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…

Castle Hot Springs has been a site of healing and recreation dating to at least the fifteenth century. Advertisements hailed the waters' curative powers, which drew numerous local and national visitors to the “grand dowager” of Arizona resorts. …

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 the…

Citrus played a prominent role in Mesa's history. Along the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks near Creamery Road (present-day Broadway) sat a packing house for citrus. C.H. McKellips' plant washed and waxed citrus fruit before it shipped across the…

Settled by Mormon pioneers in 1880, “Stringtown” emerged as one of Mesa's earliest settlements-a linear district running south for a couple of miles along present-day Alma School Road.   Settlers dug an extension of the Mesa Canal canal bringing Salt…

The original building of the Maricopa County Courthouse has been around since the 1870s. This building has been known as the first permanent structure in Phoenix. The adobe construction allowed the building to stay cool on its own without the use of…

The site for Phoenix Union High School was surveyed in 1897 to build a high school. Once complete, the complex served the community in more ways than education. For 40 years it was the educational, cultural, theatrical, civic, and athletic center of…

The railroad changed the West and the world in many different ways. In the mid 19th Century, the US expanded its rail lines west. The railroad made it much faster to travel across the American West. Phoenix grew from railroad expansion. The city…

Located in downtown Phoenix, the Arizona State Capitol draws on several architectural styles, including federal and classical elements. Its symmetry, windows, roofline, and center entrance call forth architecture from the so-called Federal era of…

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.…

Built in 1908, the current University Club building is open only to exclusive members and their guests. If you want to waltz your way into a delicious meal or some afternoon tea, you must be current or retired faculty, staff, alumni, a member of the…

Looking at the beautiful brick building that still fits perfectly in the modern world, it is hard to imagine that for decades Old Main was the largest building in the Valley at only three stories tall. Old Main was built in 1898, when Arizona was…

As grand as Old Main and just as significant, the building formerly known as the Industrial Arts Building stands as a testament to the growth of Arizona State University from classical education to the research university it is today. When ASU…

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 are 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 its…

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…

The folks at the First Congregational Church boast that "our faith is 2000 years old but our thinking is not". They've so far paved the way for spiritual and individual acceptance in the city of Tempe. Their beginnings were humble. At the age of…

Perhaps the most visited property in Tempe is the former home of Arizona's eighth governor Dr. Benjamin Baker Moeur. Since his arrival in Tempe,the physician's contributions to the community grew substantially and quickly. He began as a physician…

The Tempe Hardware Building’s story extends beyond the hammers, saws, and long pieces of plywood that were displayed on its first floor walls for 70 years between 1906 and 1976. The three-story brick commercial building is the last of its kind from…

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…

George “Cavie” Cavalliere passed through Scottsdale on a work detail and ended up establishing the town’s first blacksmith shop, still in operation today. Crossing the southwest for several years in a mobile tin trailer while dredging portions of the…

Built in 1909, Scottsdale’s Little Red Schoolhouse is a testament to the Progressive values, attitudes, and aesthetics that shaped the growing community at the turn-of-the-century, and women and children were at the center of it. Middle-class values…