It’s hard to imagine a time when the intersection of Mill Avenue and 13th Street — just across from Gammage Auditorium in Tempe — was considered “too far out of town.”
That was a complaint when the Tempe Woman’s Club was first built there nearly 90 years ago.
Luanne Davis is the current president of the club founded in 1912.
“And I think at that time it was called the Mother's Club. In 1913, they joined an international organization called the General Federation of Women's Clubs," Davis said.
And the chief purpose was to perform acts of service. A legacy that continues to this day. The club built its headquarters in 1936.
“It's one of a few adobe buildings left in Tempe, and I suppose the Valley for that matter," Davis said.
Davis says the club fell into disrepair after the group briefly lost the building in 2017 due to mismanagement. They got the club back through a court order in 2024, “Actually [we] got the keys in 2025."
Since then, they’ve been making much needed improvements including paint and a new HVAC unit. The hope is to start renting out the club and use that revenue to maintain the building.
Besides making updates to the building, the club has also updated its membership policy.
“Men can join. Absolutely. We have about six [or] seven men who are members of the club," including Tempe’s Mayor Corey Wood, she said.
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One exception to the ordinance allows automatic license plate reader data gathered by another agency to be used by Tempe police working on multijurisdictional task forces, so long as they don’t request a system query. -
The Tempe Union High School District Governing Board is responding to concerns from the community over a voyeurism case at Corona del Sol. -
Tempe police announced nearly 100 additional charges against a former Corona Del Sol employee who was accused of downloading videos of girls changing in the dance room while the girl’s locker room was under renovation.
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Several window panels were broken at the Fisher Industries facility. The parent company, North Dakota-based Fisher Sand & Gravel, is contracted by the federal government for border wall construction. Tempe Police say investigators believe multiple people arrived around 4 in the morning to damage the building. -
Tempe officials are scheduled to hold informational meetings Thursday to review a proposed ordinance that would ban automatic license plate readers.
