I recently sat down with Ralph and we scrolled through my camera roll, looking at photos that he or my parents had shared with me of the various homes family members had lived in, as well as other places of significance, in Mesa, Arizona. Here's the roundup!
As you see these photos and read through the descriptions, if these trigger any memories, we'd love to hear! Please reach out and share!
257 S Hobson Street
This is the duplex where George and Kate Findlay lived, with teenage daughters Ina and Ella, when they first arrived in Mesa from Scotland in 1949. It's on the corner of S Hobson and East 3rd Avenue. They lived here until George built a home for them, just a few houses away.
How long did they live here? (until 1953?) How many bedrooms? Square feet? Any unique features about it? Has it changed much since the family lived here?
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| 257 S Hobson Street Photo taken October 2016
251 S Hobson Street
This is the home that George Findlay built for his family, which was under construction when Ralph and Ella got married in March of 1953. It's just north of the duplex where the Findlays were living when they first moved to Mesa.
How long did they live here? (until 1953?) How many bedrooms? Square feet? Any unique features about it? Has it changed much since the family lived here?
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This is the home where Earl and Bertha Inglish lived, and where Ralph was living (in the basement) when he was in his senior year of high school and he met Ella.
This was the first house that Earl and Bertha owned. Prior to that they had always been in rentals.
How long did they live here? How many bedrooms? Square feet? Any unique features about it? Has it changed much since the family lived here?
Ralph shared his Uncle Ray built this home, using money he received from his GI Bill after World War II. In fact, Ralph helped dig out the basement with his cousin Don Johnson. (By hand?) It was a one-room basement, with an outside stairway. (That's how basements were built at the time - more for storage.)
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323 S Lesueur Avenue
Photo taken October 2016
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323 S Lesueur Avenue
Photo taken October 2016
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| 323 S Lesueur Avenue Photo taken May 2018 |
629 East Main Street
This the Dairy Queen where Ralph would occasionally work as a teenager. The exterior hadn't changed much in 70 years. Unfortunately, this building was razed in May 2018.
When Ralph was growing up, there were two Dairy Queens in Mesa, owned by two brothers. Milford Wray had the location on Country Club Drive on the west end of Mesa, just south of Main Street. And his brother Jesse Wray had the location on Main Street in the east side of Mesa near the LDS temple.
Ralph usually worked at the location at Country Club Drive - from his sophomore to senior years of high school, about 2 1/2 years - but he would help clean the east location sometimes as well. Ella would come down and help too - this was when they were dating.
The location at 629 East Main Street had a simple set up: it was an ice cream dispensary with 2 doors, two windows that they served ice cream from. No place to sit down and eat it - walk up only (not even picnic tables outside.) But despite all this, it was still a popular place!
The location at Country Club Drive is still in operation, though the building has been rebuilt.
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| 629 East Main Street Photo taken May 2018 |
In the 1950s, this was known as the LDS 5th Ward Chapel, and this is where Ralph and Ella held their wedding reception. It was just about a block away from Earl and Bertha's home at 323 S Lesueur Avenue, on the corner of E Broadway Road and S Lesueur Street. It's no longer an LDS chapel but rather a school (called the New Horizon School).
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| Former LDS 5th Ward Chapel Photo taken October 2016 |
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| Former LDS 5th Ward Chapel Photo taken October 2016 |
1012 S Horne Street
This is the home where Bertha Inglish and daughters Juanita and Hugh Ophelia lived after they were all widows. (Love the pink! Though looking at the current home on Google, it's now white.)
My favorite story about the three of them I've heard thus far is about the VW bug they'd cruise around in together! Hah! And how they would frequent the Dairy Queen together, like Three Musketeers.
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1012 S Horne Street
Photo courtesy of cousin SB
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Sources:
- Photos taken by Ralph and/or BR.
- Details from conversations with Ralph on 28 October 2019 and 15 January 2020.
- More information about the closure of the Dairy Queen at 629 East Main Street: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2018/05/07/mesa-dairy-queen-main-street-shutters/587808002/
Questions:
- What other places of significance should we include here?
- The home where Ralph's Uncle Ray lived? Also on S Lesueur, right next to Grandma Bertha and Grandpa Earl Inglish?
Would love to:
- Plot all of these on a map. Add that to the to-do list!
