Before There Was Arizona Inn, There Was a Promise to Veterans

The remarkable story of Isabella Greenway, the Arizona Hut and the purpose behind a Tucson landmark.

Many know Arizona Inn as the beautiful historic hotel Isabella Greenway built in 1930. Fewer know the story of why she built it - and that its beginnings had very little to do with hospitality.

The story began three years earlier, in 1927.

After visiting veterans at the former Pastime Park Veterans Hospital in Tucson with her daughter, Martha, Isabella became interested in the work being done by men recovering from injuries sustained during the First World War. Many had suffered lung damage from being exposed to gas during the war and had come to Arizona for its dry climate.

Through the American Legion's Rehabilitation Committee, Isabella established the Arizona Hut, a furniture workshop that gave these disabled veterans the opportunity to work, develop their craft and earn a living while continuing their rehabilitation.

The original workshop operated from the Presbyterian Church at 138 South Scott Street. What began with wooden toys and leather goods soon developed into a furniture business of considerable success. By 1928, the Arizona Hut employed more than 100 workers, with its furniture reaching prestigious American department stores, including Marshall Field's and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Then came October 1929.

The stock market crashed, the Great Depression began to take hold, and orders for Arizona Hut furniture fell sharply. Isabella initially attempted to keep the workshop afloat by purchasing the unsold furniture herself. But with warehouses filling with beds, chairs and sofas, this could not continue indefinitely.

She needed another answer.

Rather than abandon the men and the work they had built, Isabella conceived a different kind of business. She would build a hotel - one that could create a market for the furniture being produced by the Arizona Hut, providing a reason for the workshop to continue and its veterans to remain employed.

That hotel became Arizona Inn.

On December 18, 1930, the Inn opened its doors in Tucson. Its rooms and public spaces were furnished with the craftsmanship of the Arizona Hut veterans. What began as an employment initiative had helped give rise to one of Tucson's most enduring hospitality landmarks.

Today, much of that original furniture remains at Arizona Inn, carefully maintained and restored by the Inn's craftsmen.

So, as we observe Veterans Day, we remember more than the history of a hotel. We remember the men whose hands helped build its earliest story, and a woman who recognised that opportunity, purpose and meaningful work could make a lasting difference.

This Veterans Day, we honour those who served - and remember the remarkable story of those who helped build Arizona Inn.

Come stay inside a story.

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