The Rosson House Museum at Heritage Square in downtown Phoenix reopened its doors on Sept. 4 to visitors after a 6-month-long closure brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Rosson House is a Victorian house museum, built by the Rosson family in 1895 at what is now Heritage Square,” said Heather Roberts. “The last remaining residential block dating back from the original townsite of Phoenix.”
Roberts, director of marketing at Heritage Square, explained that visits to the Victorian House have officially resumed for timed, guided tours, according to their most recent press release. Originally built in 1895, the historical landmark encapsulates a deep history of Phoenix and was home to many families before it opened as a museum in 1980.
“Four families owned the house between 1895 and the 1940s – the Rossons, the Goldbergs, the Higleys, and the Gammels,” Roberts said.
Ambassador Whitelaw Reid and his family rented the house from the Rossons for two winters. After the Gammels moved, it became a boarding house until the early 1970s, when it and the other buildings at Heritage Square were purchased by the City of Phoenix and restored with support from the community.
The newest exhibit inside the 125-year-old Victorian home is named “The Great Migration: Indiscernibles in Arizona,” which focuses on the history and experience of African Americans in this state.
“The Great Migration” highlights how African Americans migrated to Arizona and why they stayed, with the intention of including Black Arizonans’ stories in the historical narrative.
Roberts said that this exhibit was curated by Clottee Hammons and is on loan to them this year from Emancipation Arts.
In an interview done by Heritage Square with Clottee Hammons, she said that this is a traveling exhibition and will be moved throughout the state of Arizona.
“I’ve tried to teach as many people as possible about how Black people came to live in Arizona; because I knew that they would not learn it in school,” Hammons said in the interview. “I also hope that Black students will be inspired to independently pursue knowledge and gain a greater appreciation of their place in the state and society.”
Admission to this exhibit is free, and it is located in the Heritage Gallery in between the museum store and the Nobuo at Teeter House restaurant.
Coming soon to the Rosson House is an exhibit called “Victorian Oddities & Curiosities,” which will open in October and remain on display for a month.
“That explores the Victorian traditions of mourning practices (including post mortem photography), as well as hair art and taxidermy, and other things we find ‘odd’ today,” said Roberts.
COVID-19 measures are also in place at the Rosson House with hand sanitizer stations available, frequent cleaning of high-traffic areas, and required mask-wearing, they stated their most recent community update on their website.
All staff and visitors over the age of five are required to wear a face covering and tours have been limited to four visitors per group in addition to one tour guide.
The Rosson House Museum operates Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tours last approximately 60 minutes and run every two hours starting. Tickets cost $12 and must be purchased in advance online.
Roberts “highly recommend(s) visiting Heritage Square and going on a museum tour so that you can see what it’s all about.”
Contact the reporter at mmjaskow@asu.edu.
CORRECTION: The Great Migration is available in the Heritage Gallery, which is in one of the smaller restored houses at Heritage Square, not in the Rosson House, but it is open and available for visitors to Heritage Square, and is free to visit.
