Time is running out for Mesa history buffs to see the community's early artifacts firsthand, as the Mesa Historical Museum is preparing to drastically scale back when it's open to the public.

A weathered gray lectern from the old Mezona dance hall sits in the Mesa Historical Museum’s basement under several layers of dust and atop cinder blocks that barely saved it from 4 inches of water left by Tuesday’s storm.

A weathered gray lectern from the old Mezona dance hall sits in the Mesa Historical Museum’s basement under several layers of dust and atop cinder blocks that barely saved it from 4 inches of water left by Tuesday’s storm.

Louise Lincoln Kerr is considered one of Scottsdale’s early patrons of the arts by local historians.

Scottsdale is likely to lose some of the last remaining traces of Arizona's World War II history.

A historic but trouble-plagued motel just east of the Arizona Mormon Temple in Mesa has bit the dust. In its place will rise a $2.5 million, 45-room Comfort Inn and Suites. Dust is about all that’s left of the Copper State Motel and Trailer Park, which has stood at 651 E. Main St. for almost 70 years.

A historic but trouble-plagued motel just east of the Arizona Mormon Temple in Mesa has bit the dust. In its place will rise a $2.5 million, 45-room Comfort Inn and Suites. Dust is about all that’s left of the Copper State Motel and Trailer Park, which has stood at 651 E. Main St. for almost 70 years.

Poverty, inaccessible health care and poor sanitation made Arizona a dangerous place for a baby to be born for most of the 20 th century, especially for Hispanics.

MTV put Lake Havasu City on the map for the spring break set, but city officials there are clamping down on partying, and it’s doing wonders for the town of Parker.

Arizona is counting down the months and days to its 100th birthday.

Arizona legislative leaders touted the fiscal year 2012 "balanced" budget by claiming their cuts-only philosophy and practice - especially as pertaining to health care and education - were their only options. They also said such action was exactly what voters wanted.

The Mesa Historical Museum will shutter its doors to the public early next year, leaving its building a warehouse for a vast collection of artifacts.

The large black wool banner with the words "New York Giants" in orange lettering was packed away folded inside a closet of Robert Steckner's den for decades.

Mesa is considering buying the historic Buckhorn Baths to preserve the place where some of baseball’s most legendary players came for decades to sooth themselves in hot mineral water.

A firm that is helping clients enter the 21st century is reaching back to the 19th century for inspiration. Terralever, a start-up online marketing company formed by entrepreneur Chris Johnson, has expanded its operations by moving into a restored historic building in downtown Tempe.

“Hey kids! Let’s go to the Arizona Historical Society!” Sounds a little dull, doesn’t it? Like “Let’s read through our old tax returns!” For most folks, the word “history” has a dry and bookish connotation. Housed in Tempe, within a stoic brick exterior, the Historical Society’s Papago Park Museum does nothing to dispel that notion … until you’re inside.

PHOENIX – Stepping off stage after a 9/11 memorial at the State Capitol, Arizona’s official historian is just setting down his guitar when two fifth–graders approach him with questions about their history projects.

This thing we call freedom remains very much a work in progress.

At first glance, the northwest corner of Idaho Road and U.S. Highway 60 on the outskirts of Apache Junction looks like any other god-forsaken parcel of desert: 40 acres of flat-as-a-table scrub with most of the vegetation brown or already dead.

Betty Nash spent much of her life writing an early draft of East Valley history. This weekend, she's being honored for her part in it.

TUBAC - James Pagels knows a thing or two about the power of the press. In his case, however, he supplies the power.

WICKENBURG – Dave Rodgers often journeys from his home in Surprise to explore remnants of the Vulture Mine: a tree where those who stole gold were hung, machinery that crushed ore to remove gold and even clothes and shoes that miners wore.