James W. Elmore Papers

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.