Hoping to instill the importance of history in its new, younger residents, a historic Tucson neighborhood will celebrate its birthday with a bash.
The Jefferson Park neighborhood, bounded by Speedway and Grant Road and Campbell and Euclid avenues, will celebrate its 125 years with a community event Nov. 5.
“This neighborhood is getting more and more university people and younger families, but they don’t know the history,” said Joan Daniels, past president and member of the neighborhood association. “If we don’t share the history, then all these new folks won’t understand it or preserve it.
“These neighborhoods around the university are iconic.”
Jefferson Park has about 900 homes, three churches and the International School of Tucson, formerly Jefferson Park Elementary School.
In 1898, 28-year-old Anne Stattelman homesteaded the 158 acres of land that would become Jefferson Park, just north of the University of Arizona, according to the official homestead documents.
The primary residence was a 32-by-32-foot home with five chicken houses and a barn, well and windmill valued at $1,500, in the area of Santa Rita Avenue and Linden Street.
In 1899, she married Frank Lester, who was the superintendent of Mammoth Mines, and she rode in the wagons that traveled back and forth from the mines, sometimes carrying gold.
Lester
In 1905, Lester recorded four street names with Pima County.
One was Lester Street, named for her family and the other three, Seneca, Linden and Waverly, were named after the trees from Germany.
The large home the Lesters built in 1920 still stands on East Lester St., near Mountain Ave.
The home of Annie Lester at 1225 E. Lester St., shot in the 1940s.
In the 1940s, after the war, veterans arrived in the Jefferson Park neighborhood to enroll at the university, and many homes, now with added carports, were built.
The neighborhood today has a mix of single-family homes, both ranch-style and bungalows, along with mini dorms.
The neighborhood received historic designation in 2012.
The Nov. 5 celebration will be held at the International School of Tucson, 1701 E. Seneca St., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
There will be an auction with vintage items, food trucks, an Old Pueblo trolley and antique cars.
The Arizona Historical Society will be on hand with displays.
The event is free and open to the public.
To learn more about the event and the neighborhood, visit jeffersonpark.info.
At the center of the University of Arizona sits the historic Old Main. This building, first opened in 1891, has seen many changes through its life. It currently houses the offices of the president of the university. Video by Pascal Albright / Arizona Daily Star
