[Source: Diana Balazs, Arizona Republic] -- Elena Samfilippo and her father, Joe Samfilippo, were excited about going on a guided tour of Scottsdale's historic Old Town district. The two have lived in Scottsdale since 1959 but have never participated in such a tour. They have fond memories of the city back then. "When we moved out here, Cochise and I used to run around together," Joe Samfilippo joked. The 81-year-old retired sign painter said Scottsdale was a beautiful city, where cars were scarce and residents rode into town on horseback to buy groceries. Elena Samfilippo, 51, remembers going to the Little Red Schoolhouse as a child. The school was built in 1909 and housed the city's library. It is now home to the Scottsdale Historical Society and houses the society's museum (pictured above). "The children's section was downstairs....I'd go down there and select my books, and we'd check them out," Elena said. The two decided to go on Saturday's tour because they enjoy visiting downtown Scottsdale once a week. "I thought this would be a fun activity for us to do together," Elena said.
The Scottsdale Historic Preservation Commission, the historical society, and city staff celebrated National Historic Preservation Month by conducting the guided tours. About 45 people participated. Barbara DeLand, 66, of Surprise, came with two friends. "I am just awestruck," DeLand said as she stood inside Our Lady of Perpetual Help Old Adobe Mission Church. "I mean, there's just so much that you never know and you take for granted until you learn all this, and how far back it goes, and why it became what it became," DeLand said.
George Hartz, 54, historic preservation commission vice chairman, told the tour participants that one of the commission's goals is to make sure that as the city moves forward, the links to the city's past are remembered. "One of the things about historic buildings, once they're gone, they're gone. A couple times people have said, 'Well, how can you be preserving buildings that are only 50 years old?' The obvious answer is if you don't preserve your 50-year-old buildings, you won't have any 100-year-old buildings," Hartz said.
Scottsdale native JoAnn Handley, a historical society member and one of Saturday's tour guides, said many people don't realize that Scottsdale has a past. "In order to preserve it, we have to educate people and let the people know that indeed we do have a history here," Handley said.
