Dr. Roland Lee Rosson was born August 28, 1851 in Culpepper, Virginia, and attended medical school at the University of Virginia.  Two years after his graduation in 1873, he entered the Army and was commissioned an assistant surgeon.  After a short term of service in Virginia, he was transferred to the Arizona Territory, where he served at four different posts--Camp McDowell, Camp Thomas, Camp Grant, and Fort Yuma.  After leaving the Army in 1879, Dr. Rosson moved to Phoenix.  In 1880, Dr. Rosson and a fellow surgeon, Dr. Junius E. Wharton, performed the first successful harelip surgery in the Territory of Arizona.

          Dr. Rosson married Flora Murray on August 11, 1880.  Flora’s sister Anna had married Judge John T. Alsap, the first mayor of Phoenix.  (Judge Alsap, Mrs. Alsap, and a son are buried in the Masons’ section of the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park.)

          The Rossons’ oldest daughter, Irene, was born in 1881.  A son, Roland Lloyd, was born January 1883, but he died at the age of five weeks and was buried in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery.  An infant daughter who died at birth is also buried nearby.  The Rossons had three more daughters who survived to adulthood: Vivian, Floy, and Norma; as well as a son, Clyde.

          During the eighteen years that Dr. Rosson lived in Phoenix, he combined his career in medicine with  an active interest in local politics.  In 1884, he was elected Maricopa County Coroner and Public Administrator.  However, he resigned in 1886 and was subsequently appointed physician at Yuma Territorial Prison.  In 1887, he gave up the position at the prison.  For a period of years thereafter, there are no records indicating his political activities.

          In 1894 Dr. Rosson commissioned A. P. Pettit, a prominent architect who had moved to Phoenix from California, to design a new residence to be built on property at 6th and Monroe Streets.  The house was designed in the popular Eastlake/Queen Anne style and included an office where Dr. Rosson could see his patients.  Shortly after the building was completed, Mr. Pettit died in March 1895 and was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery.

          Following in Judge Alsap’s footsteps, Dr. Rosson ran for mayor in 1895 and, on May 7, he was elected.  His term as mayor was a short one, however.  In April 1896, he resigned after a disagreement with the city council.  Public opinion evidently sided with Dr. Rosson as one of the Tucson newspapers referred to him as a “fine, upstanding young man.” 

          The Rossons moved into their new home in 1895 but occupied it for only a short time before moving to California.  Citing the educational advantages of living in a larger city, Dr. Rosson moved his family to Los Angeles in 1897.  He died shortly thereafter on May 12, 1898.

          The Rosson house underwent many changes over the years.  Bought by the City of Phoenix in 1974, it was painstakingly restored during the 1980s.  It is now a museum. 

Contributors to this article:  Anna Fernandez, Reba Grandrud, Donna Carr

Related sites:  http://www.rossonhousemuseum.org/