A sheltered bench is at the end of the street. Campus entrance gate to left faces the
newly-built drug store.
blocks the road, but through the entrance gate to the right the side door of the University
Drug Store can be seen. TKM
The complex of stores that Louise and Tom Marshall built on the north side of the street at the east entrance of the university could be referred to as "the first suburban shopping center in Tucson." Designs were carefully researched before the stores were built, photographs were made of buildings in the Los Angeles and Pasadena areas. The University Square was the name given to the buildings. The 1924 Tucson City Directory lists the following stores and their street numbers: 927, University Barber Shop; 931, Copper Kettle Restaurant; 925 University Station Post Office; 937, University Market; 939, University Bookstore. The drug store on the comer had a Park Avenue address.
In 1924 most of the businesses were downtown, on or near Congress and Stone. Tucson had twelve drug stores, six book stores, thirty-five restaurants, twenty-five barber shops, four beauty parlors, one downtown post office, twenty-two meat markets, and ninety-six groceries. The closest any of these businesses were to the University, except for the Yucca Tea Room at 841 N. Tyndall, was the 400 block of North Fourth A venue. So this was a new area of shops, conveniently located at the end of the trolley line.
Fifty years later buildings on the south side of the street would be replaced by a row of attractively designed stores and a large wall graphic proclaiming it to be: "University Square" so this became an area name. The name "Marshall Square" now better describes the stores that are part of the subject of this book.
to right was a home converted to popular restaurant. Forty years later will be
replaced by a row of stores.
but it was taken sixty eight years later. In April 1990 a natural gas-powered trolley goes
from town to the University. PPS
Solomon. Hattie Ferrin Solomon graduated in 1898. Her sister Clara (class of '01) wrote
three pages about the alumni in the '03 Burro. Clara lists the six previous graduates and
the four in Hattie's class. She reports that Hattie "after three years in the Tucson schools is
now an instructor in the Preparatory department of our University." Hattie and Charles
lived here many years and were prominent Tucsonans. Two American flags are on the
horizon; one is over the University Square Post Office (for years an area P.O. address will
be "College Station"). The other is on campus and in front of Old Main since the 1890s. TKM
home has been owned by Franklin's, a men's fine-clothing store; it remains a
neighborhood landmark. The building in the foreground right, and a vacant lot in
the above image was occupied by a Marshall-owned gasoline service station.
In the background, center is the new University library. PPS
suburban shopping center. TKM
(cleaners) would be there fifty years; John Houston (shoe shop) would be there about forty.
The flag is over the University Station Post Office, at this time a major east Tucson branch
station distibution center. IP
(and our neighbor at the time he took this picture). Dr. Streets was in the Library (now
Arizona State Museum, North) on the third floor looking out a southwest window. Along the
horizon at left is Tucson Senior High School, built in 1924. Above it is the Southern Pacific
Depot. The two tall buildings are the Valley National Bank (still standing in 1990) and
Pioneer Hotel (gone). The Pima County Court House dome and tower of Eagle Milling are
above the horizontal line of Roskruge School. To the right mid-ground, at University and
Tyndall, is the Solomon home (now Franklin's, pictured above, were taken from an
upstairs porch and window of this home). East (left) of this on University Boulevard is
the Marshall's Texaco station. The Varsity Inn is in the center of the picture. To the left,
facing Park Avenue, is the former Pi Beta Phi house, soon to be replaced by a gasoline
station. The trolley would be replaced by a bus on Dec, 31, 1930. In 1990 the only
view out of this same window is of a nearby tall tree. Photo courtesy Special Collections,
University of Arizona Library
sign "University Square", this has become an area name. The name "Marshall Square"
better designates the buildings owned by the Marshall Foundation. These buildings now
occupy the entire block. To the right at 949 East Second Street is the Arizona Historical
Society building, near right is the campus rock wall. PPS