San Pablo: The Mexican American community

It was the natural resources, the good farmland and water in the river, that brought people to the Valley. The first settlers in Tempe were Mexican American men. Their ancestors came from Mexico to live in Tucson that was in United States territory. Now, they moved from Tucson in southern Arizona to help dig the irrigation canals to bring water from the Salt River to the dry desert land. They also helped to clear the land for farming. They were hard workers.

Essentially there were two communities by Tempe Butte and the Salt River. The Mexican Americans lived in an area called San Pablo (St. Peter) at the base of Tempe Butte. They spoke Spanish.

An aerial view of Old Tempe in 1890. If you look carefully you can see the Salt River in the upper right corner. The Butte, small mountain, is in the middle. Below the Butte are the small houses in San Pablo. See the arrow pointing to the Teachers College? At the bottom of the picture are the fields and houses of the Anglos. Tempe Historical Museum

The Anglos, men who spoke English, lived just west and south of San Pablo. The men from the two communities worked together, and probably spoke both English and Spanish. But each group had their own stores, schools and churches. The town was very different from Tempe today.

Soon the Mexican American men brought their families from Tucson. They built adobe houses for their families.


An early adobe house. Tempe Historical Museum

Having a church was very important to the men, their wives and their children. The men and boys did all of the work to build an adobe the church. This was the very first church in Tempe!

The first Mount Carmel Church built in 1867 in San Pablo. Tempe Historical Museum

Many of the families in San Pablo were related. Marcie Rodriguez-Gorman remembers her house as a child. It was filled with laughter. Her papa teased the children and they all laughed. They often had relatives over for Sunday breakfast of chorizo and eggs, potatoes, refried beans and coffee.

The Mexican Americans also built their own stores to sell clothing and food. Mrs. Elias, for instance, used one of her family’s adobe houses to open a pool hall, mini-store that sold food, and a dance hall.

The whole San Pablo community had wonderful festivals. Even today they celebrate the Tempe Tardeada, a community social dance traditionally held on Sunday afternoons. Every October, the Tempe Hispanic community (the name for people with a Spanish heritage), celebrates the Tardeada at the community center. There are games for the children to play, dancing, and plenty of good food.

Photos of a Tardeada today. Photos by Jim Wright