the infrastructure in South Mountain Park, which is located along the city's southern boundary. South Mountain Park was established in 1924 when the City of Phoenix purchased an area known as the Salt River Mountains. The city’s primary goal in setting aside the 14,500-acre parcel was to save the land from private development.

From 1933 through 1940, more than 4,000 men worked at two camps in the park. The camps generated about $5,000 in money for the local economy, as most of the materials and supplies were purchased locally. Also, most of the young recruits spent their $5 allowance in the city. The CCC made the park accessible to Phoenicians; they built some 40 miles of hiking and horse trails, 26 miles of road, scores of fire pits, and more than 30 buildings, ramadas, and other features--including a museum building in 1934. Like the Park's other buildings, the building was designed collaboratively by the National Park Service and the City Parks Supervisor. The South Mountain Park entry complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, some 70 years after it was built.

Former enrollees of the CCC formed a national alumni organization in 1977. In 1981, an Arizona chapter was established, which went on to dedicate three monuments to their efforts in Arizona. Statues were erected at Colossal Cave Mountain Park in 2008 and in South Mountain Park in 2009. The chapter also placed a granite monument with a plaque to the CCC's efforts in Wesley Bolin Plaza in 1990.

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The Hohokam people lived in the Mesa area for nearly 1,500 years. Hohokam, (a Pima Indian word meaning ‘‘those who have disappeared’’), first appeared around 1 CE initially growing beans, squash, corn and cotton serving a very small population of less than one thousand. Around 600 CE, the Hohokam population grew too large for sustainable living. As the population grew further from the river, the Hohokam began to construct canals for irrigation. Using digging sticks, the Native Americans excavated 12 foot deep canals, fanning into a larger network of smaller canals.

Because of their extensive excavation abilities, the Hohokam were considered to be engineering geniuses. Their ability to push water effectively for several 100 miles over a flat desert landscape, while evading hills and valleys complimented their legacy. Creating a stabilized canal system they transported water through minimal changes in elevation and overcame natural ebbs and flows that rivers create. In areas of excessive water(flow), the Hohokam would widen the channel. In areas of inadequate water(ebb), the channel would be narrowed, increasing velocity of water. This increase in velocity, decreased sediment buildup, discharge into fields and evaporation. If they allowed the water to stagnate, those three elements occur.

To maximize potential of water to exit the river into canals, the Hohokam developed several techniques. A weir, or partial dam, forced water into the headgate of the canal, creating maximum force, and more efficiently carrying water to the local farms. The headgates were made out of wood and giant rocks, withstanding the river's immense strength. The Hohokam canal stretched nearly 500 miles and would serve up to 50,000 natives at any given time. There is no universally accepted evidence on why they disappeared, only speculation. The most viable reason was outgrowing their capacity to sustain life in the desert. Especially during periods of environmental stress, all but vanished by 1450.

The Hohokam effort to build irrigation canals became the foundation of economic and urban development of Arizona. Jack Swilling, a Mexican War and Confederate States Army Veteran, headed west in the late 1850s to work as an ox-train teamster. Ten years later, a central Arizona gold rush brought many miners near the Salt River. Needing a constant supply of water, the miners and soldiers observed the landscape. Upon discovering the Hohokam canals, Swilling analyzed their potential and restored them as a viable water delivery source. With sixteen other miners, he received a loan to create ditches, minimizing watershed, to successfully raise wheat, barley and corn. He redirected the delivery of water from the Salt River via the canals and ditches (modern day 32nd Street and Van Buren Street), to sell to miners in Wickenburg and infantry stationed at Ft. McDowell. The Swilling Irrigating Canal Company, as his company came to be called, revitalized the irrigation system and enticed more people to settle in the area. Englishman ‘‘Lord’’ Darrell Duppa, recognized the symbolism of a new agricultural civilization rising from old Hohokam canals. He said: ‘‘A city will rise phoenix-like, new and beautiful, from these ashes of the past,’’ and renamed the new community Phoenix.”

Around the 1880s, Charles T. Hayden, father of Carl, was an early Arizona settler who observed the many farmlands the canals serviced and was also compelled by the success of Swilling Irrigation and Canal Co. On a business venture, Charles was on a freighting trip to Wickenburg when a severe storm and flooding of the Salt River forced him to wait several days. The delay gave opportunity to examine the surrounding land, where he envisioned a thriving agricultural community. As the foundation for the farming was laid out, Charles observed corn and vegetables successfully growing by the Swilling ditch. With an increase in settlers and an entrepreneurial mind, he began to entertain the idea of a gristmill.

Nearing the end of the nineteenth century, local promoters recognized that a more stable water supply was needed to continue population and economic growth. With high variable flows, the Salt River, and many rivers alike, were subject to very low flows followed by substantially large floods. There was also a substantial amount of water loss that was a pressing issue. In 1891, flood waters raged through the heart of the agricultural valley, destroying irrigation headgates and canals. One local resident commented: ‘‘Chocolate in color, hideous in its roaring fury, the torrent spared nothing in its path.’’ The floods were followed by a severe drought between 1898 and 1904, resulting in the loss of thousands of crop acres. Men would patrol the river with rifle in hand, ensuring locals were not taking more than their fair share. But from this environmental near-disaster came a successful regional movement to build an upstream dam to retain, stabilize and protect the area from flooding.

Carl Hayden was directly affected by this flooding and witnessed his father's business take a substantial loss. Fighting for his father's vision, he traveled to Washington to lobby for the Salt River Project as Congress debated the Federal Reclamation Act in 1902. He was Arizona's primary influence on federal policy making in natural resource development, water reclamation, and land-use management. Due to his vision and effort, Carl is considered Arizona's most important individual in reshaping it from a pioneered settlement to a modern urban state.

Tonto Basin became the ideal location for a dam, but securing the finances to build it would prove difficult. Local ranchers and farmers created the Salt River Water Users Association (SRWUA). They pledged their lands as collateral to obtain a loan large enough to allow the building of the Tonto Basin and Roosevelt Dam. In 1902 a National Reclamation Act was passed into law allowing government loans to reclaim the West with irrigation projects. By creating the Theodore Roosevelt Dam and improving existing Hohokam canals, the government sought to improve water retention and delivery velocity of water by modernizing the canals. They did this by laying cement and replacing the head gates with a more reinforced cement delivery.

SRWUA would restore Canals and build dams by the use of hydroelectric generators. The generators allowed the government to slowly pay the local farmers for their investment. In 1917 the operation of the canal system was turned over to the Salt River Water Users Association, later developed into Salt River Project (SRP). The SRP succeeded in supporting a growing population. Receiving government loans, during the next 30 years, SRP would erect the following dams and canals respectively: Mormon Flat Dam in 1925, Mesa Dam in 1927, Stewart Mountain Dam in 1930, Bartlett Dam in 1939, Horseshoe Dam and Sixth Storage Dam, 1946. These dams allowed for maximum water retention and manageable delivery. The canals that SRP created are, The Grand Canal (22.43 miles), Consolidated Canal (18.95 miles), Eastern Canal (14.73 miles), Western Canal (13.61 miles), South Canal (9.91 miles), Tempe Canal (9.76 miles), and New Crosscut Canal (3.4 miles), serving more than six million today.

While the canals were technically created to deliver water to a desert metropolis, they have historically been associated with recreation as well. Being considered a part of Arizona’s social fabric, the canals were popular places for walking, running, biking and horseback riding. Reducing the need for heavy equipment, SRP released white amurs, a kind of Asian carp. This cleaned up the moss and weeds that were associated with dirtying the water with algae. The Arizona Canal, near Scottsdale, displays art, holds special events, and contains pedestrian bridges, landscaped walkways and easy access to canalside shops and restaurants.

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In 1899, after his father became ill, Carl Hayden dropped out of Stanford University, returning to Arizona to care for his family. Hayden soon became active in the Democratic Party and pursued a political career. Early in the new century, Hayden became involved in the Democratic Party in Maricopa County and was elected to the Tempe Town Council. He built solid and productive relationships within the party, which later helped him run for a higher political office. Agricultural interests in Tempe sent him to Washington to lobby for the funding of the Salt River Project--a role that both precipitated and augured Hayden's long interest in the politics of water. His political connections and stellar reputation paid off. Hayden was elected Maricopa County Treasurer in 1904. He later claimed that those two years as treasurer provided him with practical experience with public finance and budgets. During this period (in 1903, to be precise), Hayden enlisted in Arizona Territorial National Guard and was elected Captain within two months of joining.

In 1906, Hayden ran for the position of Sheriff at a time when Maricopa County was but a small agricultural settlement. The Sheriff's job carried a modest travel budget and was considered a relatively lucrative position as the Sheriff's wages were based upon a percentage of fees collected. Hayden set upon the mundane tasks of maintaining order and transporting prisoners. He carried an unloaded revolver, which he later admitted was never used once during his time as Sheriff. Hayden spent a good portion of his time traveling throughout the region to meet other elected officials and build long-term relationships with Arizona's regional leaders. Hayden built on these connections, and when Arizona was admitted to the Union in 1912, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming Arizona's first representative to Congress.

After serving in the House for almost 15 years, Hayden took a leap into the United States Senate, where he served from 1927 to 1969, making him the longest-serving member of Congress in history. During his time in Congress, Hayden was known by his colleagues to be a reclamation expert, given his expertise on water conservation.

He was a stalwart defender of Arizona while the state was amidst a water rights dispute with California. The Supreme Court of the United States ultimately intervened and sided with Hayden in the case of Arizona v. California.

Overall, Hayden was known for his sense of fairness while serving in Congress. While Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Hayden ensured members from both sides were treated fairly and given a voice on how and where to allocate federal funds. Hayden's fair treatment of his colleagues earned him respect, and he maintained order and collegiality while serving as the President pro-tempore of the Senate. Maricopa County's farmland enjoyed order and civility while Hayden served as the county Sheriff, and the United States Senate was the most deliberative legislative body in the world while Hayden served as its President pro-tempore. In the end, Hayden was a results-oriented politician who fostered amicable relationships wherever he went.

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Charles Trumbull Hayden was born in 1825 in Hartford County, Connecticut. After moving from Connecticut to Missouri, he began working with a freighting business and traveled to Arizona frequently. In 1870, Charles Hayden and his business associates laid claim to part of the Salt River, which resides in Yavapai County. This land would eventually become the community known as Hayden's Ferry, and in 1879, the community became the city of Tempe.

Throughout Charles Hayden's life, he remained a proponent of education, assisted in acquiring funds from external sources, and even donated personal funds to create the Tempe Normal School in 1885. The Tempe Normal School was renamed the Arizona State Teacher's College in 1928, and in 1958 the college was officially recognized as Arizona State University. Due to Charles Hayden's significant impact on the university and his continued endeavors in Arizona's educational funding and legislature, Arizona State University named the central library on campus after him.

Charles Hayden did not live long enough to see the library dedicated in his name. Still, his son, Senator Carl Hayden, was present. Senator Hayden joined 1,500 spectators packed onto Hayden Lawn on November 22, 1966. During the library dedication, Carl Hayden had the opportunity to speak about his father and the legacy he left behind at Arizona State University and the city of Tempe. He stated, "By these remarks, I'd softly indicate the manner of man my father was, and I am proud to be his son."

During the library's construction in the 1960s, the architects created an office for Carl Hayden, tucked away on the fifth floor. While he did not need this office during his tenure as a Senator, Carl was an avid student and used his office frequently for research. Today, the office has been turned into a museum to honor Hayden and his family. The most significant piece of living history in this space is his Senate desk, donated to Arizona State University by Congress in 1968. Other items in this museum are paintings of Carl, photographs, and some of the books that Hayden himself used.

Today the Hayden Library welcomes approximately 1.5 million visitors annually through the underground entrance. Many of these visitors are students of Arizona State University, seeking refuge in a quiet place to study or digging for course materials in the stacks. What many of these patrons may not know, however, is that the Hayden Library is more than just a space to hold books. In 2016, Hayden Library announced plans to renovate the library and bring it into the 21st century. Since many students have stopped using tangible books in favor of online databases, ASU is adopting a new method of digital curation. Another major project during the remodel is to realign the library's volume collections into student view, allowing for the 4.5 million books to be better utilized.

In 2018, a multi-year renovation of Hayden Library began, seeking to give the library a renewed sense of identity while also hearkening back to some of its original design elements.

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The Hayden House, or La Casa Vieja as it came to be known, is the longest-standing Mexican-adobe structure in Arizona. It was originally constructed in 1873 near the South bend of the Salt River by local Mexican and indigenous craftsmen for Charles Trumbull Hayden. "The original house was a single-story row house constructed of adobe in the Sonoran style," according to the City of Tempe. With an "L" shape, the house fronted Mill Avenue for 80 feet and First Street (now Rio Salado Parkway) for 120 feet.

Charles Hayden settled in Tempe after he relocated his freighting business and implemented plans to build a flour mill. In 1877, Carl Trumbull Hayden was born inside the Hayden House, where he and his two sisters, Sally and Mary, grew up. The Hayden House was refurbished throughout 1876-1883 by adding three more rooms to the west side and a second story of adobe on the north end. Throughout the life of the old house, it has always served as an epicenter for the growing community.

In 1889, when the Hayden family moved to a larger ranch north of the Salt River, they added a wood-framed second floor to the simple adobe structure. The former Hayden residence became a boarding house and general store and remained so for more than thirty-five years. Recognizing the structure's historical importance, Sally and Mary Hayden commissioned what was arguably the first historic restoration and preservation project in Arizona. Hoping to maintain the original adobe design, they hired noted local architect Robert T. Evans, who often worked in building and renovating adobe buildings, to restore the property. The Haydens converted the house into a restaurant that became known as La Casa Vieja: "the old house."

In 1954 Leonard Monti purchased La Casa Vieja from Sally and Mary Hayden, who were forced to sell due to debts accrued during the Great Depression. Leonard Monti understood the importance of the old house to the area and kept the name. The Monti family operated the restaurant from 1956 until 2016. The family honored the house's history and incorporated pictures from 1920 into the menu. Monti also gave historical tours of the Hayden House. The house's location was significant because of the amount of traffic that flowed through Downtown Tempe, where Federal Highways 60-70-80-89 converged to cross the Salt River at the Mill Avenue Bridge. In 1979, La Casa Vieja continued to expand on the southern end of the building. Eventually, though, the interstate highway, suburban expansion, and rising land values in downtown Tempe created economic pressures that led the Monti family to sell La Casa Vieja in 2014.

Current plans call for a new multipurpose office and lifestyle hotel at the location, with plans to save the original Hayden House and incorporate it into the facility.

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Developed along the banks of the Salt River, the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa, Arizona, both depended on the river and feared its seasonal flooding. Controlling the river emerged as a central challenge to economic development in the Salt River Dam. Construction of the Roosevelt Dam played an essential role in controlling the river and also represented significant investment by the federal government in the Arizona territory. It was no mistake that Arizona became a state in 1912, shortly after the dam was finished.

The origins of the dam begin with the need to tame the Salt River. With its origins in East-Central Arizona, at the intersection of the black and white river, the Salt River flows over 200 miles until it empties into the Gila River in Southeast Phoenix. Nearly two thousand years before any of Arizona's notable pioneers settled, an ancient Native American civilization known as the Hohokam built an irrigation-based civilization not far from its banks. After years of successful cultivation along the banks of the river, the Hohokam were ultimately pushed to near extinction by the cruel conditions of the desert and historically violent floods. Anglo settlers in the 19th century discovered the remnants of the Hohokam canal network and re-purposed it toward agriculture development of the valley. Soon early Anglo pioneers discovered the seasonal flooding that was so much a part of the Salt River ecosystem.

The development of Tempe owes at least part of its start to Charles Trumbull Hayden, when his journey northward was temporarily halted by a flooded Salt River. Upon climbing the Tempe Butte and consulting local Pima Indians, Hayden was impressed by the valley. He discovered that the Butte was the best point for crossing along the River and also to survey the expanse of the valley. Hayden saw an opportunity to build “an agricultural empire” in the desert. In the following years, his connection to the river and Hayden’s Ferry--now known as Tempe--would help drive the region to prosperity. For the Valley along the Salt River, the next twenty years are defined by the continuous debate over how best to reclaim the valley’s natural resources.

Charles Hayden and his son Carl Hayden emerged as leaders in the struggle to control the flow of water through the valley through irrigation, dams, and waterworks. For example, two years after his initial entrance into politics, Tempe Town Councilman, a young Carl Hayden became an early advocate for water reclamation when he wrote a letter to Arizona's Congressional delegate, J.T. Wilson, expressing his opinion that, "the chief interest of Tempe citizens lies in a system of water works". By 1902, Carl Hayden was twenty-five years old and lobbying on behalf of the oldest water source in the Valley: the Salt River. Members of the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association (SRVWUA) were already seeking funds from Washington, which threatened the water rights of Tempe and the encompassing Phoenix area. Hayden spent weeks debating with locals about whether or not Tempe should join the SRVWUA, even complaining to his mother that, “The situation is so complex that I doubt if I could explain it all in forty type-written pages”. After realizing a federal project would be built with or without the consent of the city, the citizens agreed to join. Despite his reluctance towards the trip, Carl Hayden and representatives from Tempe left for Washington.

In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt passed the National Reclamation Act of 1902. A year later, Carl Hayden was informed that the newly founded Bureau of Reclamation deemed the creation of Roosevelt Dam in Arizona to be its first project. The creation of the dam was an effort to combat the unpredictability of flooding and dry seasons along the Salt River by regulating the water going to the valley and creating a reservoir to save water in times of drought, while the hydroelectric plant was intended to cut the costs of the local farmers. After a coalition of Arizona farmers put up their land as collateral, the United States Government approved the building of the Roosevelt Dam for construction in 1905.

The Roosevelt Dam encouraged the economic and urban growth of Arizona, and, while also serving as a political stepping stone for Carl Hayden, who would return to Washington 10 years later as the state’s first Congressman. Originally estimated to take only two years to construct, the dam was finished six years later at a cost of over $3.3 million. Setbacks ensued when floods washed away construction and materials, however their efforts were eventually solidified after 344,000 cubic yards of masonry stone and cement were laid, thus creating the largest manmade lake of the time: Roosevelt Lake. This 280 ft. tall, 723 ft. wide dam began operation in 1911, one year before Arizona became a state. By that time it provided water to over 30,000 farms and quality hydroelectric power that would not be offered elsewhere in the country for another 10 years. This structure, and others following along the Salt River, allowed Phoenix to blossom into the ‘agricultural empire’, originally envisioned by Hayden. Over the next 100 years, water reclamation in Arizona allowed Phoenix to become one of the largest producers of vegetables and grains in the West.

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In the 19th century, women migrating to the West had opportunities not available to those in the East. These include the right to vote, equal pay for teachers, and more liberal divorce laws. Women confronted and supported the creation of the mythical rugged and untamed frontier. Contradictions between increased rights and persistent gender norms shaped their lives. Even so, the West provided fertile ground for the women's suffrage movement as Western women gained the franchise well before their Eastern sisters.

Many political leaders in Arizona, such as the state's first member of Congress, Carl Hayden, supported the expansion of women's right to vote. While Carl Hayden was in office, from 1912-27 in the House and 1927-69 in the Senate, he also supported women's suffrage. Additionally, Hayden played a critical role in amending Arizona's state constitution to allow women to vote and hold office. When the Amendment passed by more than 60 percent in 1913, Arizona granted women the right to vote in state and local elections.

Hayden's efforts drew upon a long history of movement toward equal political rights. In 1866, the Territory gave women the opportunity to vote in local school board elections. In 1887, a group of local women formed the Arizona Women's Equal Rights Association (AWERA) in Phoenix. AWERA quickly expanded. The women worked tirelessly, and it is said that lawmakers submitted suffrage bills routinely in the last years of the nineteenth century.

Senator Hayden's mother, Sallie Davis Hayden, was an ardent supporter of suffrage and the expansion of women's rights. As she raised three children and ran the Hayden household, she worked on the local school board and actively participated in the local women's suffrage groups. It was there that her young son was first exposed to suffrage, the women's movement, and political activism. Additionally, Sallie Hayden created a household that demanded both physical and intellectual rigors. Young Hayden helped his mother haul water from the local river to tend to the garden and to hydrate the livestock. Mrs. Hayden also maintained a small library that included both classics of English literature and contemporary writings.

In his elective offices, first as Sheriff of Maricopa County and then as the first Representative from Arizona to Congress, the future Senator Hayden advocated for extending the right to vote. However, he and other political leaders also felt the need to negotiate the complex politics of the period, tempering their support for suffrage prior to Arizona's admittance to the Union. Hayden, among others, toned down the Territory's view on equal rights for women for fear of the President refusing them. Therefore, in 1912, Arizona won statehood into the Union, but women lacked important Territorial rights, such as the right to vote. Yet, Hayden already had a plan to get women the vote. Using unique elements of the Arizona Constitution--the civil powers of initiative and referendum--, Hayden helped bring women's suffrage to the state ballot. Through this referendum process, Arizona gave women the right to vote in November 1912, nearly a decade before women received the right to vote nationally through the 19th Amendment.

Almost immediately after the state of Arizona granted women the vote, Frances Willard Munds became the first woman in Arizona elected to a legislature. She was only the second in the nation to receive that honor. Some fifty years later, in 1960, Lorna E. Lockwood would become the first woman in U.S. history to serve as Chief Justice on a state supreme court. Carl Hayden also had recommended nominating Lockwood to President Lyndon B. Johnson when vacancies appeared on the U.S. Supreme Court. However, it would take another twenty years--when Ronald Reagan appointed another Arizona jurist, Sandra Day O'Connor--that a woman would be nominated and confirmed to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

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