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In memory of Alvina Himmel Edmondson

by on Jan. 11, 2010, under Life, Politics

In 1897 when hardly anyone was living in what is now midtown Tucson, newlyweds Alvina Himmel Edmondson and her husband Charles S. Edmondson (from New Orleans) started homesteading 160 acres of land near what is now Speedway and Tucson Boulevard.

Alvina later single handedly homesteaded with her 4 daughters after she was divorced in 1927. In 1934 or 1935 Mrs. Himmel Edmondson sold part of her large homestead to the City of Tucson (for $3500), with the proviso that the land become a park named for her father Adolph Himmel and mother Harriette Himmel. Her father was a well-known silversmith in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This was an amazing pioneer woman and was obviously one of the first residents of what later became Sam Hughes Neighborhood.

At that time her closest neighbors were 2 miles away, and in a May 21, 1942 article (found in the Tucson Citizen archives), she relayed to the reporter that “coyotes, rattlesnakes and Indians caused her great uneasiness.” A photo of Alvina and her original redwood home accompanied the article. (I was unable to locate the original photo itself in the Tucson Citizen or Arizona Daily Star archives, or at the Arizona Historical Society (AHS). I made copies of the article/photo which are now in files at both Himmel library and the AHS.)

The neighborhood grew in that central area after the building of the elementary school (built in 1927 by famous local architect Roy Place), which was named for Sam Hughes, a businessman and politician. Hughes came to Tucson in 1858 and later married a local Mexican woman Atanacia Santa Cruz, and had 15 children (5 died in infancy) here in Tucson. Sam Hughes died in 1917 after Arizona became the 48th state in 1912. The Sam Hughes Elementary School is at 700 N. Wilson Avenue.

Alvina Himmel Edmondson died at age 78 on January 11, 1948, exactly 62 years ago, in the original redwood home (located at 2625 E. 1st Street — no longer there in Sam Hughes Neighborhood) on the land she had homesteaded on. Her daughter Catherine Edmondson continued to live in that house till the early 1970′s. From the address, that original homesite is now a parking lot of Catalina United Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway Blvd.

That’s the origin of Himmel Park, which was later expanded with more land purchases in 1944, and then the Himmel Park branch library was built in the northeast area of the park in 1961. The library is almost a historic building being nearly 50 years old, but the entire Sam Hughes neighborhood is already designated a National Historic District. This neighborhood’s boundaries are Speedway to Country Club to Broadway to Campbell Avenue, east of the University of Arizona.

Himmel Park branch library

Himmel Park branch library

For more information about Himmel Park branch library, log into their website, and for the Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association, see their website at www.samhughes.org.

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  • azmouse

    Great! I love hearing about Tucson history, but especially when strong women are in the story. Very fascinating.

    My family has allot of history here as well. (My Grandfather built Trail Dust Town, as well as The Bashful Bandit)

  • Carolyn Classen

    Thanks for commenting AZ mouse and sharing your personal family history.  Was your grandfather an architect and what was his name?

    • azmouse

      Hello Carolyn,
      My Grandfather grew up in Indiana helping his Father on the farm. As a boy he caught rheumatic fever, but as farm folk, you had to continue working the farm no matter what. The rheumatic fever ended up trashing his heart and heart valves in his adult life. He sold his farm, brought my Grandma and Dad to Tucson for health reasons (they would have seven more kids after moving to Tucson) They got a little trailer on the southside, and my Grandfather started buying up property with his money and building on it. He was no architect, but more of an entrepreneur. He was told he’d be lucky to live to see twenty, because of what the illness did to his heart, and in those days they couldn’t fix that kind of thing. The doctors just put him on morphine for his pain until he died. I think because of all that, he had kind of a ‘devil may care’ attitude.
      He ended up doing very well for him and his family. He bought land that, in those days was out of the city limits. He bought little parts of Speedway, built the Bashful Bandit (which he called then, “The Rio Rita’ bar) He bought both sides of Tanque Verde between Kolb and Wilmont and built the Trail Dust Town, along with Diamond X Feed Store, which was around till not to long ago and where my Dad worked most of his life, and on the opposite side of the street was a horse stable where folks could rent horses and go riding, he also had a golf course over there.
      The land he bought on Kolb Road, between Tanque Verde and Speedway stayed undeveloped for so long because my Grandmother wouldn’t sell it. It got sold after she passed about 8 or so years ago. She lived into her eighties, and worked at The Diamond X Feed Store with my Dad until she passed. My Grandfather, Robert (Bob) Harris outlived the prediction that he’d die when he was twenty, and lived to be forty six…my same age now!
      He died in the mid-sixties, and everyone told my Grandma to sell the feed store, because women weren’t business owners in those days, plus a feed store was man’s work. lol She made that store so much more successful than when my Grandfather was running it.

      • Carolyn Classen

        Thanks Azmouse for that fascinating history of your grandfather Robert Harris. Have you checked for any information on him at the Arizona Historical Society, where I did research on Alvina Himmel and Sam Hughes?

        • azmouse

          No I haven’t…do you think it might be worth looking into? I never even thought of anything like that, actually.

          • Carolyn Classen

            Nnot sure, but the Arizona Historical Society may have info on those buildings (Trail Dust Town and Bashful Bandit) if they were in the news in the past.  Using their research library is free, and so is parking in the U of A garage on Euclid Avenue (and E. 2nd Street) if you park in the AHS designated area.

          • azmouse

            Well thanks for the idea. You’ve renewed my interest in my family history through this blog!
            I know my parents have old pictures of all these places from ‘back in the day’. If I could find some interesting info it might be a neat gift for my Mom and Dad’s 50th anniversary party I’m planning for April.

  • Carolyn Classen

    Azmouse, I’ve been doing brief family bios of my immigrant grandparents and my parents, for my cousins, especially the younger ones who never met them.   I think knowing the family hardships and experiences is helpful and important for all of us, in appreciating those who came before.

    • azmouse

      I couldn’t agree more.
      I’ve done allot of genealogy on my Mom’s side of he family, but not my Dad.
      I appreciate your ideas on this and again, I just would not have thought to look where you are directing me to go and where you found so much information.

      I feel very fortunate that I read your blogs and you are so in touch with our community here.
      Just know how much that means.

      Thank you.
      Dianne

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