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SHEMER HISTORY
The
property was originally part of 640 acres owned by
a group of investors who had visions of selling
home sites. They named the area “Arcadia,” founded
the Arcadia Water Company and began drilling
wells. In 1919 a small house was built for the
workman in charge of the project. It was the first
house in Arcadia. A small portion at the far east
end of the present house is presumed to have been
a part of that original structure. In the 1920s
the investors went broke from such factors as the
expense of drilling the wells, the depression and
most importantly people were not interested in
buying home sites so far from town.
A banker
from Kansas City in 1925 acquired the acreage,
part of which contained the small house. He added
a kitchen, living room and two of the bedrooms. He
named this show place “Casa de Wanda.” Two of the
original pillars marking the property can still be
seen on Exeter Drive. Citrus was also planted in
1926 and 1927. The property was divided into
40-acre home sites.
In 1927
the 40 acres containing the house was sold to the
Suhr family from Oil City, Pennsylvania, who were
purchasing it for a winter home. Another building
project was begun to enlarge the garage (now the
studio), add two more bedrooms and a bathroom,
enclose the porch, enlarge the kitchen and stucco
the outside to hide the many additions. This
resulted in the house as you see it today. The
Suhr family spent many wonderful winters in the
house and were joined by other family members from
California. Several have supplied us with historic
photographs and many great memories of their times
in the Phoenix home.
Finally,
in 1984, the house was put on the market once
again. Martha Shemer, a longtime Phoenix resident,
looked at the house in July of ’84 and was so
struck by the nostalgia of the house and the
picturesque view of Camelback Mountain that she
contacted Mayor Terry Goddard’s office and asked
if she purchased the property would the City
operate and maintain the facility. After due
deliberations the City Council accepted the
generous offer and at great expense to herself,
with no tax advantages, Martha Shemer made the
property available – at no cost – to the City of
Phoenix. |
