History

When you walk through downtown Gilbert today, it’s hard to imagine that this historic area used to be home to several grocery stores — including Liberty Market, whose…

Sylvester Mowry’s life was short but eventful. Some called him an egotist, a braggart and a liar. But when the news of his death, at age 38, reached Arizona in 1871, one…

Long before an artificial lake became a gleam in the eyes of civic leaders, one of Arizona’s first Olympic-size pools was the pride of Tempe. Wanting a wholesome…

Tempe is sophisticated and cool. But it looked very different in the 1870s. Instead of the suburban college town it is today, it was a rural community where people came…

With some 25 percent of returning soldiers facing “shell shock” after World War I, the U.S. embraced a new model of care, greatly expanding convalescent facilities for the…

These days, a cross-country flight doesn’t usually make news, but in the early 1920s, America was still getting acquainted with air travel, and the idea of mailing a…

When you hear “Prescott,” you might think of Whiskey Row, Thumb Butte or the “World’s Oldest Rodeo.” Fashion probably doesn’t spring to mind. But there was a time when…

Photography has come a long way since 1952, when the first Pioneer Camera Shop opened at Fifth Street and Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe. Located in the historic Laird and…

In 1926, Carl Mayhew was newly in love. No doubt, he still loved his wife of 14 years, and Ethel had no cause for jealousy. Because Carl was not infatuated with another…