As our main focus, The Tempe Historical society is proud to
support one of the truly great museums in the Southwest:
The Tempe History Museum
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                  The Petersen House

The Tempe Historical Society supports the Petersen House Museum, a restored Queen Anne Victorian house that is used to interpret daily life in Tempe around the turn of the century.
The Tempe Historical Museum was founded by the Tempe Historical Society, which opened a 4,800-square foot exhibit hall in the east wing of the Tempe Public Library building in 1972.
In 1984, the Museum became a division of the City of Tempe's Community Services Department. In the following year, a bond issue was approved, and work began on converting the entire 36,000-square foot library building into a new museum. The new Tempe Historical Museum, with an 8,000-square foot exhibit gallery, opened to the public on June 15, 1991.  In 2010, the museum will  be renamed as the Tempe History Museum.
History and Vision of the Museum
Go to the Tempe History Museum

Go to the Tempe History Museum site

Exciting things are underway at the museum! The contractors have been hired and the planning is underway for the museum's $3.5 million remodel, its first updating since it opened in 1991. This next phase requires research and brainstorming to uncover and develop ideas to make the museum an exciting and interactive place to visit, time and time again. Staff, volunteers and the public have been meeting with Weddle Gilmore Architects and Gyroscope, Inc., the exhibit design firm, to share their ideas and de­velop new ones.

It has already been determined that the exhibit gallery will have a thematic layout ver­sus its current chronological one and will employ technology to tell Tempe's story. Plans are to make the museum more user-friendly for all ages, including interactive `stations' where families can engage in educational activities together, as well as a separate children's gallery that caters to the needs of pre-school and elementary school-aged children. Just so visitors will always remember their museum experience, the planning team is working on developing some kind of fun, interactive photo feature which would allow visitors to create, printout and take home a digital photo as a keep­sake of their visit. According to Tom Canasi, Community Services Department Man­ager, "These changes will enable the museum to better convey Tempe's rich and di­verse history."

 

Artist’s conception of the front of the Tempe History Museum

Other plans include an expanded lobby space that will accommodate a variety of public gatherings. The existing classroom, too, will be expanded into a program room with greater seating capacity and versatility. Most noticeable will be changes to the exterior of the building. Some type of "visual marker" is planned along Southern Avenue to catch the eye and pique the interest of the thousands of drivers who pass by each day. Also, the front entrance will have greater visibility, possibly. at night as well as during the day, and will clearly identify the building as a museum.

 

The planning timeline calls for the final design to be complete by August 2008, con­struction taking place between September 2008 and September 2009; and exhibit in­stallation happening between November 2008 and November 2009. We will keep you informed of progress through this newsletter and information is always available under the Museum Renovation section of the website at www.tempe.gov/museum.