Tempe Historical Museum Oral Histories

Jessie Waterhouse Fisk was born in Iowa in 1893 and lived in Tempe from 1895 to 1915. Her father, Charles Henry Waterhouse, was a cotton farmer. He became president of the Southwest Cotton Growers Association, superintendent of the local water department, and was involved in building the first cotton gin in Tempe, as well as the large sugar beet processing factory in Glendale. When she was a child, her family lived on the Hermosa tract, across from Niels and Susanna Petersen. She graduated from the Tempe Normal School in 1912. In 1918, she married Floyd Fisk, the son of Rev. Wilbur Fisk, the minister of the Tempe Methodist Church. She resided briefly in Prescott, but lived most of her life in Phoenix, from about 1915 until her death in 1997.

SOLLIDAY: OK. Well, let's see. My name is Scott Solliday, and it's March 5, 1992, and today I'm interviewing Mrs. Jessie Waterhouse Fisk. How are you doing today, Mrs. Fisk?

FISK: Just fine, thank you.

SOLLIDAY: Uh, I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about, oh, when you were born, and, uh, oh, your earliest memories about Tempe?

FISK: Well, I was born in Iowa at my grandmother's home, but we were only there just for that, and then came to Tempe when I was two years old, in 1895. And I lived there for twenty years, so went to school, the eighth grade, building on the corner of Eighth Street and Mill, then went to Normal School and graduated in 1912. And then my father and I kept house for a little while . . . a couple of years, then I went to Phoenix, where I attended the Arizona School of Music for several years and got some degrees in music. Then, well, in 1905 we had a new minister who came to our Methodist Church in Tempe, Wilbur Fisk and his family, and he had a son, fourteen years old, and I was twelve, so we became friends, and then in 1918, we came back and we were married in Tempe at the Parsonage. So I haven't lived in Tempe since then.

SOLLIDAY: OK. Now that was still the old Parsonage at that time, wasn't it on Eighth Street?

FISK: Yes. The old Parsonage was there, but he wasn't there, because he had just signed up to go to Douglas for a new pastorate. The family hadn't gone, and they were staying in the Alberts . . . right next to the Petersen House . . . ranch house, out there, until the family could get themselves ready to go to Douglas. And we were married in that house.

SOLLIDAY: At the Alberts house?

FISK: Albertson.

SOLLIDAY: Albertsons' house?

FISK: Uh-huh.

SOLLIDAY: And, uh, now I've been looking through our files and the old newspapers, trying to get a little background information, and I came across the name, Charles Henry Waterhouse.

FISK: That my father. He was a very important man in those early days, because he was one of the pioneers and was into everything . . . was superintendent of the water department for a long time, and then, when they got interested in cotton, he was president of the first Southwest Cotton Growers Association, and built the first cotton gin there. And he was also interested in sugar beets, and they helped build the sugar beet factory in Glendale. I think the old building's still standing there.

SOLLIDAY: Oh, yes. Now, was that cotton gin right near, what was it, Seventh Street?

FISK: Right in . . . yeah. Right in Tempe, in that area. Um-hum.

SOLLIDAY: Now, did you live in town, or did you live out in the country?

FISK: Well, a while, of course, my mother died when I was five, and we lived close to the Petersen house in the Hermosa tract where old . . . I guess . . . I don't know how much she had . . . maybe a half an acre or an acre . . . two or three acres. I don't know, a small one, but anyway. And we all lived close together in there, but I only lived there 'till I was five. Then my grandparents came out from Nebraska to make a home for us, and then we lived in Tempe. My father bought five acres out near the creamery, and not far from the Hayden family home in East Tempe, and we lived there until she died -- my grandmother died, and I was twelve. Then I lived with a family 'till I was eighteen.

SOLLIDAY: Now, um, Reverend Fisk, uh, there is quite a bit that I've seen about him being so involved with the Methodist Church . . . uh, so many of the changes that happened at that time, and I know, well, now shortly after he came it seems he was involved with the Anti-Saloon League. That was . . . seemed like . . . was that really a . . .

FISK: I don't know about that.

SOLLIDAY: That was, uh, that was pretty early. How about when the Methodist Church was united, the North and the South.

FISK: Yes, the South Church moved in with us, and there was only one church from then on. And that little church was on the corner of Maple, and, I think its Sixth Street, because Eighth is down here and Fifth was down there where my folks lived after they retired, and I think it was Sixth.

SOLLIDAY: OK. Now, um, and what was your husband's name?

FISK: Floyd. Floyd Gilmore Fisk.

SOLLIDAY: OK. What did he do?

FISK: Well, he went to college and graduated and finished all his college work, and then, he wanted to be a doctor, but his family thought he wasn't strong enough, physically strong enough, or big enough to be a doctor, because in those days the doctor drove all over the valley taking care of people, night and day, and all that kind of thing, so he went, took agriculture. And we bought forty acres on Fortieth Street in Phoenix, when we were married, and lived there. Kept that for a number of years, but lived there five years. That's Fortieth Street now. It was called Four Mile Road then. Just a quarter of a mile south of Indian School Road.

SOLLIDAY: Yes. That's right in the center of town.

FISK: Yes. Right now. [laugh] Well, Father Fisk . . . of course the old church Well, Father Fisk, of course the old church got old, and was too small, so he built the one on the corner . . . well, it's on Eighth Street, but I don't know the cross street.

SOLLIDAY: Right over by the college.

FISK: Yes. Right by the college, univers- . . . Not far from where Doctor Matthews lived. His official home just a little while. And that was a very lovely church, and he built that one while he was there.

SOLLIDAY: Now I also saw in the newspaper mentioned a few times of a Charles A. Fisk. Was he related?

FISK: Don't know anything about him. Charles A. Fisk? No. I don't.

SOLLIDAY: Something that is rather interesting that I found a little bit about, is that the Methodist Church had a mission -- a Mexican mission -- over in East Tempe.

FISK: Yes. There were quite a number of Mexican families lived in the east part, just north of the campus across Eighth Street in that area before the butte. And that was always a part of his interest.

SOLLIDAY: It seemed a little bit unusual, since the Mexican American families had always been traditionally Catholic.

FISK: Well, there was a big Catholic Church there, and its still there, right across the corner from the college, from the university, so I don't remember very much going on about it. Some of the kids went to school where we did, of course, and I knew them. One woman made good tamales, and a few things I remember about that Mexican group [laugh] . . . the Celayas and all those people.

SOLLIDAY: Now, um, one area that we're certainly interested in is, since we do have the Petersen House, which we have tried to restore to show what it was like there on the Petersen farm in the earlier years, and did you know the Petersens? FISK: Very well. They gave us our silver tea service, which I have out on the counter, when we were married. Yes, they were very strong members of the church. I knew them very well. And of course, he built that big home for her as a bride. She came out from the east and she was married. She was a Decker. Her name was Decker.

SOLLIDAY: Do you have any idea how they might have met? It seems since . . .

FISK: Well he came from back out there, too, but he came out here and bought all this property, and, of course, had to have a wife.

SOLLIDAY: Oh, so he had traveled to the East before?

FISK: Oh, he'd lived back there, some place before he came here.

SOLLIDAY: OK. That's interesting. That was always a mystery that we were trying to solve.

FISK: Well the Bertlesens, Albertsons, and all of those sons all were friends and lived way back, I suppose, in Pennsylvania, although I'm guessing at that. But I think it probably was in there some place. And maybe they all came they all came from Denmark in the Scandinavian Country back there in the beginning, and then they met, and they heard about the West and all of that, so they came out here, and then he bought all that property because he was very wealthy.

SOLLIDAY: Now before he married Susanna, did he live by himself?

FISK: Well, it was just when he was building the place and taking care of the ranch, 'cause he had cattle, so he probably lived in the shack there or somewhere, although I couldn't tell you that.

SOLLIDAY: We've also been trying to find out a little bit about his first wife, Isabel Dunphy.

FISK: Don't know anything about her.

SOLLIDAY : OK. Uh, now, there's . . . I guess, the second family after the Petersens passed away, that their . . . um, that then was Edwin and Una Belle Hanna [Decker].

FISK: Yes, the Hannas lived close to us, and when my mother died, the Hannas took us in -- we were little kids -- before we went to Nebraska to get my grandmother. They were very close friends, the Hannas.

SOLLIDAY: Ah. And then -- well, of course, then, when Una Belle married . . . when they were married -- they did move away for a while.

FISK: Yes. Uh-huh. He was a minister, married, and had his pastorate somewhere else.

SOLLIDAY: Um. Now, with the house itself -- now, you have been through the house recently, haven't you?

FISK: The Petersen House -- yes.

SOLLIDAY: And one thing that we're not certain of is how it really looked earlier, and is there anything . . . well, had you been in the house when the Petersens lived there?

FISK: Yes. Yes. When they lived there.

SOLLIDAY: What . . . How did they . . . Can you remember how they furnished their house, if there was anything that you can remember that . . .

FISK: Well, they had rugs, and we thought it was very beautifully furnished. Of course, he had all the money he needed and came to Phoenix, I suppose, and got at . . . Korrick's, or somewhere here, so it was very beautifully furnished.

SOLLIDAY: And, uh, were . . . did his farm workers live there, nearby, near the house?

FISK: Not very close, but they came to eat. They had the kitchen built on, which, of course, isn't there now. There's a little lean-to there now, but built on a little farther was the kitchen where they fed the farm hands at noon. I suppose they went home at night.

SOLLIDAY: Oh. So that was completely separate from the house?

FISK: No, it was right next to kind of a lean-to. That's where the kitchen was.

SOLLIDAY: OK. And the workers came in and ate there in the kitchen.

FISK: Yes. Um-hum.

SOLLIDAY: Well, let's see. Well is there anything else that you would like to add about Tempe as you remember it?

FISK: Well, the Bertlesens lived almost across the street and they were very wealthy ranchers, too. They belonged to our church, and my husband always went out there to work in the summertime and on Saturdays, and worked on the ranch. So we knew the Bertlesens very well. They had one son about the same age as Floyd. And there were Jepsens, and all of these Scandinavian neighbors all around about.

SOLLIDAY: Now, was Niels Peterson . . . (pronounced "Nils")

FISK: Niles . . .

SOLLIDAY: . . . Niles . . . very influential with the Scandinavian settlers in that area?

FISK: Oh, yes. They were all friends. Everybody knew everybody. Oh, yes. Uh- huh.

SOLLIDAY: It seems that . . . Oh, we found that it's a little unusual that there is hardly anywhere else in Arizona that anyone from . . . any Danes had settled, but right in that area . . .

FISK: No, there were so many Danes there. I guess they just heard of Tempe and it was just desert land, and so, they came and bought up.

SOLLIDAY: Now, one thing about Mr. Petersen that's really puzzling for us, we had . . . there is really so much written about him in the newspaper with all of the many things that he did for the church and for the community, and one thing that, that it's hard to get from those newspaper stories, sometimes, is more about what kind of man was he, personally. Was he . . . what was . . . was he a very friendly and . . .

FISK: Not particularly, as I remember that. First, uh, I don't know . . . contributed largely to the church, 'cause he was one of the big ones, and she was . . . became rather heavy set later in life and didn't get out so much. They were very much home men, home people. And with their friends 'round about, were all more Danes, so, kind of clannish, maybe, I don't know whether that's the right word or not.

SOLLIDAY: OK. Well, that's certainly very helpful to have that from someone who actually met them. Well, Mrs. Fisk, you certainly answered quite a few of my questions here, and I certainly appreciate your allowing me to interview you today.

FISK: Well, I was glad to give you any information I know.

SOLLIDAY: OK. And, uh, well that's all the questions I have. Is there anything you . . .

FISK: Well, Father Fisk was a member of the Board of the . . . the Good Samaritan Hospital when it was built. A long time. And he was a member of the committee who wrote up all the history of Methodism in Arizona. That's on file in the Methodist Church someplace . . . maybe down in our first church . . . I don't know . . . I suppose it was . . . is.

SOLLIDAY: Oh, it's the history of the church that was all through the state?

FISK: Yes. Yes.

SOLLIDAY: Ah . . . that's . . . that's interesting.

FISK: Yes. That was . . . that was a very . . . he was very happy to work on that committee. He liked that.

SOLLIDAY: OK . . . um . . .

FISK: My father was superintendent of the Litchfield Ranch. You know where that is.

SOLLIDAY: Over on the west side.

FISK: Yeah. Where the Goodyear was. Where they raised cotton. For a number of years he was superintendent at that ranch, and brought in desert land and got it ready for alfalfa for three years. Then planted it to cotton.

SOLLIDAY: Oh, they didn't plant cotton right away?

FISK: Oh, no. They had to . . . there was . . . there's no nutrients in the desert land . . . wouldn't raise cotton or any other thing like that. So they planted it to alfalfa, and had young stock on it once in a while and turned it under, and it was then good solid soil for good cotton . . . that long-staple cotton.

SOLLIDAY: Now, was he already a . . . a . . . fairly experienced in growing cotton by that time?

FISK: Oh, that was in Tempe, you see. That was my father.

SOLLIDAY: So . . . so he had . . . he already had planted cotton?

FISK: Yes. He helped with starting cotton in Tempe. All that area south there by Kyrene . . . all out there.

SOLLIDAY: OK. Because I believe Litchfield . . . now that must have been around nineteen-seventeen or so, wasn't it?

FISK: Oh, yes. Yes. He was there in seventeen and eighteen, nineteen, twenty -- all through those years.

SOLLIDAY: The years when cotton was really the . . .

FISK: Yeah. Real thing here. Um-hum.

SOLLIDAY: And, it's . . . with all that's changed, I guess that's one thing that we . . . we still have that's so important is the cotton. I know it's still the number one crop . . .

FISK: Yes. Yes. But no more sugar beets. [Laugh] I guess that faded out, but we did have sugar for a while, I remember.

. . .

END OF INTERVIEW