Marley Makes 3: 2024.03.14 MESA HISTORICAL MUSEUM

The Mesa Historical Museum features historical objects and photos that show the early years of Mesa and includes the founding families, Arizona Spring Training, The strange artwork of Karen Kuykendall and her cat people and history and memorabilia of Mesa schools.

There were displays of pottery and basket weaving.

A whole room of baseball related history and displays.

A whole rom of local artist Karen Kuykendall's weird cat people.

A 1919 adding machine!

This safe was believed to have been inside the old JC Penny’s in downtown Mesa. In the 1930s, the safe was allegedly damaged by a botched robbery attempt. The thieves used dynamite to blow the safe open which destroyed the contents inside.

Senior Prom Dress-circa 1932

FRONT PORCH SITTIN--I found this interesting. In the days before air conditioners, the front porch offered one of the more comfortable places to gather. Porches acted as an extension of the home and were places where people would socialize, relax, and engage in family activities. It allowed them to enjoy the outdoors, as temperatures could be stifling inside. In the days before automobile and populated roadways, streets were more communal spaces. Since porches were open and often facing the street, residents could interact with community members who might be on the street or walking by. The porch was a social space and purposeful furniture, such as rocking chairs, swings and comfortable benches were placed to invite visitors.

Porches began to decline in the 1920s and 1930s as the rise of automobiles transformed the street from a public space to a busy transportation space. Noise and pollution drove families back inside or to the back yard. Rural homes continued to have porches. What finally caused the demise of porches being build onto homes was the coming of television and air conditioning. Air conditioning made the inside of the home a comfortable place to be and TV was a newest form of entertainment that drew people from the porch to the living room.

Colleen's foot next to torture shoes.

I'll never understand why women were obsessed with small feet and would torture themselves to get their bone structure to fit in narrow shoes.

In 1939 Ted and Alice Sliger were looking to dig a well on their property in Mesa. Instead, they found hot, undrinkable mineral water and decided to open up the Buckhorn Baths Motel. This attracted the attention of the baseball players in town for Spring Training, most notably the New York Giants, who enjoyed soaking their sore muscles in the natural hot spring.