The main entrance and parking lot are located at 409 W Riordan Rd., two blocks east of Milton Rd. next to the NAU parking garage.
Become a Junior Ranger
If you're between ages 6–12, you can become a Junior Ranger at Riordan Mansion State Historic Park! Pledge to do your part to help preserve the beauty of the park for everyone to enjoy!
On this page, you can download a Junior Ranger activity for this park that you can complete on your own. It's just one of the fun activities you can do to become a Junior Ranger. After you complete it, bring it with you to the park and you're on your way to becoming a Junior Ranger.
When you visit the park ask for a full Junior Ranger booklet at the Visitor Center, Ranger Station or office. Complete the activities during your visit and then bring it to a Park Ranger for review. When a Park Ranger approves your work you'll be asked to take the Junior Ranger Pledge and get sworn in as our newest Junior Ranger. You'll also be given a Junior Ranger Button. We hope to see you at the park!
Activity Sheet Summary
Old and New Mix and Match: Many things have changed since the time the Riordan family built the mansion. Some things, such as the telephone, simply changed in the way they look. Other things, such as transportation, have changed a great deal. See if you can match the old to the new. Draw a line from the way it used to be to the way it is now.
Pledge & Button
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unior Ranger Pledge: “As an Arizona State Parks Junior Ranger, I pledge to help the park rangers protect and preserve habitat, wildlife, and help keep the park clean and safe for visitors and wildlife.”
Remember, you can become a Junior Ranger at nearly all Arizona State Parks. So explore our website and visit the FOR KIDS page for each park for more activities.
Junior Ranger Button: Show everyone that you're a Junior Ranger! After you complete your activities and take the Junior Ranger Pledge you'll receive a Junior Ranger Button. You can pin it to your pack, put it on a bulletin board, or proudly wear it. Check out the button for this park in the picture.
Girl Scout Patch
The Girl Scout Councils of Arizona have approved the following Interest Project Patch for Riordan Mansion State Historic Park. Learn how to earn this patch by downloading the requirements.
Learn more from the Arizona Cactus-Pine Girl Scout Council and the Sahuaro Girl Scout Council.
Virtual Field Trip with Arizona Project Archaeology
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park participated in this great program with a virtual field trip on Shelter. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/
To learn more about Arizona Project Archaeology visit: https://www.
Interactive Tour of the Servant’s Areas of the Riordan Mansion
Servants, otherwise known as domestic workers, were a standard fixture for wealthier households
like the Riordans, serving several purposes all for the family's benefit. First, they saved the family from tedious household chores, allowing them to focus on running their business and enjoying their favorite hobbies. Second, they let the Riordan women assume their proper place as ladies, whose primary job was to manage the household, not clean it. Finally, the presence of a domestic staff allowed the Riordans to display the wealth they had gained since employing domestic workers was seen as a sign of status. These are just a few of the many reasons why domestic workers were so common in houses like the Riordan Mansion.
Yet despite their crucial role in allowing the Riordans to focus on concerns and pastimes outside the house and affirm their status as wealthy gentlemen and ladies, domestic workers have largely been overlooked. What follows is a digital tour of the servant areas of Riordan Mansion, meant to shed light on these individuals' experiences. These range from discussions of the domestic staff's living and working conditions based on the average domestic workers of the early 20th Century, accounts given by the Riordans or their domestic workers, and a detailed look at the spaces they occupied and worked in.
Servants' Quarters
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Attic
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Kitchen
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Back Porch
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Sewing Room
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Laundry Room
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This project was made possible thanks to funding from an Arizona Community Foundation Education Grant with support from Riordan Action Network and Northern Arizona Pioneers’ Historical Society. We would also like to thank NAU Public History masters student Billy Knapp for using his internship to research the servants and prepare the spaces for filming. Filming of the spaces was done by Winter Communication, LLC.
