The Hayden House, or La Casa Vieja as it came to be known, is the longest standing Mexican-adobe structure in Arizona. It was built in 1873 near the South bend of the Salt River. Originally constructed by local Mexican and indigenous craftsmen for…

Hayden Butte, also known as Tempe Butte, is a 1,500 foot tall mound of rock and dirt covered by desert shrubs, cacti, and history. The butte has been here for centuries, but human activity around the butte began in the 1400’s when the Hohokam…

In the late 1880s, when horses pulled carts and delivered mail in Tempe, Mill Avenue was a nascent hub of commercial activity. What became known as the "Andre Block" was among the first buildings constructed along Mill Avenue. According to…

In 2003, Tempe Town Lake finally emerged on the bed of the Salt River after nearly 40 years of planning. In 1995, the beginning of the construction was marked by a huge ceremony near Tempe Beach Park, which was a focal-point for recreation in…

A little more than a hundred years ago, Tempe was all farmland.The Hayden Flour Mill that still stands at the north end of Mill Avenue reminds us of the agricultural roots of the city and the importance of water for human habitation of the region.…

The Salt River Valley has a long history of agricultural production. The ancient canal systems were hand built long before the age of electricity. Fast forward to 1920 and the round table of George H. Maxwell and Arizona state representative Fred…

Morphing from Victorian to Spanish Revival architecture, the Casa Loma Building is arguably the most changed building on Mill Avenue. An early hotel was constructed on the site in 1888 but was involved in a devastating fire in 1894. The building…

The thundering of horses' hooves is heard below Tempe Butte. A volunteer cavalry rolls into Mill Ave like something straight out of a Clint Eastwood Western. Although this may not have been a normal sight in Tempe, the Peterson building did see…

Although it may not look the part now, the Vienna Bakery building was built as a Victorian-style commercial store in 1893 by John S. Armstrong. Armstrong was postmaster in Tempe, president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and he introduced the…

With its Victorian-style architecture, this building is extremely reminiscent of a two-story saloon or boarding house straight out of an Old West novel. In reality, the building housed a drug store owned by Dr. J. A. Dines and Hugh Laird. They…

Across from the old Hayden Flour Mill sits a building that was once known as the Tempe Bakery. The Hackett House is a fired red brick structure that still has almost all of its original material. This building was completed in 1888 and is actually…