Rosson House - History

History

This small mansion was built for Dr. Roland Lee Rosson and his wife Flora Murry. Dr. Rosson had come to Phoenix by 1880 as a youthful 28 year-old doctor and surgeon, though in a town as small as Phoenix was then there would have been very few surgeries to perform. By 1892 Rosson had embarked on a political career and was the county treasurer and "ex-officio tax collector". The exact date for the construction of the house is not known; the history provided by the museum gives its date of construction as 1895, but the 1892 city directory indicates that the house was already standing, with Dr. Rosson residing at the corner of Tonto (now 6th Street) and Monroe. Shortly after the completion of the house, Dr. Rosson was elected mayor of Phoenix. Purportedly, his grand house was thought to have influenced his victory.

The Rosson house was built with such modern accommodations as "the electric light", hot and cold running water, and indoor upstairs bathroom, and a telephone. Other contemporary Victorian mansions on Monroe were similarly equipped - by 1892, Phoenix boasted electrical plants, a domestic water system, a gas system, and two competing telephone companies. The Phoenix street-car line ran down Monroe before turning north on Seventh Street, so the Rossons and other Monroe Street residents had only to walk out to board it.

Whitelaw Reid rented this house for two winters from the Rossons when his doctors informed him that the dry climate could help with his respiratory problems. His pen and ink set was donated to the Rosson house after his death and can be found on display. It is from Whitelaw Reid's letters and correspondence about the house that so much about its history is known. Without these letters it would have been difficult to restore the house with such accuracy. The Rosson House had gone through phases of being a mansion, a rental house, a boarding house, and then a "flop-house" before it was bought by the city of Phoenix for restoration, and a good deal of its character was obscured. For example, one owner had built on a small wooden room adjacent to the second story of the octagonal tower; this addition was removed in the early stages of the restoration.