Niels Petersen
21 Oct 1845 - 27 Apr 1923
diedTempe, Arizona, USA
bornVilslev, Denmark
SchooltblData
BiographyFarmer, businessman.Came to the United States in 1864.
Came to Tempe in 1871.
As a young man, he served in the German and English merchant marines, and visited China, the Philippines and the East Indies. He first came to the United about 1865, and spent several years in the Great Lakes area. He returned to Denmark, then went to New York in 1870, and went to California, and then came to Arizona in 1871 and homesteaded 160 acres of land near Tempe. He became a prominent Tempe farmer and businessman. He helped build and maintain the original rock and brush diversion dams and
ditches of the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company. He became a wealthy rancher and grain and hay producer, and developed substantial land holdings. He was a shareholder in Tempe Irrigating Canal Company with 2 water rights, listed on June 30, 1875. He was President of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and Treasurer of the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company (c1899-1906). He became a naturalized citizen in Phoenix, in 1878. He built a large Victorian home at his ranch in 1892. In 1898, he built a single-story brick store on the east side of Mill Ave. (409-413 S. Mill Avenue). He also owned a rental property at 15 W. 7th Street.
He was a Representative in 18th Territorial Legislature, and also served on the Tempe School District #3 Governing Board, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisor. He was elected as a Director of the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company on July 1, 1878, and again, in October of 1887. He was elected a Director of the Western Branch, 1897-99, and elected a Director of the Southern Branch in 1899. At the time of his death in 1923, his estate included the following lands:
N2 SW4 and W2 NW4 and SE4 of section 29 (284 acres), S2 NE4 and SW4 of section 28 (239 acres), and 12 acres in section 23 (all in T. 1 N., R. 4 E.), and N2 and NE4 SE4 of section 1, T. 1 S., R. 4 E. (359 acres), and 13 acres NW of the canal in section 6, T. 1 S., R. 5 E. He was one of five men who organized the Tempe Methodist Episcopal Church in Peters Hall on January 27, 1888, and was elected trustee and reelected every year as long as he lived. He was always a liberal contributor to his church and to hospitals, Christian associations, community interests, and other benevolent causes, especially helping young people to gain an education. He was one of the donors that contributed to a fund to purchase land for the site of the Territorial Normal School site in 1885. He was a member of the Tempe Odd Fellows Lodge.
On 1 Feb 1884 was an incorporator of the Quijotoa, Tempe and Phoenix Wagon and Railroad Co.
He lived at 1414 W. Southern Avenue.
He was orginally buried at Double Butte Cemetery, but was later reburied near the Petersen House.
Sources:
OSB-17
BIO-Petersen
Old Settlers Collection, THM
Federal census (Tempe), 1900, 1910
Maricopa County Great Register, 1882
TH-231, TH-231.01
HPS-212, HPS-232, HPS-237, HPS-242
Lewis, History of Irrigation in Tempe, p. 35
Lamb, Historical Overview of Tempe
Painter Scrapbook
Hopkins and Thomas, The ASU Story, pp. 51, 119
Tempe CD, 1898-1914
Tempe Telephone Directory, 1924
BIO-Armstrong
Person TypeIndividual
