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PHOENIX - The name "Neighborhood House" is an odd fit for the aging building on Seventh Street. It is surrounded by businesses and busy streets. It is not used as a house - and never was.
But when the idea for a community center was conceived in the early 1900s, the name proved to be a perfect match. Neighborhood House became a social, civic and religious center for the close-knit South Mountain area.
The original Neighborhood House was built in 1912 by the "Ladies Aid of the South Side." Residents were lacking a central meeting place. And faced with new settlers in the area, a group of women decided to open a community center to meet the "social, welfare and religious requirements of the community," according to the city's historical records.
The group convinced the Bartlett-Heard Land and Cattle Co. to donate land at Seventh Street and Southern Avenue for the center. The company agreed to pay half of the building costs. The remaining funds were raised through hayrides, swimming parties and dances.
The name was later suggested by Dwight Heard's wife, Mae. Neighborhood House served most needs in the community. It became a meeting place for groups such as the Roosevelt Neighborhood Women's Club and Las Flores Garden Club. It was used by Roosevelt School as an auditorium. On Sundays, residents gathered there for church services and Sunday school until the Congregational Church was built just to the north.
In 1925, Dwight Heard recalled former President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to the Neighborhood House, writing:
"I shall never forget the satisfaction that Theodore Roosevelt obtained when, at the time he dedicated the great Roosevelt Dam, I had the pleasure of showing him this community house, the Roosevelt School, and the Co-operative Center Street Bridge.
"He believed so fundamentally in the need of a happy, centered country life and realized so thoroughly that the men and women who own their homes are the sheet anchor of the Nation."
By 1937, a costly tax bill and other expenses forced the building's trustees to give it to Mae Heard. The deed was transferred to the Roosevelt School District, and the building was then modified and enlarged.
Neighborhood House is owned by the district. It's latest use? A community technology center where students and adults can learn about computers and the Internet.
Arizona Republic, May, 1996
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