Tempe Historic Property Survey

Jesus Miranda arrived in the Salt River Valley as early as 1870. By 1877, he had settled on a homestead claim of 80 acres just north of the Kirkland-McKinney Ditch and built this adobe house. He operated a farm here until his death in 1892. The property continued to be farmed by the Lopez, Vega, Verdugo, and Gurrola families until at least 1960, making it one of the oldest continually cultivated properties in Tempe.

The Jesus Miranda Homestead was a single-story rectangular adobe structure. The building's original row house plan included two rooms, each with a door and window opening on the south (main) facade. Later additions were built onto the rear of the house'. A gently sloping pitched roof, clad in corrugated steel, covered the structure. The original flat roof, supported by traditional vigas and latillas, might have still existed beneath the roof structure.

Other early details and elements included double-hung windows, glazed and paneled doors, and 18-inch thick plastered adobe walls. Although the site included only one and one-half acres of the original 80-acre homestead, its setting still conveyed the feeling of a rural farm dwelling once associated with the earliest period in Tempe's history.

The Jesus Miranda House is believed to have been the oldest remaining homestead structure in Tempe. It was important for its association with the settlement and agricultural development of Tempe.

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