This Old House Revisited Activity by Peggy Moroney

This Old House Revisited Activity by Peggy Moroney, Persephone Brooks-Bilson and Joshua Roffler, all of the Tempe History Museum

Interviews with the residents of the Petersen House

The Owner: Niels Petersen My name is Niels Petersen. I was born in 1845 in a small farming community in southwest Denmark, one of many green islands with the ocean nearby. Only the first born son could inherit land, so many immigrants like me came to the United States to own land find work.

The Arizona Southwest landscape is much bigger, browner and drier than Denmark. When I arrived in 1870, Tempe had fertile desert land but no available water except along the riverbanks. In prehistoric times, Indians created canals to bring water from the Salt River to irrigate the land. When the Indians moved away, the canals filled in over time. Look at the picture of the desert landscape with the flowing Salt River. This is how it looked when I came to Tempe.

I helped clear the desert land for farms and ranches and helped build the Tempe irrigation canal and a ditch to bring water from the Salt River to my ranch.

Many canals and ditches were dug in the same locations as the ones the prehistoric Indians built. What is the difference between a canal and a ditch?

I became a United States citizen and took advantage of the Homestead Act. My ranch was five miles south of what then was Tempe. Eventually I acquired 2, 000 acres.

The first house I built on my land was a small adobe brick house. Adobe bricks are made of local materials such as sand, clay, straw, water, dung and other fibrous materials. Those thick adobe walls blocked the hot sun. When I was 47 years old, I traveled to Pennsylvania and met Susanna Decker and asked her to be my wife. Do you believe she would have wanted to live in an adobe brick house? Which house would you prefer to live in? My adobe brick house Susanna’s family home in Pennsylvania

I asked architect James W. Creighton to design a beautiful house for Susanna. We decided that the popular Queen Anne Victorian brick house-style with its decorative woodwork and stained glass would be best.

Discussion Questions What was the landscape like before Mr. Petersen built his ranch? What did Mr. Petersen do to change that landscape? Can you locate a canal in Tempe today? Why do you believe the irrigation canals and ditches were, and still are, so important to Tempe residents? Is your house made of adobe bricks? If not, then what is it made of?

The Owner’s Wife: Susanna Decker Petersen My name is Susanna Decker. I was born in 1852 in South Montrose, Penn. I married Niels Petersen in 1892, but not before insisting on having a new house as large as my family’s home. We called it “Casa Bonita. ”

From the large windows, I couldn’t see another house, only fields of crops and grazing animals. A variety of trees surrounded the house and provided shade. View from the house of Double Buttes.

By the time Mr. Petersen and I got married, he was a prominent resident in Tempe and served in the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1895. After he died in 1923, I ran the Petersen Ranch until my death in 1927. Both of us are buried outside in front of our house. Because we had no children, I willed the Petersen Ranch to my nephew, Reverend Edwin Decker, a Methodist minister, and his wife, Una Belle Hanna Decker.

Discussion Questions If Susanna looked out the windows of the Petersen House today, how would the landscape look different? Do people have graves on their property today?

The Inheritors: The Deckers as told by Una Belle Hanna Decker Edwin Decker Una Belle Decker

When Susanna died, we inherited the Petersen House. In 1930, we sold some of the land to make changes to the house. We preferred a more casual lifestyle than the Petersens. We replaced the old wooden veranda with the Craftsman Bungalow style cement porch. We also built a wooden two-story addition on the back side.

We used the land to raise dairy cows. We lived in the house for more than 20 years until Edwin’s death in 1948. We had no children, and I didn’t want to live way out in the country alone, so I moved to town leaving the house vacant until 1951. The empty house needed upkeep so I rented the Petersen House to my friends, the Harters: Tom, an artist and teacher at Arizona State College; Helen, a photographer and school teacher; and their daughters Susan and Eduarda.

Discussion Questions What changes did the Deckers bring to the house? What changes occurred to the landscape? What happened to the house when Una Belle moved to town?

The Caretaker/Renters: The Harter Family as told by Tom Harter

The four of us lived in the Victorian mansion out in the country for 18 years. I did necessary repairs to the aging house. My students and I had acres of magnificent trees and a long view of the mountains as subjects to paint. Tom Harter and his Arizona State College art class at the Petersen House

When Una Belle Decker died in 1968, the farmland was subdivided and sold. By then, the Petersen House was in a state of disrepair, and the city of Tempe had expanded as far out as the house.

Here’s what happened to the house after we moved out. The house and remaining 3. 5 acres became the property of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). This plaque is located on the house today. To protect the house from demolition, the IOOF got the house listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1979, it gift-deeded the house to the city of Tempe.

Does the history of the house end here?

The city restored the house to its original beauty and the remaining 3. 5 acres became Petersen Park. In 1990, the Petersen House received the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation.

Today the Petersen House is an extension of the city of Tempe History Museum. Annual events at the House include the month-long Danish Christmas Open House and the Statehood Program that helps local fourth grade classes experience first hand life in 1912 when Arizona became a state. Now you know why and how the house and land changed over the years.

Discussion Questions Why do you believe Una Belle Decker rented the house to the Harter family? Why did the city of Tempe restore the old house? Can you think of reasons why some old houses should be restored? Look at the timeline on the next slide. Can you explain why and how the Petersen House and land changed over the past 120 years?

Petersen House Historical Timeline 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1863 1862 Territory of The Homestead Arizona is Act was signed created 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 Present 1912 Arizona becomes a state What other historical events occurred on this timeline?

Special Thanks City of Tempe History Museum and the Petersen House Museum Peggy Moroney, Docent Persephone Brooks-Bilson, Docent Joshua Roffler, Curator of Collections