Susan Harter:
Tempe's Preservation Activist

Susan Harter, a fourth generation Tempean, grew up surrounded by reminders of Tempe's history and the role that her family had in building the town. When she was a teenager, her family moved into the Petersen House, a grand Victorian farmhouse that is now a city museum. Her mother, Helen Harter, was a founding member of the Tempe Historical Society. She also knew which houses had been built by her great grandfather, James W. Woolf, a pioneer home builder who had settled in Tempe in 1888.

In 1985, plans were announced for construction of University Plaza, now known as Centerpoint. The proposed project would destroy many of Tempe's oldest homes, which were located just west of the downtown area. With this news, Susan Harter decided to try to save some of the familiar old houses. She regularly attended City Council meetings, and became one of the most outspoken advocates for historic preservation. Then, recognizing that the best way to save historic buildings was to preserve and improve the old neighborhoods where they were located, she began organizing citizens to form the first neighborhood associations in Tempe.

Harter also showed her commitment to preservation by personally moving one of Tempe's oldest houses from path of destruction. An 1888 Queen Anne Victorian bungalow known as the Sampson-Tupper House was scheduled for demolition. She borrowed from her family's estate to pay for moving the house to a lot on West 3rd Street. The house was relocated in 1988, exactly one hundred years after the house had been built. She renamed it the Centennial House.

Harter proved that one person could make a difference in preserving Tempe's historic buildings. In 1992, she received the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation from the Arizona Preservation Foundation.

Susan Harter passed away on January 18, 1993.