Statehood House "Jack House", Original Building

The original farm house was built of redwood in 1885 by a Doctor Mahoney. Lettie Jack's aunt and uncle, the Smiths, added the bathroom in 1890 after they acquired the home. The bathroom consisted of a bathtub and basin but no toilet. They still used an outhouse. Lettie moved to Arizona in 1890 from Iowa. When she married Edgar Jack in 1901, they purchased the house from Lettie's aunt and went on to raise four daughters. As the family grew, so did the house with several additions.

The Jacks had 80 acres of peaches, pears, apricots, and almonds and were also known as the first family in Arizona to raise citrus commercially. When that business slowed down, they expanded into the beef-raising industry.

The house was painted yellow and trimmed in white. A wood stove and a kerosene heater provided warmth in the winter while big ash and umbrella trees provided "air conditioning" in the summer.

To combat the heat of Arizona summers, the house was left open during the nights when the air was cooler and closed early in the morning. They often slept on quilts on the floor (because it was much cooler) or in the yard or on the screened porch. On hot summer afternoons, a siesta was not unusual.

In 1975, the house, located near Grand Avenue and Camelback Road in Glendale, was impeding, the progress of The Santa Fe Railroad and was slated for demolition. Instead, it was moved to Pioneer Arizona and now depicts life in 1912, the year Arizona became America's 48th state.