Across from Rendezvous Park, Mesa’s first train depot at Sirrine and 3rd Streets, demolished more than 80 years ago, began welcoming passengers in 1895.
This station would later be built in the 1930s at Robson Street and Third Avenue.
Month: August 2016
Local man shares his passion, collection of historical Mesa photos
New feature added this week to Mesa News Today
By Jill Adair
Phil Hannum spent many influential years of his life, including high school, in Mesa. He later moved away but his thoughts often turned back to what he considers “home.”
Years later, as he was nearing retirement age in Tennessee, he saw a Facebook page that showed historical photos of a local community. Phil’s interest was sparked.
“I thought I’ve got to do something with Mesa,” he says.
He began collecting photos online of old Mesa.
“It began with downtown Mesa,” he says, “and what it was like in the 1960s.”
That time was dear to Phil, having graduated from Westwood High School in 1966.
Phil started a Facebook group about seven years ago called “If you grew up in Mesa, AZ you remember…” The site has more than 1,000 members.
He enjoys sharing the photos, and the memories.
“The photos bring out a lot of comments,” he says. “It stirs up old memories.”
He’s also made a lot of friends through the Facebook page but his greatest surprise came from connecting to a woman who had also graduated from Westwood the same year but they had not been acquainted in high school.
This woman, a widow, began commenting on some of the old photos with Phil, who is divorced, and those comments led to messaging and to meeting face-to-face. Penne would become his wife.
The two were married and moved back to Mesa several years ago.
Now they visit the Mesa Room together in the Mesa Library, copying old photos and advertisements and researching dates and places.
He says he expanded his photo collection to the earliest days of the city through the 80s.
“I bet I have a better collection of old Mesa photos than anyone,” he boasts. “It started as a hobby, and then it took off.”
While he enjoys seeing the growing city of Mesa unfold in the photos his favorites are from the 60s.
“That 60’s era – that me,” he says.
Phil says Mesa has obviously changed a lot.
“Some for the good, some for the bad; but I still call it home,” he says.
Editor’s note: We kick off this week a special weekly feature to Mesa News Today, “A Look Back,” spotlighting photos and captions from the collection of Phil Hannum’s historical Mesa photos. Sign up for the FREE weekly newsletter by email to MesaNewsToday@gmail.com. Follow on Facebook and Twitter too!
Several photos of nearly 3,000 from Phil Hannum’s collection
Mesa News Today – Week of Aug. 15
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Featured posts: City Election issues
Public safety, city finances are big issues in Mesa’s three city council primaries
Mesa voters in the Aug. 30 primary election have choices in all three districts where council seats are up for grabs. In each race, the city’s long-term debt appears to be a big concern for most candidates.
UPDATE: CHANGES TO EARLY VOTING AND BALLOT DROP OFF LOCATIONS
Voters on the Permanent Early Voting List and voters wishing to receive an early ballot who are not registered with a declared political party must contact Maricopa County Elections at (602) 506-1511 to request which ballot they want to receive (Republican, Democrat, Green or non-partisan if it is a ballot for Mesa City candidates only).
Mesa News Today – Week of Aug. 9
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Featured post:
Mountain View to name football field after Jesse Parker
From AZCentral:
Mesa Mountain View received unanimous approval from the Mesa Public Schools’ governing board on Tuesday to name its football field after its first coach, Jesse Parker.
The renaming will take place on Aug. 26, when the Toros open the season at home under their fifth coach, Mike Fell, who came in from Lima, Ohio to take over the program this year.
Parker started the program in 1975 after leading Phoenix Camelback to a state championship in 1974. He quickly built the Toros into a perennial big-schools powerhouse, leading them to state championships in 1978, 1983, 1986 and 1993. After he left in 1995 to begin coaching Texas high school football, Bernie Busken continued the tradition Parker started, winning titles in 1996, ’97 and ’99.
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Mesa News Today – Week of Aug. 1
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Featured post:
Mesa family on alert after possible prowler caught on camera
See the video here:
Mesa News Today – Week of July 25
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Featured post:
The Story Behind This Running Mesa Police Officer’s Act of Kindness
On July 1, Kent Green, a police officer in Mesa, Arizona, began receiving messages from people who said they had seen his photo on Facebook. Not knowing what they were talking about, he didn’t know if he should be concerned. Then he learned that a local citizen had caught him in an act of kindness.
Mesa News Today – Week of July 18
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City Election Spotlight: Who’s running? See the Facebook page for more info.
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