John Samuel Armstrong
5 May 1857 - 17 Jun 1917
bornCulpepper, Virginia, USA
diedBaltimore, Maryland, USA
SchooltblData
BiographyTempe businessman and politician.Came to Tempe in 1882.
Attended Culpeper Military Academy.
Worked as a newspaper reporter in Culpeper, VA, and then in Washington, D.C., for the Washington Post. Arrived in Sacaton, Arizona, in 1879.
Taught at Sacaton on the Gila River Indian Reservation, 1879-1883.
He moved to Cave Creek, and then to Tempe in 1883. He was hired by C. T. Hayden to run his store, and later, the flour mill. He bought a controlling interest in Niels Petersen's hardware store. Owned a general store on Mill Avenue between 4th and 5th streets. Lived at Mill and 5th Street in 1892.
Became Tempe postmaster.
Elected to the 13th Territorial Legislature, where he introduced the bill that created the Territorial Normal School at Tempe.
On 1 Feb 1884, he was a director of the Quijotoa, Tempe and Phoenix Wagon and Railroad Co.
In 1888, he organized the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and served as its first president.
Sold his store to Ben Goldman and associates, and bought an interest in the Tempe Land and
Improvement Company, and the Vienna Bakery building (415 S. Mill Avenue) in 1893.
He left Tempe in 1893 and returned to North Carolina, where he became an influential
businessman, banker, and liberal Democratic activist.
BIO-Armstrong
Maricopa County Great Register, 1882
HPS-215; HPS-238; HPS-243
Hopkins and Thomas, The ASU Story, pp. 46-68
Tempe CD, 1892
Person TypeIndividual
