u/Jeenowa

This two story adobe home was built in 1883 by an Irish saloon owner named Pierce Carrick Shannon for his new bride. He would be arrested when the house was nearly finished after selling liquor to Indians, and the home entered foreclosure. It was purchased in January 1886 by the first principal of Arizona State University, Hiram Bradford Farmer. Back then he was the only instructor at the school, which was called Tempe Normal School. Him and his wife finished the home with 4 bedrooms upstairs to rent out to female students of the school for $20 a month. It is widely accepted as the college’s first dormitory. Farmer and wife lived here until 1890, when it was sold to James H. Wilson. Some say he sold it shortly after, but it’s widely accepted that he moved into the home in 1897. He is responsible for the lush trees that the property was known for decades. He would sell the house to his step-daughter, Libbie J. McGill and son-in-law, James Cooper Goodwin. Libbie had accompanied her uncle Frank Hamilton Cushing when he came to the Salt River Valley to study ancient Hohokam ruins. That was when she met James. He had come to Tempe in 1884, being responsible for helping establish many of the roads, canals, and rail system in early Tempe. In 1897, he was part of the 19th Territorial Legislature, which he took leave from when he joined Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. After many years, he would win election to the 2nd and 3rd State Legislatures.

He became one of the most respected miners in the Territory after him and his brothers started mining up in Superior and Globe. The mineral department at the Territorial and State Fairs became well renowned events each year under his supervision, taking trips all around the State to gather samples from as many mines as possible. His mineral displays were part of the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum until 2011, when the museum closed. The University of Arizona, where he studied mining, now owns the James C Goodwin collection and is working towards reopening the museum in Phoenix.

James died in 1922 while on a trip to gather samples for the State Fair, falling out of a car and hitting his head. He passed a few days later. The flag over the Capital and the Normal School were lowered to half mast in honor of him. Libbie continued to live in the house with their youngest son, Woodrow, until her death in 1962. Woodrow remained there after, even offering rooms to students that came up to the door asking. By the early 70s it was falling into disrepair, but its importance was recognized and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. There was interest in restoring it through the 80s, but nothing would happen until after Woodrow passed in 1991. The home was sold in 1993 to a couple who started repairing and restoring the home with plans to turn it into a bed & breakfast. They worked through the 90s, receiving some money from the State to help, but by 2004 they were selling it due to a divorce. They had uncovered the original hard wood floors, built a pool, restored the original porch that had rotted away, and rebuilt some more rooms that had rotted away. Many were worried it would be demolished because the realtor didn’t have a great reputation for caring about historic properties, but it was sold to a couple and an architectural firm that planned on demolishing the non-historic homes on the block to build townhomes to fund restoration of the Goodwin home to be used as the office for the firm. Work on the home began again in 2006, with the townhomes going up in 2020.

The Goodwin home was put up for sale a few months ago for just over $2 million.

1. 1908. 2. 1910. 3. 1972. 4. 1985. 5. 1985 (view from backyard). 6) 1996. 7) 2026. 8) Hiram Bradford Farmer, 1886. 9) James Cooper Goodwin, 1897. 10) Rough Riders, 1911. 11) Campaign ad, 19. 12) Patricia Alexander, 1993. 13) Pat and Norman, late 90s.

This building at 820 S Farmer Ave in Tempe might not look like it, but under the lime-plaster facade is an unbaked adoble and redwood structure that was built in the 1880s, just 4 years after Tempe was renamed from Hayden’s Ferry. The land it stands on was originally purchased by an Irish saloon owner named Pierce Carrick Shannon in 1880, originally consisting of either 128 or 160 acres. The City of Tempe says that Shannon built the home for his wife, whom he married on January 14, 1883, finishing construction in March that year. Historian Jay Mark tells a slightly different story. He says it was started in March of 1883 for Shannon’s new bride and was nearly complete around seven months later, but he ran into money troubles around that time. In an attempt to raise funds he had sold alcohol to some Indians, which was illegal at the time. This landed him in Yuma Territorial Prison for six months, during which time his property entered foreclosure. What happened to it after foreclosure isn’t entirely clear until January of 1886, when it was sold to the first principal of what is now known as Arizona State University, Hiram Bradford Farmer. Farmer purchased the property for $3000 (~$105,400 today) while on a yearly salary of $2300 (~$80,800 today). The National Register of Historic Places papers say it was unfinished when it was sold to Farmer.

Hiram Bradford Farmer wasn’t responsible for forming the Territorial Normal School, but he was the first principal, and the school’s lone instructor when it opened in February 1886. He taught out of the school’s only building at the time, which was located directly behind where Old Main is now. Him and his wife would also run their home as the school’s unofficial dormitory after finishing the upstairs to feature 4 bedrooms. Rooms were rented for $20 (~$702 today) a month to female students who weren’t from nearby. This continued until he sold the property.

I’ve come across a few different versions of when and who the property passed to next, all from credible sources. The first version of the story is put out by the Tempe Historical Museum as part of a short biography about Hiram B. Farmer. It says in December 1887, a large property at the home’s address was sold to Edward A. Murphy. Murphy was a blacksmith and livery man when he came to Tempe in 1887, but would later become the town’s mayor in 1896 and 1897. This might be referring to Farmer’s Addition, a stretch of land between University, 13th St, Farmer Ave, and the train tracks, which Farmer had subdivided in December that year. It is more likely that Farmer sold his entire property in 1890 when he left Tempe behind for California according to both the City of Tempe’s website about the building and an article by Jay Mark. What these two sources don’t agree on is who the property was sold to. Tempe’s page says it was sold in 1890 and passed through a series of owners before coming into the hands of James H. Wilson, a nurseryman from Illinois, in 1897. Mark’s account of the story is that the property was sold to Wilson in 1890, who would sell it shortly after and later buy it again in 1897. This seems to be the actual version of what happened according to the published activity of the County Recorder’s Office in the Arizona Republic. An 1890 piece mentions H. B. Farmer selling land to James Wilson for $8000 (~$290,300 today) on September 11 that year.

There isn’t much that’s clear about its time right after Farmer sold to Wilson. He might have lived there or just used it as a rental property. There aren’t any records of it being sold or repurchased by Wilson that I can find, but both the City and Jay Mark state that he acquired the property in 1897. Whether he just moved back in or repurchased it, we know for sure that in 1897 this property was the home of James Wilson. According to his grandson, Woodrow Goodwin, Wilson had devoted 15 of his 128 acres to plant experimentation and grew just about every kind of fruit tree you could imagine. Woodrow claimed only the citrus bore fruit, but an article from 1904 was written specifically about James Goodwin’s pear tree that bore fruit remarkably early and twice in a season. The property remained Wilson’s home until his step-daughter, Libbie J Wilson, would marry James Cooper Goodwin on February 28, 1902. She was originally Libbie J McGill, the niece of ethnologist, Frank Hamilton Cushing. She was a part of Cushing’s exploring party when he came to study the Hohokum ruins after living with the Zuni tribe. Both James Goodwin and James McClintock found themselves very interested in studying the former inhabitants of the valley after meeting the charming young woman. Them and their friends found discussions of Cushing’s work often developing into praise of his niece, with one discussion resulting in McClintock telling Goodwin that the gods had ordained her to be with a journalist. At the time McClintock managed the Tempe newspaper. All that was history though and she married Goodwin. On June 30, her step-dad deeded half of his land to the newly weds for a consideration of $1500 ($57,600 today). Their family would be its longest owners.

James Goodwin had originally come to Tombstone, Arizona in 1884, but moved to Tempe on April 18, 1884, having only 15 cents (~$5) after paying $10 (~$336) to ride along the buckboard from Bisbee. He spent 5 cents (~$1.70) on a loaf of bread after arriving, landing a job the next day that paid $35 (~1,200) a month. He blew his remaining 10 cents (~$3.40) on potatoes to celebrate landing a job so quickly. At the time there was little more than Hayden’s home, the 1874 mill, some Mexican adobes, and this house. His mother and most of his 9 siblings would join them in Tempe after his father had been killed. His father was Judge John Fuson Goodin (family went by Goodwin in Arizona). While drunk at a circus in Kentucky, William Goodin would start an argument with the ringmaster. In an attempt to defuse the situation his son started, Judge Goodin stepped in but was shot in the back. He succumbed to his injuries the next day, October 26, 1888. After the family lifted their lives from Kentucky to Tempe, they rose to prominence as farmers in the small community. Many of the Goodwins would become well known business owners and politicians, with their family owning vast stretches of land surrounding Tempe. William would eventually recycle the first ASU schoolhouse that Farmer taught out of to build the Goodwin Opera House, which later became the first Harkins theater. As for James, he started his career in farming, but he was involved in quite a bit. According to ASU, he was one of 15 people to help raise $500 to establish the school. While he was known in the Tempe area, he lived a few miles south of there on a large ranch. His friend, James H. McClintock, convinced him to donate the land for Kyrene’s first schoolhouse in 1888 and started the school district together after getting some families to move to the land. That school was where McClintock started teaching after graduating with the first class from the Normal School. Along with this, Goodwin helped build up the early road and canal infrastructure around Tempe, with his canal maps from this time still being cited in papers. In 1890 he was part of a citizen committee to determine whether the territory should begin work on dams to create water reservoirs.

He would begin working for the government as early as 1891 when he acted as an agent of the Territory of Arizona for an eminent domain case over being able to take private property for the construction of canals. While not working, he enjoyed boating quite a bit, being noted as one of the best in the valley in 1891 and almost always the first to cross the Salt River after a flood. In the mid 1890s, him and his brother, Robert, would be two of the men who helped form the Phoenix, Tempe, & Mesa Railroad. James was elected the group’s first president in June 1895, while Robert was the first secretary. Both men would also start the short lived Tempe street car system, which consisted of two mule drawn cars that ran down Mill Ave from the river to 8th St (now University), then east to a canal around where Rural Rd is now. In 1896 he would campaign to become a legislator in the 19th Territorial Legislature, but lost by 4 votes. After a recount, it was revealed that Goodwin won. His opponent stepped down and he took on the role. In his time as a Territorial Legislator, he unsuccessfully tried to create Butte County around Tempe and acted as the chairman of a board of school land. In anticipation for the next election, it was found in an 1898 count that a mistake had been made in the earlier recount which misidentified Goodwin as the winner. By then he was already off in Florida as a Private in Troop C of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. He returned home sick like many of the other men, choosing to leave the group on August 7, 1898. He spent at least a few months back in Tempe, briefly studying mining at the Normal School and moving down to Tucson to study at the Territorial University (now U of A) around November. By March 1899, Goodwin had been hired to run the Lost Gulch mill and mine near Miami, AZ. Around mid-1899 he would start the Cole-Goodwin Copper Group with P. J. Cole. By May of 1900 they had acquired land at Mineral Creek that they prepared and got bonded for $120,000 (~$4,417,330 today). His younger brother, George, future mayor of Tempe, would move to the area near Globe to help with operations. By 1901, the two of them would be spending more time in Tempe again. James published an article in the University of Arizona Monthly that January about how Lord Duppa named Phoenix. That August, James and George would check out mines in Goldfield with two of their friends, a lawyer named Charles Curtis Wolf, along with future State Senator and son of Tempe’s founder, Carl Trumbull Hayden. It doesn’t seem much came of this trip as James’ attention started to be captured by a woman that he kept secret from most. The marriage wouldn’t be known to the papers and even some family until March 3, 1902, but their marriage certificate was filed on February 28. The papers wished him and his unknown at the time bride the best, not knowing they had been married legally already as they advised him to make it legal quick so his enemies couldn’t file suit. A few months later in May, he would return to Tempe after finishing his studies in Tucson.

It was shortly after James graduated that he and Libbie would make 820 S Farmer Ave their home. James continued working in mining through the rest of 1902. On March 14 1903, the Goodwins had their first child, James Henry Goodwin. Despite having a newborn in the house, James was kept busy with mining work, making a trip to the Gold Coin mine nine miles west of Kyrene in late March. By January 1904 he would be doing work on a mine known as the Goodwin Brothers Mine. It was likely one out near Globe as he had claims on numerous mines in that area neighboring claims owned by the Superior Company according to a March 1904 article in The Copper Era and Morenci Leader newspaper. In September that year he would discover a silica deposit containing opals near Picketpost Mountain in Pinal County. In October he found a second deposit. The quality of opals at the top of the deposits weren’t of tremendous quality, but a professor at the University of Arizona agreed with him that higher quality samples could likely be found just a few feet deeper. He would spend at least a week at a time down there, getting to work really setting up the mines by January 1905. On his trip back to Tempe in late January, he collected an uncommon fern sample for the science collection at the Tempe Normal School. Shortly after coming back, Libbie would give birth to their second son, John Boyle Goodwin, on February 16. He seemed to remain in Tempe longer this time before leaving on a mining trip than he did for his first son, with his next reported trip being a week long visit around Goldfield, Superior, and Globe in early May. He returned home to an early crop of green corn on the 12th. He would take trips out west to the Superior area to work his mines, often with other Tempe men and his brothers every few weeks, usually staying a week to ten days through the summer. During that summer, the principal of the Tempe Public School, S. O. Lewis, had been staying at the house and had made a couple attempts to take his own life. He would unfortunately take his life inside the school on the night of July 30, about a week after leaving the Goodwin home.

Life moved on though and just two weeks later James would be in Portland, Oregon for the 16th session of the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress. He played a large role in getting a clause stating that all remaining territories should be admitted as states to give their people the fundamental American right of self-governance to a resolution passed by this Congress. He wanted to add that the territories would be added as separate states, but a member from Oklahoma objected and the word was omitted. He spent the rest of the year focusing on farming, mining, and his family, doing the same through most of 1906. In August that year he would exchange letters with New Mexico Territory’s at-large district’s representative, William Henry “Bull” Andrews, about matters relating to joint statehood for his and our territory. Adams had heard of Goodwin’s interest in statehood for the territories during the Commericial Congress and contacted him to gauge the interest of joint statehood from the people of his area. In response, Goodwin said that of the 500 voters in Tempe, he didn’t know of one interested in joint statehood, as was the case with Mesa, and only a few for it in Phoenix, estimating 80-90% of people were not for it. He said that they had nothing against New Mexicans, just that they are misguided by a favored few, and those few aren’t wanted in Arizona. That point would be further hammered in throughout the state in September when the Democratic and Republic conventions held in Bisbee both declared that Arizonans would rather remain a territory forever than have joint statehood with New Mexico. At the Democratic convention, Goodwin would be appointed as part of the Democratic Central Committee representing Maricopa County, a position that came with a two year term. This role didn’t slow him down from mining at all though as he spent nearly a month in the beginning of 1907 going around the state with his brother, Thomas, working sixteen mines for the Queen Creek Mining Company. In November, he would be appointed superintendent of the mineral department for the Arizona Territorial State Fair in its 3rd year held in Phoenix. The fair had moved to Phoenix in 1905, spending $30,000 (~$1,125,700 today) to buy the lot they still use today, and $15,000 (~$562,860 today) to erect new buildings to exhibit all things Arizona. Having long been interest in geology and active in mining for years, James had been displaying ore and minerals from his mines since the first fair. 1907 was the first time he was put in charge of that exhibit though. An estimated 15-18,000 people came to the fair that year, with the mineral display being highly praised.

The rest of Goodwin’s year would be spent between Tempe and his mines, but it would be ended off with him at home with his newborn daughter. Dorothy Julia Goodwin was born on December 10, 1907. Despite the baby at home, James would go up to Globe in the first week of January 1908 to visit his brother, Robert. Earlier that week, one of the Daggs Brothers, infamous for their role in the Pleasant Valley War, was murdered in nearby Superior where James owned a lot of mining land. The Goodwins and the Daggs were well acquainted from before their interactions in the mining world. It was said that at one point all the land surrounding Tempe that wasn’t owned by the Daggs was owned by the Goodwins. Some articles have reported that some of the Daggs Brothers had even stayed in the Farmer-Goodwin house. After the murder, Goodwin told the papers that he was aquatinted with all parties in the case, and that if the accused had killed Daggs, it wasn’t because Daggs had jumped any of the accused’s land claims. Most claim owners in the area weren’t a fan of Daggs because he usually used less than legal methods to acquire land.

After leaving Globe, he returned to Tempe, making more trips out to the Castle Creek area to mine. Around March he would start to inquire with folks in Washington about organizing a mineral display for Arizona at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, a world’s fair that was to be held in Seattle the next year. Their response to him was welcome to the idea, but Goodwin still wasn’t certain whether the Territorial Legislature would approve funds for getting the minerals up north, but was hopeful to find a way to make it work and potentially donate the collection to the University of Washington instead of paying to bring them back. His correspondence with the exposition’s chairman of the mines and mining committee continued into July, with the article published about the letters revealing he was speaking to Governor Joseph Henry Kibbey about it, who was in favor of the idea. Kibbey felt that the job of organizing the collection for the exposition should be up to one person, not a committee. By December, Goodwin would be appointed to that role by Kibbey. Before that, James had been involved in quite a bit of work around the valley. On May 23, he would be one of 3 judges to preside over a vote to issue a $50,000 (~$1,794,600 today) bond to build and equip a new high school building for Tempe. The bond passed with 118 in favor and 40 against. A few months later in September, he would take a business trip to Los Angeles, reporting after he got home that it was rather quiet politically over there, and that even Tempe had more going on in that regard. He was again the director of the mineral show for the Territorial Fair in November. After being appointed commissioner to the exposition, Goodwin would also be brought onto a committee for Tempe to work towards building a bridge across the Salt River. On this committee he would work alongside another one of the Daggs Brothers. He spent the next few months working extensively on the committee and to get an Arizona mineral display ready for the exposition. Unfortunately in March, the territorial legislature shot down the idea of having a presence there, not approving the $5000 (~$181,400 today) asked to cover the costs of collecting and preparing the samples. This wasn’t his only presence at the legislature though as the Goodwin Bill trying to appoint county road overseers to get rid of local overseers. This would pass both houses while they started to rework a separate bill to establish a road network throughout the entire territory, using a proposed map drawn up by Goodwin. The bill for new roads would almost die off but just barely passed. Along with this, they would pass a bill reducing the depth needed to dig to claim a mine from 10 feet to 8, something that Goodwin praised as a man could dig 8 feet by shovel on his own, but not 10.

In April 1909, prominent citizens of Phoenix, including Dwight Bancroft Heard, would advocate for a bridge across the Salt River being built to extend Central Ave. Goodwin laid out quite a few reasons to The Republican about why Tempe was the better choice for the first government funded bride to cross the river. Part of the reasoning was that Tempe had the shortest gap over the river, but also if the bridge were built at Central and followed plans for the new Territorial highway system, the highway going to Phoenix would completely skip Tempe. Shortly after this, James’ correspondences with the newly appointed Territorial Engineer were published in the newspaper, with the engineer asking for data on local road committees. Goodwin would respond with the information from the meetings just before the territorial legislature met, pointing to his map of all roads leading to and from Phoenix along with the urgent need for bridges crossing the Salt River and Gila River, specifically mentioning Tempe as the crossing point for the Salt. The day these letters were published, April 21, Tempe would have a meeting in the Goodwin Opera House led by James Goodwin and Peru Paxton Daggs. The people who attended were all adamant about their desire for a bridge. This bridge would just be a horse and wagon bridge though as Tempe didn’t see a combination horse/auto bridge as something they’d be able to afford to maintain unless the territory would be in charge of maintaining it. In early May, a group in support of the bridge being built in Phoenix met at the Adams Hotel. This led to Goodwin writing into The Republican about the causes of socialism as most in attendance of the meeting were land owners who stood to gain financially if the city built. One of the largest land holders on the south side of the river where they wanted to build in Phoenix was the Bartlett-Heard Land and Cattle Company. Adolphus Clay Bartlett would tell the people in The Republican a few days prior that they should build the bridge where it benefits the greatest number, with no regard for the corporation whose interests lie south of the Salt River, not mentioning it was his company that would be benefiting so greatly. Bartlett revealed that they weren’t keen on subdividing the land around the bridge. Goodwin called to question why public tax dollars of hard working Arizonans should be going to the betterment of private land, especially land controlled by out-of-state parties. Goodwin would draw attention to the Phoenix group calling themselves the Heard Bridge Committee, as well as a letter published from the National Bridge Company about them choosing their bridge that stated Bartlett & Heard picked them for their low cost and quality, that the city shouldn’t need to look for anyone else. The rules surrounding building the bridge with tax payer dollars specified everything needed to be voted on, and that’s nothing can be handled by private corporations, individuals, committees, etc, that weren’t related to the board of supervisors. The Bartlett-Heard company had gone around the board entirely up to this point. These letters continued to be published by Goodwin in the papers as the city got closer to taking a vote on where the bridge should be built. Goodwin’s argument was that it was shorter to cross at Tempe and would also be a shorter drive into Phoenix by six miles while also going by more communities like Scottsdale than if it were to cross at Central. Heard and Bartlett argued that crossing at Central would give better access to farms and create one large road joining up farms in the south. Goodwin had seen many rail bridges over the Gila and Salt rivers need tens of thousands in repairs after floods washed away the banks where the bridges ended, which made him very wary of the proposed design for the Central crossing. The Center Street Bridge Committee would respond in the papers, trying to discredit Goodwin for not being a civil engineer and commenting so adamantly on the matters while not addressing the issues that Goodwin actually raised. It’s important to remember that Goodwin helped set up many roads and canals around Tempe. He was in talks with many actual engineers, including the county engineer, Gus Strietz, who stated a crossing at Central would need to be at least 3100 feet. The proposed bridge at that point for Central would be 2100 feet, which would be 1000 feet shorter than the river bed at that crossing. In response, their committee would reach out to Los Angeles architects, Llewellyn Adelbert Parker & Edward Leodore Mayberry, who were seemingly the only engineers they could find to be ok with their proposed bridge. They said it would stay above water so long as there wasn’t flooding like in 1891. Goodwin was very concerned that their proposed reinforced concrete bridge would end up being a huge waste to the taxpayers that the city wouldn’t be able to do anything about as their petition put all control over bridge construction with the committee influenced by Heard and Bartlett, not giving any control to the board of supervisors. Goodwin continued to campaign against the designs proposed for the Central bridge for months while advocating for a more tested and stable design in Tempe. On June 10, 1909, a vote was held for whether the proposed Tempe or Phoenix bridge would be built. It was an extremely close election, with the Central bridge winning by less than 100 votes. Goodwin thanked the newspaper for giving him space in the papers to share about the Tempe site, while also wishing the Central project the best. Almost immediately the committee proposed a territorial highway running from Phoenix to Tempe by way of the asylum, then crossing over a bridge to run down to Mesa. This idea was dead by October though. Phoenix’s bridge was finally built in 1911, and Tempe got the Ash Bridge in 1913. The Central Bridge was damaged by floods many times over the years, and permanently closed after damage from a flood in 1966. The Ash Bridge was damaged in 1916, and was closed after the Mill Ave Bridge was opened in 1931. The Central Bridge was demolished in 1975/76, while the disused Ash Bridge remained into 1991, though part of it still stands in Tempe Beach Park.

Goodwin would remain active in helping shape the territorial highway system through the rest of 1909. Alongside that he kept active with his mining interests, helping bring reports and samples from the first substantial cobalt and nickel deposit found in Arizona at the time. In September he would be appointed a delegate of the territory to the 12th annual American Mining Congress by Governor Richard Elihu Sloan. Upon returning he would throw himself headfirst into gathering a display for the territorial fair. After the fair, he took more trips around the territory to work mines while also keeping up the farm in Tempe. In March he would be part of the election board for Tempe’s public and high school trustees. In May he would climb Four Peaks, but his friends all seemed to doubt it. In response he published his notes about the mountains and his trip in The Republican. Shortly after he would be invited to the reunion of the Rough Riders in New York City to welcome Roosevelt back to the United States from Europe. The trip began on June 11, making a stop in St Louis to pick up more Rough Riders before arriving in New York. Many had a bet going that Goodwin would end up in the papers this side of the Mississippi, which he managed to do. His picture appeared in the Saint Louis Times alongside other Rough Riders on June 15. They had arrived there on the 13th and left the night of the 14th, passing through Parkersburg, West Virginia on the 15th. That day President Taft was in the nearby town of Marietta, Ohio, planning to couple his car to the Rough Rider train to accompany them to the White House and then to New York. At the last minute his car was switched to the regular service train, meeting Goodwin and the other Rough Riders at the White House on the 16th. On the 18th, Teddy Roosevelt pulled into New York aboard the SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria. After being brought ashore, he met the Rough Riders who escorted him in a parade that ended at the Plaza Hotel, where he individually greeted every Rough Rider in attendance. It’s not clear how long Goodwin remained in New York after the parade, but by July 8 he had made his way to his childhood home in Missouri to spend some time. He was back in Tempe by late July. In August he would be nominated for the Constitution Congress, but ultimately wasn’t brought on, though he did remain very involved with the process. In September, he would once again be appointed as a delegate to the American Mining Congress. In October, he would donate his Rough Rider uniform and medal to Territorial Historian Sharlot M. Hall, who was working on a historical library. His uniform and medal are now owned by the Tempe History Museum. Part of this collection would be displayed at the territorial fair, where James was once again managing the mineral department. Thanks to his years of going around the territory trying to get mines and towns to display their minerals at the fair, the mineral show had grown to become one of the main attractions, becoming pretty cramped in the building they had during 1910. The people running the Copper Queen mine donated large chunks of ore with colors described as being as brilliant as a Belgian tapestry. They told Goodwin they were already searching for ore to send in to next year’s fair. Along with his success at the fair, he was having great success with his date trees in Tempe. He had been working for a while to spread word about Arizona around the country, and part of that was sending crates of his dates to important people. One of these men was Teddy Roosevelt, who was planning a now well known trip to Tempe the upcoming spring.

Goodwin would start 1911 off by going to Phoenix to check out the work being done on the Hotel Adams after the original had burned down. He was wanting to check for any possible ore found in the excavation of the site. On January 13, he would be appointed an inspector as part of the election board when Tempe wanted to establish a telephone franchise. The city approved it by a vote of 119 for and 6 against on February 20. Shortly before that, on January 30, he would be one of 36 men to denounce the Arizona constitution that had been proposed the previous December, stating they would not recognize it as work of the Democratic Party of Arizona. While working on the issues with the proposed constitution, he would also be part of a group of Rough Riders getting everything ready for Roosevelt’s stop in the valley as part of his transcontinental tour to dedicate the Roosevelt Dam just east of town. Roosevelt would arrive in Tempe on March 20, coming out onto the front steps of Old Main just after 10 am. He had been held up a few minutes in Mesa after he made unplanned remarks to school children that had gathered down there. He spoke to a crowd of 3000 people, congratulating them on building the fine institution in Tempe, recounting the seven of his Rough Riders who had attended school there. After 12 minutes and seventeen seconds, Roosevelt’s speech ended and he made his way west to Phoenix. On the way he crossed the newly finished Central bridge, commending it. He reached City Hall Plaza around 11:30 am, making a speech primarily about Arizona and statehood. Afterwards he would attend a banquet held by the Rough Riders at the Ford Hotel, and dedicated the new 10-bed infirmary for St. Luke’s.

After Roosevelt’s departure, Goodwin largely returned to mining and farming. In September he embarked on another territory wide tour to gather minerals for the territorial fair. He went from Phoenix to Ray, then Globe, Miami, Clifton, Morenci, Douglas, Bisbee, Tombstone, and Tucson. In Tucson he arranged for the Pima County Fair’s mineral display to be sent to Phoenix when they wrapped up. The fair went well despite their building still being small. Going into 1912, he would again have education work early on in the year. In February he was appointed to a committee that was in charge of campaigning for bringing the new proposed agricultural school to the Normal School. The University of Arizona was given land by the government for each of its schools, including an agricultural school, but the legislature had written the law creating the Normal School in a way that would allow it to create an agricultural department and potentially get that land/money from the government instead. In July, Goodwin would leave for Chicago to attend Roosevelt’s Progressive National Convention as the delegate for Arizona. He was surprised to find that he couldn’t just walk up and grab a seat to the event like one could in Arizona, but being a Rough Rider, he managed to get into the event. In the end he found that Roosevelt’s new party didn’t offer anything that Arizona Democracy didn’t, and he was happy with that already. After returning in early September, he was again in charge of the mineral exhibit at the State Fair, with his displays being acclaimed in the paper. The next year didn’t have much mention of him until the 1913 State’s Fair, playing out the same way it had the last few years. In the lead up to it, he would hold the Old Settler’s Picnic at the Goodwin home, hosting nearly 200 of the valley’s longest residents. One of the earliest settlers there was Niels Peterson, one of the richest ranchers on the south side, having come to the valley in 1869. Other notable attendees were graduates of the first Normal School class, Reese M. Ling, and Colonel James H. McClintock, also a former Rough Rider. The picnic had been held yearly for some time by then, but this was the largest gathering they’d ever had. It had been held a few times at the Goodwin home. By this time, the land that the Goodwins owned around the home was about 75 acres, 20 of it being within Tempe city limits.

1914 would be a more active year for Goodwin, starting off January by receiving word from the Panama-Pacific Exposition that Arizona would be given a space of 122 by 85 feet in the Palace of Mining and Metelergy, instead of in the Grand Canyon of Arizona building. Just 5 days after that letter was published in the paper, the Goodwin’s 4th child, Woodrow Wilson Goodwin, was born on January 12. At the same time, James and Libbie would be working on a subdivision of part of their land surrounding the home. It was announced on February 17 that they were subdividing 20 acres into Goodwin Homes, bordered by Farmer Ave, University, Mitchell Dr, and 11th St. Work on the roads started shortly after, and it was all made official with Tempe’s Town Clerk on May 12 after it was approved by the Tempe city council the night before. Just a couple days earlier he had been appointed to the election board for the public school on whether funds could be used to purchase land to expand on the south. This was approved on May 23. By that September, Goodwin embarked on another campaign for State Legislature. His work on the State Fair mining display wasn’t hampered by his run for election, once again putting on a praised show. While he was campaigning, Arizona would hold a vote on the prohibition of alcohol. Tempe seemed to be overwhelmingly in favor of it as they held a ratification party on November 6, with James being one of many speakers. During the same election, James was elected as a representative for Maricopa County in State Legislature. Almost right away he was in the papers for being one of only two representatives in support of splitting Mesa and Tempe away from Maricopa County into a new Orange County, with Mesa as the capital, despite Tempe having always been in favor of staying with Maricopa in the past. Along with this, he would be elected a director of the Arizona chapter of the American Mining Congress when it formed on December 10. He would work alongside Rachel Emma Berry of Apache County to get a bill passed making it illegal to smoke inside the Capital after his bill was passed in early January 1915. In July he would begin working with other Tempe citizens to arrange subdividing 640 acres of land owned by the Normal School that was at the time primarily used for growing cattle feed, located west of the town along the river. Goodwin had helped enact a new land code with the State Legislature that allowed for the sale of school land, and Tempe proposed the sale of Normal School land almost immediately. In September, he would again go out to gather samples for the State Fair, reporting that business was better than it had ever been in the southern and eastern mining towns. On October 16 he would again be host of a notable gathering of the Old Settler’s Picnic, this time having congressman Carl Trumbull Hayden, and Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall in attendance. He had hosted it the previous year as well but it wasn’t written about. At the picnic, Goodwin would be reelected as secretary of the Old Settler’s society. A few weeks later, in November, Goodwin was appointed to the floor committee for arranging a charity ball put on by the veterans of the Spanish-American War in the old armory at 1st St and Polk.

In February 1916, Goodwin announced he was not planning on running for reelection to the State Legislature after not being on board for Governor Hunt’s mine tax bill. He said that he wouldn’t run unless a large amount of his constituents requested him to. They must’ve requested him to as by September he was campaigning again. In the months leading up to that, James had been working with his brothers, Thomas and Garfield, on gathering together claims in the area around Superior to form the Magmatic Copper Company. By August the property was developing well and showing promise, with the company being fully incorporated with 1,000,000 shares in November. James was the president, Thomas the vice president, and Garfield the secretary and treasurer. In December, after coming back from the mines, James reported that 12 men were digging the main shaft and establishing a new road under the supervision of Thomas.

(The whole thing is too long for the body of the post, so the rest is in the comments)