Living in the present-day Phoenix of massive urban sprawl and sleek skyscrapers crisscrossed by the ever expanding freeway system, it’s difficult to imagine it’s humble origins as a dusty, frontier town in the blistering Sonoran Desert of some 160 years ago. Nonetheless, Phoenix arose on the remnants of several bygone indigenous civilizations with its first European settlers restoring the canal systems created by the native peoples and making the desert bloom again. The European-American transplants of the 19th century first lived in simple adobe homes and later built grander structures such as the Rosson House in 1895.
This late Victorian Era mansion was built in what was known as the Queen Anne-Eastlake style for Dr. Roland Rosson and his wife, Flora Murray Rosson. It was one of the most fashionable homes in Phoenix, located at what was then the northeastern edge of town when the population was only about 4,000 and the land area of the fledgling town was only one square mile. By comparison, present-day Phoenix sprawls over 519 square miles of land and has a population of 1,624,000. Today the home is preserved as a museum along with several other historic homes in Heritage Square, near downtown Phoenix. Over time other families had lived in Rosson House and by the late 1940s it had been subdivided and became a boardinghouse.
Over the next two decades Rosson House fell into disrepair as the neighborhood declined. Finally, the home was purchased by the city of Phoenix in 1974. It took seven years of painstaking effort and $750,000 to restore the home to its original state so that it could become the museum that visitors enjoy today. When touring late-Victorian Era homes like the Rosson House it’s hard for us to picture living during a time when electricity and indoor plumbing were still luxuries for most people – or having to manage cooking and baking on a cast-iron wood stove! Although this home was built with electrical wiring for lighting, central air conditioning and electrical appliances were still unknown.
Not surprisingly, during the intensely hot summers, any residents of Phoenix who could afford to do so, usually fled the town and would spend that time in more agreeable, temperate locales in northern Arizona such as Prescott or Flagstaff. In any event, it’s noteworthy that concerned citizens were able to save this home for future generations – as Phoenix unfortunately does not have a great track record for historic preservation. However, the Rosson House was added to the National Register Of Historic Places in 1971 and a tour of this home can certainly give us a greater appreciation of the modern conveniences that we tend to take for granted today.
For more information about the about the Rosson House and Heritage Square visit: https://heritagesquarephx.org
