Women arrive in Tempe and schools are built

Anglo women began to arrive in Tempe. They made a big difference in the culture of the community. First of all they wanted their children to go to school. There were only a few children so they met with their teacher in the saloon on Mill Avenue. It is said they sat on planks spread across beer barrels and held their slates, small blackboards to write on, on their laps. The school had few books. But before long they had a school building and a teacher who lived with one of the families in town.

A school classroom with the teachers. Tempe Historical Museum

The school children pose for their year-end picture. Tempe Historical Museum

The teacher rides in her horse and buggy to school. Tempe Historical Museum

Soon Tempe was lucky enough to get the Normal School, a school that trains teachers. Charles Hayden helped raise money to buy 5 acres of Mr. Wilson’s pasture and George
Wilson donated the other 15 acres of his pasture for the school. These two gifts made it possible to convince the territorial legislators to give $5,000 to Tempe to build the Normal school.

There were 31 students when the Normal School opened in 1886. There was a real need for teachers in the Southwest and pupils came from all over the territory to go to the Normal School. Mr. Hiram Farmer was the principal and the teacher. Mrs. Farmer let young ladies from out of town live in her house.




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Tempe Normal School. Tempe Historical Museum

The Normal School grew into Arizona State University that now has 55,500 students. That’s almost 2,000 times larger! Photo by Jim Wright