Tempe Historic Property Survey

This building on "Old Eighth Street" in northeast Tempe was built in 1892 as F. A. Hough's ice plant, but has been used mostly for processing dairy products. In its first ten years, it served as the Tempe Creamery and the Tempe-Mesa Produce Company. It was known as the Pacific Creamery from 1907 to 1924, and was under the management of Justin B. Cook for most of that period (1907-1919). The creamery was purchased by Borden Milk Company in 1927, and Borden operated the plant until 1953. Through much of Tempe's history, the creamery was one of the largest employers in town.

The current appearance of the Tempe Creamery dates back to 1927, when the original structure was remodeled and new buildings were added, doubled the size of the complex of nine buildings. At that time, the distinctive curvilinear parapet walls were added to the buildings, making it a perfect example of the Mission Revival style of architecture that was popular in early 20th century. The building shows a variety of construction techniques using brick, reinforced concrete, concrete block, frame, and metal.

More information on this building is available at the Tempe Historical Museum Research Library. See the File Contents for HPS-151.

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