Our Mesa West Rotary 5th Thursday excursion took participating members and a couple of visiting Rotarians to the Misa Historical Museum on January 30.
President Jay spoke briefly about what a good time everyone had at the Post Holiday Celebration held January 25. More than one person said they'd never seen so much food! He also announced that the Savannah Bananas (the baseball equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters) would be visiting Sloan Park in Mesa, soon.
Members were urged to sign up for the Rotary Day at the Park March 21.
March 27, Mesa West is partnering with ASU to host Ignite Innovation - a competition where young entrepreneurs will compete to be awarded some grant funding for their business venture. Toni Thompson has agreed to be one of the judges. See more information in a separate article in this newsletter.
Ed Koeneman said volunteers are still needed to help with chaperoning and clean-up for the Senior Prom - Glamour Gala to take place February 12. More information is available in a separate article in this newsletter.
Connie Bunyard announced that Mesa Leadership will be hosting a Casino Night and urged members to watch for news about this opportunity.
Gaby Cutlip said she had not fully understood the opportunity to make friends from all over the world which being a Rotarian provides. She said she had been at an auto auction recently where she met a Rotarian from Canada who embraced her. They exchanged numbers, and will stay connected. She was surprised at how easy it was to connect just because they were both Rotarians!
It was a good thing that our President answered his phone during the meeting. The caller was Dick Myren who was not having any luck finding the museum. He arrived shortly thereafter.
President Jay introduced the Executive Director of the Museum, Susan Ricci. She apologized for her appearance, she was dressed casually because they were having a used book sale outside. They are in the middle of a capital campaign. They want to renovate the auditorium of the old Lehi school building, so it can be used affordably by groups needing a large venue for some of their events. When the initial phase of the renovation took place, which involved removal of asbestos, it was discovered that the main truss was fractured. The cost to remedy that problem was $64,000.
Because of the impact that baseball has had for many years on the Mesa economy, they are adding a baseball presence to the museum. Memorial bricks are being sold to help fund that project. President Jay was able to present a Mesa West Rotary Foundation contribution of $500 so we can have our club name and logo on a brick in the courtyard. Individual donors can also have their names or the names of a loved on placed on a brick.
Dil Brinton Jr, from Mesa Rotary Club provided some interesting historical information, and was kind enough to share his notes:
Welcome to the Mesa Historical Society and Museum. I am Dilworth Brinton Jr, Mesa’s second best historian. Gerry Paulus has ask me to fill a few minutes while you finish eating.
The Mesa Historical Society was founded in the mid 1960’s by Dilworth C. Brinton and Mitz Zipf. Dilworth was the Citizen of the year in 1954 and he was President of the Mesa Rotary Club in 1956-1957. Mitz and her husband Walter owned the Sun Valley Spur, a weekly newspaper and advertising paper. It was mostly full of local Mesa articles and advertising until it was purchased by the Mesa Tribune.
The Mesa Historical Society was founded in the mid 1960’s by Dilworth C. Brinton and Mitz Zipf. Dilworth was the Citizen of the year in 1954 and he was President of the Mesa Rotary Club in 1956-1957. Mitz and her husband Walter owned the Sun Valley Spur, a weekly newspaper and advertising paper. It was mostly full of local Mesa articles and advertising until it was purchased by the Mesa Tribune.
In the mid 1960’s several people felt that Mesa should have a group (historical society) to start recording, both in writing and with photographs and film for the important events in Mesa. In 1976 after the city constructed a new city hall, the old city hall was turned into a museum. Trey Mead was the city employee hired as historian and keeper of records. He was helped for some years by volunteers from the Mesa Historical Society. He was also helped with the Mesa Archological Society. There were mostly in the materials found in Mesa from the Ho Ho Kam Indians that lived here from about 50 b.c. to about 1200 to 1400 a.d. It was headed by an archologist who was a city employee. Eventually the city pushed the Historical Society out and turned the old city hall over to the archologist who expanded the space to include Indian things other than Mesa history. With no home and only a promise from the city the Historical society struggled on. The Crismon family took the museum under their support. Virgil and his son Charlie were mostly responsible for the museum and society to continue. (Virgil and Charlie were both Rotarians.)
Lehi was founded the year before Mesa in 1876 by a group of LDS pioneers headed by Daniel W. Jones and Henry C. Rogers. This corner was donated to the community by Henry C. Rogers for the ‘educational purposes of a school.’ There was an adobe and brush bower for the first school. This was twice washed away by the Salt River in floods. In 1913 a brick building was constructed (at the north of the complex) and the building, constructed in 1917, is now the museum entrance. In 1932 the auditorium and additional class rooms were constructed. In 1976, as a Bicentennial project a replica of the first adobe school, built in Mesa, was constructed in front of the old city hall (now a museum). When the Natural History was expanded in 1991 (and the Historical Society pushed out) the adobe building was torn down by the city.
The museum was homeless several years until they were allowed to move into the Lehi school building by the city. The public school had a school on this site. They wanted to expand and modernize the school. Since some of the building was ‘historic’ they could not tear it down. They also discovered that they did not own the land under their buildings. They managed to get the city of Mesa to trade the school (and land they didn’t own) for some empty land. The school district built a new school on the land. They city decided that they would sell the land, but discovered the problem with the title. They came to me to help them trace and track ‘down the decedents of Henry C. Rogers to get permission to change the title so it could be sold.
The end of the story is that they couldn’t. So they owned a building and permission to have a school but not the land. They rented out the ‘back lot’ to a charter school and moved the museum into the old buildings. But the Museum had to keep the buildings up. (This has turned out to be a bit of a white elephant.)
In 2001 the adobe schoolhouse was reconstructed in front of the current museum building in Lehi. They got enough money to hire an permanent staff and expand the museum. Recently they decided to start a spring training baseball museum. Unfortunately when they started (re)construction they found that one of the main beams in the auditorium had to be replaced.
This raised the cost of the repair and reconstruction. (see white elephant)
This raised the cost of the repair and reconstruction. (see white elephant)
Currently the museum is trying to raise the balance of the money then need (about $150,000). They are willing to accept donations. They also are selling bricks for the front area at the museum. On your table is the handout for purchasing bricks. You can be remembered (or your family remembered) or have the name of your business by purchasing a brick.