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James W. Elmore Papers 1947-2007

MSS-359

Biographical Note

James Walter Elmore was born to Harry Douglas and Marie Clare (Minor) Elmore in Lincoln, Nebraska on September 5, 1917. He graduated from Lincoln High School in June of 1934 and went on to earn his A.B. in Architecture at the University of Nebraska in 1938 and his M.S. in Architecture at Columbia University in 1948. He married Mary Ann Davidson (1917-2006) and the couple had two children, James Davidson (1943-) and Margaret Kay (1949-).

Elmore began his career as a designer-draftsman-expediter at Barber & Ross Co. in Washington, D.C. in April of 1939. He left the position in 1940 to join the military, where he held assignments with area and district engineers in the U.S. as well as with the planning and construction divisions of the Office of the Chief Engineer in the European Theater. After World War II ended, Elmore worked as a designer-draftsman for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York City before settling in Phoenix, Arizona in 1948. Here, he worked as a designer-draftsman for Guirey & Jones and Edward L. Varney, Jr. until March of 1950. Elmore also opened a private practice in September of 1949 and served as a Director of Planning Associates (formed to undertake planning commissions) from 1958 to 1961.

In September of 1949, Elmore became an Instructor at Arizona State University. Here, he established the state's first architectural education program. This course of study began as a two-year technical course and grew into a five-year program culminating in the Bachelor of Architecture degree by 1957, when it was removed from the Industrial Arts Department and reorganized as the Division of Architecture in the new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The program became the School of Architecture in 1959, was accredited in 1961, and became the independent College of Architecture on July 1, 1964. Elmore served as Head of the Division of Architecture and of the School of Architecture before becoming the College of Architecture's first Dean upon its formation. He stepped down as Dean in 1974 in order to devote himself to teaching and research and retired from the University in 1986.

During his time as Dean, Elmore established a college-wide, year-long studio program for the 1966-67 school year intended to "do something with the [Salt] River," which had been dry since Roosevelt Dam was constructed in the 1900s and had become a blighted area. Sixteen fifth year architecture students under the direction of Bob McConnell established the original parameters of what became the Rio Salado Project, which proposed to return water to the Salt River and so reclaim approximately 800 acres of land. Two additional studio programs expanded on the idea and the Valley Forward Association (VFA) was formed to advance the project in the 1970s. The VFA was instrumental in passing legislation to establish the Rio Salado Development District, which developed a plan to finance the Rio Salado Project Valley-wide through a tax increase. Voters rejected this measure in all jurisdictions except Tempe, which adopted a Master Plan calling for the restoration of a five-mile section of the Salt River in 1989. Planning and development continued through the 1990s and water from the Central Arizona Project began flowing into Tempe Town Lake on June 2, 1999. The lake was declared full on July 14th of the same year.

Elmore continued his military service while working at ASU. He graduated from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in June of 1961 and served as an instructor at the Engineer Branch of the U.S. Army Reserve School in Phoenix (1951-1956) and as Commanding Officer of the 6163rd Research and Development Unit of the U.S. Army Reserve in Phoenix (1964-1968). Elmore retired as a Colonel in 1969. He was also active in the Phoenix community, serving on a number of local development and planning committees including the Boy Scouts' Camp Development Committee (1955-1957), the Phoenix Housing Code Committee (1958-1960), and Prescott College's Plant Planning Committee (1963-1964). He also served on the Boards of Directors of a number of organizations, including the Valley Beautiful Citizens' Council and its successor, the Valley Forward Association (1969-1989; President, 1985), the Heard Museum (1968-1979), the Girl Scouts of America's Cactus-Pine Council (1968-1972), and the Central Arizona Chapter of the Arizona Historical Society (1973-1989).

Although Elmore formally retired in 1986, he continued to work on planning and design issues in Phoenix. Perhaps most notably, he argued that because the ground was at capacity and because this problem affected the entire region, a 36-mile aerial transit net for Phoenix and the Salt River Valley should be constructed. Elmore proposed four sections: one serving Phoenix and Tempe, one serving Glendale and Phoenix, one serving Mesa and Tempe, and one serving Tempe and Scottsdale. This aerial transit net would also allow for the construction of Elmore's envisioned "aerial village," which consisted of a 32-story structure housing condominiums, hotels, community centers, and retail facilities built over selected stations on the transit line. These villages would be powered by photovoltaic arrays installed on the roof.

Elmore died on April 19, 2007 at his home in Phoenix, Arizona.

Scope and Content Note

This collection houses correspondence, research materials, flyers, promotional materials, plans, clippings, newsletters, reel-to-reel audio tapes, and other items documenting James W. Elmore's work as an architect and urban planner. Among the subjects covered are Elmore's proposal for an aerial light rail system in the Salt River Valley, city planning in Phoenix from the 1950s to the 2000s, the development of the Rio Salado Project, and Arizona State University's College of Architecture. The collection has been divided into five series.

Series I: Urban Planning and Development has been divided into three sub-series. Sub-Series A: Light Rail and Rapid Transit consists primarily of flyers, promotional materials, and research materials documenting Elmore's vision for a regional aerial rail net. Also included are the letters that Elmore wrote to numerous civic leaders encouraging them to consider his aerial transit concept and the responses he received.

Sub-Series B: Phoenix and Maricopa County houses plans, correspondence, clippings, and other materials documenting a variety of planning and development projects in the Phoenix area. Among these projects are the 1957 additions made the State Capitol Building (including the proposal that the Capitol be moved to Papago Park); work undertaken on the Capitol complex in the 2000s; the 2006 City Scape project (which proposed to construct four high-rise towers, hundreds of condominiums, a boutique hotel, and a 100,000 square foot public plaza in downtown Phoenix); and Elmore's vision of a "walkable Downtown" (including 1-mile a pedestrian mall on Central Avenue between Lincoln Street and West McKinley Street).

Sub-Series C: Rio Salado and Valley Forward houses primarily correspondence, reports, informational literature, newspaper clippings, and other materials documenting the development of the Rio Salado program and Tempe Town Lake. Although Elmore conducted some independent work on Rio Salado during the years shown, the majority of his efforts were channeled through Valley Forward. Also included are materials showing Elmore's efforts to interest Valley Forward in lobbying for his 36-mile aerial transportation network in Phoenix and the Salt River Valley. Because Valley Forward never assumed a significant role in advocating for this network, however, the majority of the materials on this topic may be found in Sub-Series A.

Series II: Arizona State University includes correspondence, reports, newsletters, and other materials documenting Elmore's career as a Professor and Dean in ASU's School (later the College) of Architecture. Of particular interest are the materials showing the construction of the new Architecture building in the late 1960s and the "Faculty Bulletins" that Elmore distributed to all faculty members between 1963 and 1969. These bulletins were intended to keep their recipients up-to-date on the College's work, to forward documents for department-wide review, and to request feedback from the faculty on various issues. Also included are materials showing the College's Architecture Foundation, which was established in June if 1958 to raise money to enrich the College's programs.

Series III: Personal and Biographical Papers includes correspondence, biographical sketches, curricula vitae, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia providing an overview of Elmore's career and documenting such subjects as the Arizona Architects Medal, Elmore's military service, and the Santa Maria Mining Company.

Series IV: Audio and Visual Materials has been divided into four sub-series. Sub-Series A: Photographs includes portraits and snapshots of Elmore, numerous examples of student work undertaken in the College of Architecture, images of the Architecture building completed in the early 1970s, and photographs taken in the 1990s and 2000s as part of Elmore's work on light rail and rapid transit. Sub-Series B: Slides contains 35mm slides depicting a wide variety of subjects. Titles assigned by Elmore are given in quotation marks; all other titles were inferred or assigned by the archivist. Sub-Series C: Drawings houses two sets of drawings not clearly connected to any other project in this collection. Sub-Series D: Audio Recordings and VHS Tapes consists primarily of twenty reel-to-reel audio tapes documenting a speech by Buckminster Fuller, several meetings of the American Institute of Archivists, two speeches by Elmore, and a speech by Howard Dearstine regarding the Bauhaus. Also included are a copy of Conversations Regarding the Future of Architecture on compact disk and three VHS tapes.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

The Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of the Arizona State University Library. Requests to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application.

Related Material

Interested researchers may also wish to consult MSS MSS 12: James W. Elmore Collection, 1950s-1980s for more information regarding Elmore's life and work (guide available at http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/elmore_dl.xml).

Access Terms

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], James W. Elmore Papers, MSS-359, Arizona State University Library.

Provenance

James W. Elmore and his daughter Kay Elmore donated these papers to the University Archives in 1987 and 2013 (Accession #1987-00008, #2013-04716, and #2014-04784).

Processing Note

This collection was traditionally processed. Duplicates have been weeded and preservation photocopying undertaken as necessary to preserve affected information. Monographs and serial publications have been transferred for consideration for addition to the cataloged collection.

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