Farmer-Goodwin Mansion

This adobe house, begun in 1885, belonged to Hiram Bradford Farmer, the first principal and lone instructor of the Territorial Normal School, the tiny teachers' college that grew into Arizona State University. In its early days the house doubled as the school's first dormitory, since Mrs. Farmer took in women students as boarders when there was nowhere else for them to stay. Sold in 1902 to the Goodwin family whose name it also carries, the building survives on the National Register, a modest cradle of the university that now anchors the city around it.

What the plaque says

Begun in 1885 and completed in February 1886 by Hiram Bradford Farmer, this adobe house belonged to the first principal and sole instructor of the newly founded Territorial Normal School, now Arizona State University. It unofficially served as the school's first dormitory, since Mrs. Farmer took in women students as boarders. In 1902 the property was sold to Mrs. James C. Goodwin. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Phoenix — 7.7 mi
  The fifth-largest US city, built on the canals of a thousand-year-old one
• Heard Museum — 8.2 mi
  The Native Southwest, told in the first person
• Taliesin West — 14 mi
  Frank Lloyd Wright's desert masterwork, grown from the ground it stands on

More markers nearby

• Tempe Hardware Building — 0.4 mi
• The Old Church — 0.5 mi
• Hayden House — 0.6 mi
• Site of Hayden's Ferry — 0.6 mi