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History of 144 E. University Boulevard

What we know so far..
September 1, 1873: Tully, Ochoa &
Company is issued Deed #786 for the entirety of Block 39 by the Village of
Tucson.
Pinckney R. Tully and
Estavan Ochoa became partners in a mercantile and freighting business in
Mesilla, NM, moving their headquarters to Tucson in 1868. Each man served
one term as mayor of Tucson, Ochoa being the first Hispanic to do so. The
coming of the railroad severely curtailed the need for long distance
freighting; by 1884, declining revenues forced the sale of land.
May 31, 1884: Tully, Ochoa & Co. sells
Block 39, along with 43 other parcels of land, to Theodore L. Stiles.
Stiles was a partner
in the law firm of Haynes & Stiles with John Haynes. He also sat on the
US Court Commission. An active land speculator, Stiles acquired much his
property from bankruptcies and quickly resold it. He left Tucson in 1887
for Tacoma, WA. It is not known when he sold the property to J. S.
Vosburg.
July 14, 1884: J. S. Vosburg sells
Block 39, along with other parcels of land, to John Gardiner.
Born in 1846, John Gardiner came to Tucson in 1879 from Philadelphia, where he had been an
engineer and supervised construction at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
He served in Tucson as a County Surveyor, City Engineer, and
Superintendent of the Water Works. He was also a member of the
School Board and an early regent for the
University of Arizona. Gardiner was a
partner with his brother, James, and two others in
Gardiner, Worthen & Goss, a manufacturing and iron
works. He died in 1930.
January 31, 1899: Stiles sells Block 39 to
Dr. Thomas M. Smith.
Smith was a local
doctor of whom little is known. It is not clear how Stiles was able to
sell the property for a second time. This may not have been an entirely
legitimate sale or Stiles may have held onto a partial interest in the
property when he sold it to Vosburg.
February 5, 1899: Smith sells Lots 1, 4, 5,
and 8 of Block 39 to Ada M. Humphries or Humphrey.
It is not known who
Humphrey was, but she obviously had some kind of personal or business
connection with the Gardiners in the development of the area.
March 27, 1899: Smith sells the south half of
Block 39 to Henrietta Starr.
Starr’s husband,
Richard, was initially an auctioneer and became involved in real estate
speculation and development.
July 20, 1899: The Board of Equalization
raises the property value of Lot 1 of Block 39. Ada M. Humphries is
listed as the sole owner. It is unclear if physical improvements had been
made causing the increase or if the property itself had become more
valuable.
July 25, 1899: Smith and Henrietta and
Richard Starr sell all their interest in Block 39 to Anna Marie
Gardiner, the wife of John Gardiner. The purchase was likely made to consolidate the Gardiners’ claim to Block 39 so they could develop it.
Summer
1899: John Gardiner builds a home on Lot 1 of Block 39, in an addition
known as “Gardiner’s Terrace.” The address is 144 E. Third Street. The
Arizona Daily Star describes the house as “a story and one half
building of brick, five rooms on the lower floor and two on the upper.
There will be large and specious porches around the building.”
The
property is co-owned by Anna M. Ramsey / Gardiner and Ada M. Humphrey. They each
separately own other lots in Block 39. Though referred to as an
“addition,” Gardiner’s Terrace does not appear to have had an official
status in existing Pima County records. The March 1901 Sanborn Map of
Tucson shows the six lots along N. Sixth Avenue with homes, no doubt the
beginnings of Gardiner’s Terrace.
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Gardiner Terrace was owned by Anna Ramsey Gardiner and Ada Humphries.
It consisted of the entire block of beautiful homes south of The Big
Blue House along 6th Ave. Click the image to view a 1901 plat map of
the neighborhood. The "Rondstadt Home" will be built a couple years
later just south of "Gardiner Terrace"
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Picture of the house immediately after being built in 1899. The
picture was taken before the rock fence was constructed.
Among other things, John Gardiner owned a machine shop in Tucson.
The Ronstadts were famous for their wagon and carriage making skills.
And of course Linda Ronstadt, the famous singer. The same family.
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Above porch in 1901
Above porch in
above 2007 |
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1906-1908:
The address is changed to 743 N. Sixth Avenue.
1908: The
address is changed once more, to 144 E. University Boulevard.
June 34,
1914:
Gardiner sells the house and lot to José María (Joseph M.) “Pepe” Ronstadt and then Gardiner moved to 124 E. University Blvd.
Ronstadt, the son of
Federico A. Ronstadt, was born in Altar, Sonora, in 1879 and came to
Arizona in 1885. Early in his career, he was the Tucson Postmaster and a
county supervisor. With brother Fred and brother-in-law Jesus M. Zepada,
he started F. Ronstadt Company. Ronstadt owned the Santa Margarita Ranch,
which was the headquarters for the Baboquivari Livestock Company. He was
president of that organization, as well as of the Ronstadt Commission
Company, and was a director of the Southern Arizona Bank and Trust
Company. Ronstadt died in 1933, leaving the house to his wife, Hortense,
who died in 1965.
1935: The
house is vacant.
1936-1946:
The house is occupied by a succession of four tenants, mostly families.
1946: The
house is converted to apartments, managed by John A. Corwin.
1951:
Mattie T. Baker buys the house, operating it as the Baker Apartments. It
is not known from whom Baker purchased the property.
1952-2005:
The house continues to be used as apartments.
2006 -
Present: The neglected house was purchased by (Lea)
Leona Marie Ramsey
(We We do not yet know if Lea
is related to Anna Marie Ramsey
/ Gardiner.
Both Ramsey
families originating from Pennsylvania, However, the coincidence is
intriguing...
Lea M. Lea M. Ramsey is a 20 year veteran of the hospitality
industry. After having been a "Troubleshooter" for Best Western
International and a training supervisor for several franchise hotel
organizations, Lea worked as an independent Hospitality Management Consultant for many years. Her accomplishments range from carving a resort out of the
raw Central American Jungle in Belize, to
operating the most upscale of Wedding Properties in California's
Napa/Sonoma Wine
Country. Her diverse range of experience in the industry uniquely
qualifies her to build and operate her own bed and breakfast resulting in:
The Big Blue House - Tucson
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