Dyer Map of Tempe

11/20/2012 By Leave a Comment

“Tempe ─ …is elegantly located 80 feet above the valley it overlooks. It is without a doubt the coming city of the valley. Average minimum temperature 40° and maximum 80° from October to June, constant sunshine, dry and balmy air, green trees and grasses and blooming flowers.

 

“June to September minimum 60°, maximum 110°, but even at this high temperature the heat is not so oppressive as in any of the Eastern Cities at 80° on account of the extreme dryness of the air.

 

“No blizzards! No snows! No fogs! No … dampness! No heavy winds! A pure dry healthy atmosphere!”

 

What do you think? A promotional advertisement just released by our Convention and Visitors Bureau to get people toTempe? You might be surprised by the answer.

 

Designed to attract Easterner’s, this promotional hype was written more than 120 years ago whenTempewas a village of under 2 square miles and about 750 residents.

 

Just fourteen years after Charles Trumble Hayden established his ferry on the banks of theSalt Riverat the foot of present dayMill Avenue, promoters were working hard to recruit people to the rich agricultural opportunities here.

 

By the mid-1880’s the town’s center was platted by the Tempe Land & Improvement Company.  In 1884 the Territorial Legislature had established theTerritorialNormal SchoolinTempe.

 

Everything was in place for the community to grow. All that was need was a bit of creative marketing.

 

Local land agents Schultz & Franklin were contracted to start selling lots. They in turn hired Czar J. Dyer to create a colorful “birdseye” map ofTempethat could be sent to prospects around the country.

 

“Birdseye” maps are unique, surprisingly accurate aerial perspectives created by talented artists who without benefit of modern aviation generally drew from imagination.

 

Dyer was one of those special artists. But today is something of a mystery man.

 

Even though he was a public figure who served on the Phoenix city council and as interim Mayor for five months in 1899, we know very little about his life ─ not even what he looked like. He is the only Phoenix Mayor for which there is no known photograph.

 

Born inMichiganin 1849, Dyer eventually found his way toCaliforniawhere he worked as a cartographer and draftsman.

 

Sometime after 1880 he is inPrescottcreating a “birdseye” map. Then he moves toPhoenixto become the city’s draftsman and is responsible for much of the surveying that is still used today.

 

In 1885 Dyer fashions a “birdseye” map forPhoenixwhich may have been the impetus for being asked to do one forTempe.

 

Dyer crafted a wonderful rendering looking to the northeast from about the perspective of Bell Butte near present–dayBroadway Roadand I-10.

 

Printed by the West coast’s largest lithographer Schmidt Label & Lithograph Company  ofSan Francisco, the vibrant chromolithograph shows a small community emerging in front of the two hills that reminded Darrell Duppa ofGreece’sVale of Tempe.

 

The first campus building of theTerritorialNormal Schoolsits to the southeast on a sea of green grass ─ land donated for the new school.

 

Inset illustrations of local businesses that paid for the privilege surround the map.

 

Only one copy of the Dyer map is known to exist. It is in the collection of theTempeHistoricalMuseum. The best news is that it has been reprinted by the Tempe Historical Society and is available for purchase in their gift shop at the Museum. Proceeds go to the support of Museum programs.

By:  Jay Mark  All rights reserved

Filed Under: Tempe History

History of the Goodwin Building

10/22/2012 By Leave a Comment

Anything that survives a century is worth celebrating particularly buildings in a fast changing area like downtown Tempe.

Only a handful of centenarian structures remain along Mill. Each has stood proudly through most of Tempe’s history. If buildings

Goodwin Building

could talk what a story they could tell.

2007 marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most historically intact downtown commercial properties ─ the Goodwin Building on the west side of Mill Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets.

Many old-time residents have had difficulty accepting all of downtown’s changes over the last three decades. But ironically the Goodwin Building was constructed during what you might call Tempe’s first redevelopment era when Mill Avenue began commercial expansion.

 

One can only imagine what the townsfolk thought when L.D. Crook sold his early adobe home in order to make way for a 4350 square foot building with 14 foot high ceilings.

 

Like many Tempe citizen’s L.D. Crook was active in the community. A rancher who raised dairy cows, he served on the Tempe Union High School Governing Board in 1913-1914. And was briefly on the City Council in 1922-1923 along with Garfield Goodwin who purchased of his home back in 1907.

 

Garfield Abram Goodwin was eight years old when in 1888 he arrived in Tempe from of all places Salt River, Missouri. A gifted athlete he played on the Territorial Normal School’s (now ASU) first football team.

 

In 1903 Goodwin became a Wells Fargo agent about the same time he began selling Indian curios. It seemed his real passion was Indian artifacts and crafts.

 

From research done by the Tempe Historical Museum we know that each summer Goodwin “…would go to Indian reservations and to Albuquerque and Santa Fe to buy silver jewelry, pottery, blankets, and prehistoric artifacts.”

 

He was also an avid amateur pot hunter who traveled the state in search of prehistoric artifacts.

 

Some say his early personal collection of Indian relics which he sold to Maie Heard was part of the inspiration for what ultimately became the Heard Museum in 1929.

In 1907 Goodwin completed his building with three commercial bays ─ two rentals and one for his curio store and Wells Fargo Agency. The back of half of the store was furnished as a home for the Goodwin family.

 

Goodwin constructed a small 12 foot addition at the north end in 1912 moving his businesses into the new space.

 

The center bay now home to Those Were The Days! housed one of Tempe’s several grocery stores. A corrugated metal storage was added in 1925.

 

By 1927, the grocery had became a Pay ‘n Takit Market and moved to the southeast corner of Mill & 8th St. (now University Drive).

 

That made room for the G.A. Goodwin Novelty Store to move into larger quarters. Shortly after the relocation Goodwin brought two Totem Poles from Washington State to bring attention to the store which he continued running until his death in 1944.

 

Goodwin’s wife Charlotte then sold the store to Larry Miller who ran the Indian Store for another two decades.

 

In the early 1930s the larger north bay had its façade replaced by garage-type doors that opened the entire façade during business hours. It first housed the Boren Cigar Store, then Richard’s Confectionary and Kelly’s Restaurant thru the late ‘30s.  After WW II it was housed the Tempe Daily News for nearly twenty years.

 

The restored Goodwin building remains as the last example of cast-iron façade architecture in Tempe. The late ‘30’s hand-painted Kachina Dancer tiles below the windows and the replication of the original Indian motif decorating the cast iron columns are reminders of this important building’s long association with downtown Tempe.

 

-30-

 

 

 

Cut: The Goodwin Building as it appeared in with its 15 foot totem poles, and the north bay roll-up doors in the 1930s.

 

Filed Under: Tempe History Tagged With:

Valley National Bank Geodesic Dome

06/19/2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Physical history can be very fleeting. One moment a building stands … the next it’s gone. Think the Valley National Bank building on the corner ofApache BoulevardandRural Road. In less than a day on a recent Saturday theTempeicon was reduced to a pile of rubble.

 

If you have been here less than fifteen years or so, you are probably wondering what I am talking about.

 

The edifice you probably have driven by from time to time wondering what it was used for? That odd, modernistic stone structure topped by a bright gold dome? That’s the one.

 

Before a 1993 merger with Banc One, the Valley National Bank wasArizona’s leading home-grown bank. What began as the Gila Valley Bank in Solomonville in 1899 was renamed the Valley Bank in 1914. By mid-century it was the state’s largest and most powerful financial institution.

 

Most of VNB’s success can be attributed to one man ─ Walter Reed Bimson (1892-1980).

The Valley National Bank was 34 years old when Bimson became its president in 1933. During his tenure Bimson oversaw the greatest period of expansion of the bank’s deposits and loans.

 

Born inColorado, Bimson came toArizonafromChicagowith considerable experience in farm loans. Not only a visionary banker, he was also a pillar of the community and an avid collector of Southwest art ─ putting much of his collection on display in the numerous VNB branches throughout the state.

 

With the Valley’s explosive growth following WW II, Bimson pioneered the free-standing branch bank as a strategy to bring banking closer to customers. In the 1960’s he led the Valley National Bank into an era of exuberant, eye-catching branch construction.

 

One of his earliest wasTempe’s geodesic dome branch. Completed in 1962 at a major highway intersection (US60,70,80,89, AZ93) the gold-topped building with a new drive-up convenience, paid homage to the innovative, futuristic inspiration of Buckminster Fuller.

 

A visionary, architect, inventor, author, poet and designer, Fuller constructed his first practical “Geodesic Dome” for the Ford Motor Company in 1953.

 

When Bimson was planning a new branch on the edge of the ASU campus, it was a natural choice to call upon Weaver & Drover Architects to create a signature structure.

 

Established in 1949, Weaver & Drover had designed at least three earlier VNB branches and knew very well that Walter Bimson expected VNB branches to be distinctive statements.

 

Weaver & Drover didn’t disappoint. Following Bimson’s suggestion, they designed a structure ofArizonastone capped by a bright, golden geodesic dome that Bimson knew would be an ideal attention-getter for people traveling in fast-moving cars along a busy thoroughfare.

 

The nearly 90-foot span, 7½ ton dome was perfect for a 2600 square foot open lobby unobstructed by support columns. The interior was as unique as the exterior. Especially the ceiling with its fluorescent lights concealed and reflected by 23,400 tiny, shimmering carefully hung gold and silver aluminum “leaves.“

 

After serving centralTempe, ASU students and staff for twenty-seven years, the branch closed in 1989 beginning a new life as ASU’s visitor’s center. With the school’s plans for theBarrettHonorsCollegeon that corner, ASU decided the bank must go. And the center was shuttered at the end of 2006.

 

All that remains today is the landmark geodesic dome resting temporarily in the parking lot. ASU has promised to preserve and incorporate it into some future project.

 

There is so much more to this story including a strong community effort to save from demolition a building recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of only a handful of geodesic dome buildings standing in theU.S.

 

Phoenixarchitecture and design consultant Walt Lockley has spent considerable time researching Walter Bimson and his VNB bank branch architecture. You can discover Lockley’s findings, fascinating anecdotes and observations, and see photographs that he generously shares on his website http://www.waltlockley.com/vnb%20top/vnb.htm.

Ferry Tale Files #3
By Jay Mark
All Rights Reserved

 

Filed Under: Tempe History Tagged With: ,

Tempe’s First Lake

06/09/2012 By Leave a Comment

It all began around the time of Tempe Town Lake’s filling in June, 1999.  Mary Ann Hagestad called to say that she was upset about all the hoopla around this new lake.

I replied that a 220 surface-acre man-made lake in the middle of the desert was a pretty big deal ─ especially here in Tempe. She said it might have been a “big deal” if it weren’t for the fact that people were swimming, boating and fishing in  town lake back in 1949 ─ fifty years before!

 

“Don’t you mean Beach Park Pool?” I said.  “No, smart guy,” was her quick reply. “I mean the Lake. And I ought to know. I was Queen of the big Power Boat Regatta back in 1950. And I have a picture to prove it!”

 

Having kicked around this city for more than thirty years and never hearing anything about an early lake, my curiosity was certainly piqued.

“Show me this picture of yours,” I said, believing that would put an end to the matter. Next day’s mail brought the original 8×10 glossy photograph.

 

I called Mary Ann back. “O.K. you’ve got a picture of you riding high on this lake. I’m convinced. So, how do you know so much and why are you just now telling your story?”

 

Mary Ann said that with all the publicity about Tempe Town Lake this had been on her mind for a long time. It just didn’t seem fair that everyone was talking about a phenomenal new lake without deference to the lake that a half-century earlier had been providing all the same recreational amenities that were expected after Town Lake was filled.

 

Mary Ann went on to explain that in the late ‘40’s while attending Arizona State Teacher’s College (one of ASU’s earlier names) she moonlighted as a model for extra tuition money.

 

One day she got a call from someone who said he was the promoter for a big power boat event coming in April 1950. And they needed a pretty girl to serve as the “queen” of the event.

 

Mary Ann asked him if this was a beauty contest. And was told “No. They just wanted to hire you.” So that’s how she became Queen and how she knew so much about this lake.

 

Unfortunately too many years had passed. She couldn’t remember any other details. Which meant I would have to do some digging to get the whole picture.

 

And what I learned is so much more to this story. Like why and when the lake failed. How about we finish it up next week?

 

Last time we learned that a town lake preceded today’s lake by fifty years. Many of you asked exactly where it was located. We’ll get to that in a little bit. But to continue our story …

 

The Tempe Historical Museum is usually the first stop when researching Tempe history. Except, it seemed, when it came to the old lake. Apart from for one unidentified photograph labeled “Boat on the lake at Tempe  ─ 1950” there was no apparent record of this water body in the Museum’s archives.

 

If anyone could solve the mystery it was Joe Spracale, former educator, McKemy Middle School principal, and city councilmember.

 

You see Joe spent a good deal of his youth at Tempe Beach Park. In fact during the summer of 1950 he was the swimming coach at the Beach Park pool.

 

Joe confirmed Mary Ann Hagestad’s story. Indeed there was a lake. He remembered a guy named Eddie Smith who quit as manager of Beach Park to go to work for the developer of the project.

 

Rather than publicly funded the idea for the lake and the money to build it came from the private sector.

 

Anyway, according to Joe, it seems Eddie may have “borrowed” some of Beach Park’s pool well-water to create and maintain this new lake.

 

So it was back to the THM Research Library to look through their collection of old Tempe Daily News newspapers. And there it was!

 

A brief notice on July 12, 1949 explained: “The man-made pond on the north side of the Salt River, east of the highway bridge is the beginning of what is planned as an extensive amusement park.

“…Harold Freeland, Phoenix, who is undertaking the development…disclosed that the pond now covers nearly 10 acres with a depth of four feet. It will shortly be expanded to cover 23 acres and extended west to near the bridge. It will be used for boating.”

“With the completion of the pond, Freeland will add shade and landscaping, concessions and other things that go into making a complete amusement park. Details will be announced at a later date.” Which by the way never happened.

 

After three months, although the same size, the “pond” depth had increased to between 4½ and 6 feet nearly deep enough to allow speed boat racing envisioned by Freeland.

 

Lack of growth from “pond” to lake was an indication of a serious problem. More about that later.

 

Freeland heralded September 3, 1949 that Lakeside Amusement Park was ready to go. “There’ll be a lot of activity around Tempe’s own man-made lake…this weekend.

“All day Sunday free demonstrations of outboard motors will take place, with free motorboat rides around the lake thrown in.

“…for later fish sport, the 7,000-10,000 little bass, bluegill and perch are reportedly growing fast.

“To get to the lake, turn right in front Rancho Drive-Inn at the north end of the bridge.” That puts the lake essentially between the north ends of the present Mill Avenue bridges.

 

In November Lakeside Amusement Park advertised “Let’s all go boating * Major Boat Rental * Aquaplane Rides * Speedboat Rides. Every afternoon and evening.”

 

April 12, 1950 headlined “SPEEDBOAT RACES COME TO TEMPE”  where Mary Ann Davis (now Hagestad) would reign as Queen of the Show.

 

“Lakeside Park, (“amusement” had been dropped from the name) the artificial lagoon created  near Tempe Bridge in the Salt River bed will see its first professional speedboat races Sunday, April 30.

 

“…from 50-75 entries in competition from California, Texas and Arizona (are expected).”.

 

“A course of a mile in circumference will be set for the racers.

 

“Water ski show and surfboard events will spark the afternoon event.”

 

The next day the Tempe Daily News reported that “A crowd estimated at from 3000-4000 persons were on hand during the long afternoon Sunday to witness the Power Boat Regatta…”

 

Exactly how Freeland created his lake is uncertain. Since there is no evidence of any dams, a depression probably was excavated to contain the water.

 

Most likely the lake was at its largest for the Regatta.

 

 

Photo: Mary Ann Hagestad as Queen of the Powerboat Regatta on the shoulders of an unidentified water-skier. April 1950

 

Photo credit: Courtesy of Mary Ann Hagestad

Copyright Jay Mark. Reprint or republication of columns and images without authorization is prohibited.


Filed Under: Tempe History Tagged With: