Perhaps Tempe’s most historic cultural hub and landmark is Mill Avenue. To students, residents and tourists Mill Avenue may just look like a strip mall littered with bars, restaurants, boutiques and other shops, but a rich history lies in the 1.2 miles between Gammage Auditorium and the Hayden Flour Mill.
In this series, I will be exploring the backstories of Mill from the perspectives of local business owners, historians and residents. By the end of this series, my goal is to create a timeline of Tempe’s hottest spots and their humble, historical origins.
The Tempe Hardware Building, located on Mill Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets, is most recognizable today for its sturdy, red brick facade and the hip boutique and salon at its front. At the turn of the 20th century, the Tempe Hardware Building was Tempe’s most social building, home to endless clubs, organizations and fraternities.
It is quite fitting that James M. Creighton, one of Arizona’s first architects, designed the oldest three-story brick commercial building that still stands in Maricopa County.
Construction of the Tempe Hardware Building Began on April 14, 1898. The first business to operate out of the first floor was the Abell, Wilbur and Mullen Hardware Company. The International Order of the Odd Fellows, an international service fraternity, commissioned the building and thus the ballroom on the second floor was named Odd Fellows Hall.
New management
The Odd Fellows sold the property in the summer of 1899 and in 1905 the Hardware Building was purchased by M.E. Curry of the Curry family who shares its namesake with elementary schools and roads in Tempe.
Amidst the plethora of different owners, in a few short years the Tempe Hardware Building housed more than a couple hardware buildings in the first-floor lot. In 1906, M.E Curry, along with other Tempe pioneers, formed Tempe Hardware and Supply Company.
Meanwhile, while their burly pioneers were at work creating a hardware industry downstairs, the Odd Fellows Hall became a bustling place for business', clubs and social gatherings.
New way to socialize
From 1902-08, the Odd Fellows Hall was a meeting place for Tempe City Council and many local men and women clubs. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was one of the clubs that met and in 1911 it campaigned for alcohol prohibition and won.
That isn’t all either. According to the current owner of the Tempe Hardware Building, architect and town historian Stu Siefer, a large array of organizations borrowed the hall from time to time.
“We refer to the second floor as the ballroom,” Siefer said. “It was a space that was originally used by the state militia, which was why the floors were so beaten up when we got it. It was also the first Mormon stake center before they built their church.”
New kin
M. E. Curry died in 1928 while he was reportedly in his 70s and his twin sons, John and Edward, took over. This is where the well-documented history of the Tempe Hardware Building has a gap; a lot of traditions and history were lost for a few decades. Local historians like Siefer had to draw conclusions off undated pictures and hearsay.
“We think that in the '20s, the ballroom was taken over as a dance hall,” Siefer said. “We have heard about taxi dances which were a popular thing to do in the community during that time period. But after then, as far as I know, the hardware store and Curry family used the ballroom mostly for storage.”
From then on, not much is known or remembered about the Tempe Hardware Building until John J. Curry’s (John and Edwards cousin) death in the winter of 1975.
New fire
In 1976, the Curry family sold the building and company to Southwest Associate Companies. A couple from Scottsdale took over the management of the hardware store and changed the name to Tempe Western Value Stores.
Later that year, the building suffered a chemical fire that severely damaged the first and second floors.
In 1982, Siefer, along with some investors, brought new tenants into the Tempe Hardware Building. Since the opening in 1898, the building experienced a few renovations, but Siefer rehabilitated it back to its original appearance based off of Territorial architecture, a style that originated in New Mexico Territory.
Homespace Furniture opened up on the first floor in the 1980s and it exposed one of the most significant historic features of the building: the original concrete floors.
New beginnings
Siefer’s first tenant in the Odd Fellows Hall was the Fine Arts Center of Tempe, an art gallery ran by Tempe. This marked the first-time glass artist Dale Chihuly showed his work in Arizona. You can now find a piece by him in the Desert Botanical Garden. The gallery resided in the hall in the early '80s.
The Mill Avenue Theater took over the ballroom in the early '90s. Siefer recalls its most famous work: a musical called Gov.
“It was a satire on Arizona politics,” Siefer said. “It ran for several years. Barry Goldwater came by to see it and most of the local politicians that were vein satirized would show up.”
New hardware
Currently, The Tempe Hardware Store is home to many studios and office buildings but most Tempe residents would recognize their latest first-floor lessees: the fun and flirty boutique Pitaya and the sassy Juut Salon & Spa.
Juut, formerly known as Mood Swings Salon and Skin Spa, has been a staple of Mill for 20 years after opening its doors in 1995. Pitaya opened in 2008.
For the current tenants, the storied history of the Tempe Hardware Building inspires aspirations of business longevity. Synapse Studio co-founder Chris Cardinal just scored more space in the building as his company expands.
“From our perspective as a software development company we like that it has a component of history to it,” Cardinal said. “There are pictures in the hallway of this building in 1900 and very few places in Arizona have that at all.”
For Kim Vargas, a receptionist at Juut, the Tempe Hardware Building parallels its business’ antiquity and the fresh-yet-hip vibe of Mill Avenue.
“To me, it intertwines what Tempe is about,” Vargas said. “It makes us feel more at home to be somewhere that has a deep background like us.”
Related Links:
An abridged history of Mill Avenue: The Hayden Flour Mill
Music on Mill to bring local musicians to Mill Avenue
Reach the reporter at tanner.stechnij@asu.edu or follow @tannerstechnij on Twitter.
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