Riordan Mansion State Historic Park

Park Will Remain Open

Pending final agreement, the Arizona Historical Society will keep Riordan Mansion State Historic Park open for three years. Learn More

August 7: The Champion Tenderfoot: Hayden Talbot's Flagstaff Autobiography

7 pm. Evening Slide Presentation Series, RSVP Free! Presented by Erik Berg. In 1907, New York newspaperman and self-described 'tenderfoot', Hayden Talbot headed off for a new life in the territory of Arizona equipped with a minor inheritance, a Steinway piano, and a year's supply of alcohol. During his brief year in Flagstaff, the gregarious and trouble-prone Talbot got to meet a wide range of leading Flagstaff citizens, joined a scientific expedition to the Peaks, built a cabin with a famous artist, helped instigate one of the Grand Canyon's greatest controversies and rubbed shoulders with local prostitutes, hired guns and saloon gamblers. Fifty years later, an elderly Talbot captured his experiences in a surprisingly raw and often humorous unpublished memoir which reads like a mix between Mark Twain and Hunter S. Thompson. This presentation will cover the highlight's - and sort the fact from the fiction - in what is probably the most unusual and unorthodox first-hand account ever written of territorial Flagstaff.

August 21: The Arizona Rough Riders (Living History Presentation)

10 am - 4 pm. Free! The Arizona Rough Riders is a commemorative group that brings the Spanish/American War era (1898) to life for audiences. Dressed in authentic period dress of the famous Rough Riders, and their ladies, and carrying 100 year old weapons for the public's examination, the Arizona Rough Riders describe the era, the war, the effects, and the social mores of turn of the century America. The Rough Riders are the most famous 'all volunteer unit' in the history of the US Military.

Five Day Schedule: This park is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The park is open 9:30 am – 5:00 pm on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, & Mondays. Tours start at the top of the hour at 10 am, 11 am, Noon, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm. Read Press Release about this Park's five day schedule.

Introductory Park Video

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About the Park

Step back in time and experience a great example of Arts and Crafts style architecture at Riordan Mansion.

Built in 1904 for two Riordan families, Riordan Mansion is an impressive reminder of gracious living in a small, territorial logging town. The historic building is an Arizona treasure — a remarkable example of Arts and Crafts style architecture featuring a rustic exterior of log-slab siding, volcanic stone arches, and hand-split wooden shingles. The expansive home has forty rooms, over 13,000 square-feet of living area, and servant's quarters. The Riordan residence was designed by the creator of Grand Canyon's El Tovar Hotel, Charles Whittlesey.

Mansion Tours

Guided tours of the Mansion given daily, at the top of the hour. During Winter, tours begin at 10 am. Tour size is limited and reservations are highly recommended. Reservations are made by calling the Park at (928) 779-4395. Your guide will lead you through a pristine historic home filled with original artifacts, handcrafted furniture, and personal mementos of the Riordan families. The impressive home contains an exceptional collection of Craftsman furnishings with appointments by Edison, Stickley, Ellis, and Steinway. The first floor of the West Wing is included as part of the tour and provides displays about the family, the Arts and Crafts movement, and other local interests.

Park Calendar

2010 On-Going Series of Brown Bag Lunch Lectures

On the 2nd Monday of each month at 12:15 pm on the front veranda of the historic 1904 Riordan Mansion we present a different lecture as part of our Brown Bag Lunch Series. Stop by with lunch for an interesting presentation. Read complete descriptions on the calendar of events page. (Look for the Brown Bag Lunch symbol.)

January 11 - History of Postcards
February 8 - History of Baseball Spring Training in Arizona
March 8 - Smithsonian Expeditions to Northern Arizona - in Celebration of Arizona Heritage and Archaeology Awareness Month
April 13 - Homesteads to Hotshots: A Story of the Leroux Springs and the Ski and Spur Ranch
May 10 - What’s New in Sedona Geology
June 7 - Brother Bear, Sister Bear: Cosmic Connections between People and Bruins
August 9 - There and Back Again: Naturalist Adventures in the Wilderlands of the West
by Deb Noel
Septemper 13 - What Happened to the 1859 Mail Route 35th Parallel?
October 11 - Mary Coulter by Darrell Boomgaarden
November 8 - A Brief History of the Weatherford Toll House, 1925 to 2010 by Mary Williams
December 13 - TBA

2010 Evening Slide Presentation Series

Our evening Slide Presentation Series presents a wide ranging of topics. Presentations are held at 7 pm. Programs are free but reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Please call (928) 779-4395. Read complete descriptions on the calendar of events page. (Look for the Slide symbol.)

February 6 (Rescheduled due to snow) - Corvid Lore: Ravens and Crows in the American Southwest
February 13 - Lindbergh’s Trains & Planes: The First Transcontinental Flight Route
March 20 - Excavations at “Lizard Man Village”- in Celebration of Arizona Heritage and Archaeology Awareness Month
April 10 - Between the Covers at Riordan Mansion: Popular Books from the Early Years - April Lecture is in Celebration of National Library Week, April 11-17
July 12 - Arizona’s Centennial with Lisa Schnebly Heidinger
July 23 - Eleanor Roosevelt and Isabella Greenway: Selections from Their 50 Year Correspondence
May 22 - Flagstaff: The Making of an Arcadia Local History Book
June 26 - Women’s Role in the Arts on the Colorado Plateau by Joella Mahoney, Artist
July 17 - Arizona Rangers by Richard and Sherry Mangum
August 7 - The Champion Tenderfoot: Hayden Talbot's Flagstaff Autobiography by Erik Berg

Other Events

August 21: The Arizona Rough Riders (Living History Presentation)

October 2: First Through the Canyon

Flagstaff Festival of Science Event (For more info: www.scifest.org ) RSVP. Presented by Michael Ghiglieri. One of the greatest adventures in history occurred here in Arizona 141 years ago when Major John Wesley Powell and his eight boatmen/explorers made the first known, deliberate traverse of the Colorado River flowing through Grand Canyon in August of 1869. This saga is one of the epics of American exploration, roughly on a par with the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804-06. Oddy, this amazing story has been inaccurately and poorly told by Powell himself and then by virtually every historian writing about the trip for well over a century — until the 2003 publication of Ghiglieri’s First through Grand Canyon: the Secret Journals and Letters of the Crew who Explored the Green and Colorado Rivers.” Ghiglieri will talk about the crew, the river expedition, its challenges and how they were met, and the aftermath of this, one of North America’s most poorly understood major explorations.

Timothy and Michael Riordan in 1928.

The Families

Timothy and Michael Riordan were prominent pioneer Flagstaff businessmen who developed a successful logging business, the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company. Moreover, the two brothers were known for their contributions which were essential to the development of the social and economic structure of Flagstaff and Northern Arizona. Tim and Mike married the Metz sisters, Caroline and Elizabeth. The women were cousins of the Babbitt brothers, another influential Flagstaff family. Tim and Caroline had two daughters; Mike and Elizabeth had six children. The two close-knit families built a large mansion comprised of two separate homes connected by a common area known as the billiard room.

Educational Curriculum: A Family and a Forest (Grades 3 through 6)

A Family and a Forest is a curriculum for 3 – 6 grade correlated with the Arizona State Education Standards for science, social studies and mathematics. The program includes activities to use in the classroom prior to your visit along with follow-up activities. The goal of the curriculum is to present information on the logging industry in Flagstaff, Arizona and how this industry provided wealth to the community and support for the families that relied upon that industry for their livelihood. It also presents information on the concerns of land use and conservation of the natural resources that provided that livelihood. Through the Riordan family history we learn about life one hundred years ago and relate that to our lives today.

Download A Family and a Forest Education Program Curriculum ( 2.2 MB PDF)