[Source: Aimee Staten, Eastern Arizona Courier] -- A Safford woman caught a glimpse of a future in which the older, statelier homes of yesterday are replaced or crowded cheek by jowl with mobile or manufactured homes, and she didn’t like what she saw. As local cotton fields and desert areas are slowly taken over by new housing developments, Susan Elsberry, owner of the historic William Talley House, is trying to preserve the integrity of the oldest homes and businesses in the Gila Valley by the formation of a historic district. She is also attempting to protect the dignity of the neighborhoods that hold these structures.
The William Talley House on 11th Street in Safford is one of 22 local structures on the National Register of Historic Places for the state of Arizona. Elsberry’s house is neighbor to some of the oldest homes built in the Gila Valley. From her front porch one can see the Olney House to the west, and her home is surrounded on three sides by the William Charles Davis House, the Hugh Talley House and the James R. Welker House — all of which are listed on the National Register. The William Talley House is not the grandest in its neighborhood, nor is it the most modest. The Spanish Revival model home, which boasts clean lines, a ceramic shingle roof and Moorish windows, is down the road from a grand Queen Anne-style home and directly across the street from two tiny, historical homes that sit side by side on a small piece of property.
These differences are what make the neighborhood not only valuable but also correctly reflect the history of the area. While the homes reflect their builders’ preferences in style and period, their walls also echo with sounds of past families living, rearing children for future generations of the Gila Valley, celebrating triumphs and mourning losses. As of the year 2000, Graham was the only county in Arizona that did not have a designated historic district, according to the state preservation plan update from the Arizona State Parks. Both the style and the historical significance of each is why Elsberry believes it is so important to preserve these structures, so she is busy trying to gather community support to petition for the historic district designation. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
