In a place that regards "old" as homes built in the '90s, it's fortifying to see that some homes and businesses of the earliest settlers still remain.

Some of the oldest standing structures have been turned into local brew pubs, pizza places and hotels. Others have been preserved to reflect that moment in time when the dusty desert was scarcely populated but had ambitions to put school, gas and lodging within reach.

Here are the Valley's oldest — as nearly as we can confirm — standing structures. We consulted community museums, historical societies and city staff members. A few cities did not keep historical records and have never performed an historical survey.

In a few cases, private residences in a city are believed to be the oldest structures, but little information about them could be found. Not every expert — most volunteer hobbyists — consulted agreed on the oldest structure in a particular city, nor the purpose for its construction.

In cases where the oldest structures were in dispute, we selected the structure with the most verifiable information about age and purpose for its existence. If you have additional ideas about historical structures in your area, please post them in the comments section.

Some structures look much the same as when built, others are barely recognizable as the historic structures they are:


Union Pacific Railroad bridge (1926): While no one in the city is exactly certain of the oldest structure, the Union Pacific railroad bridge has to be among the oldest and most known. The bridge spans the Agua Fria River with tracks that run parallel to Buckeye Road.


Shell Station (1959): A Shell gas station opened in 1959 at Cave Creek Road and Tom Darlington Drive and remains a Shell station to this day. The Carefree Sundial was erected the same year.

Cave Creek

Black Mountain Store (1928): Located across from Town Hall, this building began as a store and later became the Cave Creek Inn. It's now the site of an Oregano's restaurant.


The Chandler Bank Building (1913): The building that now houses the San Tan Brewery in downtown Chandler predates the San Marcos Hotel, now known as the Crowne Plaza Phoenix-Chandler Golf Resort, by a few months. The building opened in February as the Bank of Chandler and offices of Chandler's founder, Dr. A.J. Chandler. Having served as a bank for decades, the building was empty when the brewery opened in September 2007.


Gilbert Historical Museum (1913): On the corner of Gilbert and Elliott roads, the Mission/Spanish Revival architecture is eye-popping. It was the town's original elementary school from the time it was built through 1977. The building became the museum in 1982.


Adobe Building (1887): Located at 9802 N. 59th Avenue at historic Sahuaro Ranch Park, the structure is on 640 acres purchased by William Bartlett, from Peoria, Ill. Bartlett hired Stephen H. Campbell to clear the land and plant fig trees and orchards. He lived in a tent for a year and then built the adobe for his residence and office.


Litchfield Train Station (circa 1920): The city has not performed an official historical survey of the community but is trying to restore a train station that dates from 1920 when it was built near Maricopa County 85 and Litchfield Road to serve passengers and freight. The station closed by the early '70s.

Litchfield Park

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The Wigwam (1918): This iconic resort began its existence when the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company built the three-room Organization House on site for cotton ranch suppliers. A portion of the original building still stands. The Wigwam opened in 1929 as a ranch that could accommodate 24 guests.


Pomeroy Building (1891): Built by the sons of one of Mesa's founding fathers, Francis Pomeroy, the first brick structure housed the city's earliest businesses. Location on West Main Street in downtown, the store was a clothing store and a shoe store.

Paradise Valley

The Hermosa Inn (1936:) A private residence in town that little is known about most likely predates the private home-turned-hotel called the Hermosa Inn. Yet the former hand-crafted abode of cowboy artist Lon Megargee is among the oldest known structures. The home became an inn in 1941 and the artist's original home was damaged in a fire in 1987, but some of the adobe walls were saved.


Peoria Presbyterian Church (1899): The church is the oldest building in the original Peoria Townsite. Built on 83rd Avenue and Madison Street, the red brick church is on the National Register of Historic Places.


Jones-Montoya House (1879): Built by an Anglo-Mexican couple that farmed the adjacent land at Buckeye Road and 10th Street, this adobe structure was typical of Phoenix's early homes. Now owned by non-profit Chicanos por la Causa, Inc., which built new offices around the house, it needs rehabilitation. The adobe was built by Wilson Walker Jones and his wife, Alcaria Montoya, at a time when Phoenix's population was 2,453.


The Titus House (1892)This private residence, south of McDowell Road on the west side of Hayden Road, is the only remaining Victorian house in Scottsdale. The one-story brick house was built by Frank Titus, a wealthy railroad investor who became an executive with Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad.


CT Hayden House  (1873): The oldest continuously occupied structure, the house evolved from a Sonoran row house, built by Charles Hayden's family between 1871 and 1873, to the well-known steakhouse Monti's La Casa Vieja. Hayden's son, Carl, an influential Arizona politician who has been called "the most important person in Arizona history," was born in the house in 1877. The house expanded and expanded to become a boarding house, a tea house and restaurant. It was purchased by Leonard Monti in 1954, and became a popular steak place until it closed in 2014. The site will be preserved as part of a multi-million dollar high-rise hotel project on the southwest corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway.

Republic reporter Maria Polletta contributed to this article.

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