A new exhibit at the Tempe History Museum will showcase Tempe’s history in the desert, including the connection the city shares with ASU.

Exhibits Coordinator Dan Miller said the new exhibit — which is in its final stages of construction and will open in February — will illustrate the role ASU has played in shaping the city into a college town.

The exhibit will feature four themes that were developed by history scholars from ASU and around the West: Surviving in the Desert, Building our Community, Living Together and College Town.

The interpretive framework provides a structure for the content of exhibitions and programs, including ASU’s influence, said James Burns, the museum’s curator of history.

Lisa Roach, the chairwoman for the Tempe History Museum Advisory Board, said the themes will make the history more accessible than a traditional timeline format.

“I think that going from a chronological to a thematic format is exciting,” she said.

The finished product will include an exterior electronic billboard, interactive computer-learning centers and a window-framed community center.

Museum administrator Amy Douglass said the original goal was to focus on Tempe’s role in Western history, but it was only after public input through focus groups and surveys that the ASU theme was added as a main factor that shaped the city.

ASU, which began as the Territorial Normal School at Tempe, has accounted for population and cultural growth in Tempe, Miller said.
ASU has transformed from a school in a cow pasture into the cultural center it is today, he said.

At the time of ASU’s inception, the City of Tempe had a choice between building a heavily funded, government-run asylum or a school. The city has benefited greatly by building a school, Miller said.

Modifications, from changing the streets that ran through campus to pedestrian-only pathways to building Grady Gammage Auditorium, have allowed ASU to grow as an academic and cultural center while maintaining a relationship with the City of Tempe, Miller said.

The exhibit’s timeline will represent this by presenting ASU’s history in a non-linear way. Computer stations in the exhibit will display current events and information about ASU, Roach said.

To access the ASU exhibit — which will also feature a “Little Devil” stadium that will display historical photos of football players — patrons will walk under a large “A” in the middle of the museum floor.

Tempe’s evolution from an agricultural community to a diverse urban center has been deeply entwined with ASU’s growth, Roach said, and the museum will represent this.

“You can’t talk about Tempe and not talk about ASU and the Normal School,” she said.