Video by Pam Stevenson, Agave Productions Inc., for Historical League
Elisabeth Ruffner has dedicated much of her life to preserving historic buildings in Arizona. She came to Prescott from Ohio in 1940 to marry Lester “Budge” Ruffner, whose family had settled in Prescott in 1867. She quickly came to love her adopted home. While raising three children, she began her career as a community volunteer. “I had ambition when I was in college. I was going to be a physician and I was going to be the best there was. But I changed my pattern. My pattern turned out to be life in a small town, raising a family and recognizing the quality and assets in a small town life, which are precious.”
In the 1950s, Mrs. Ruffner was co-founder and president of the Prescott Community Hospital and Auxiliary. In the 1970s, she led the campaign to build a new Prescott Library and to restore the 1903 Carnegie Library. In 2003, she chaired the Second Century Committee and raised more than a million dollars for an expansion of the new library. “It’s a gloriously beautiful place. There are dozens of computers there for public use. So it’s a home away from home. In fact, banners in front of it say, ‘Prescott’s Living Room.’ And that’s what it is.”
Elisabeth Ruffner also co-founded the Prescott Area Arts and Humanities Council and the Yavapai Heritage Foundation. When the construction of a Jack-in-the-Box fast-food restaurant threatened to demolish the Victorian Bashford House, Elisabeth saved it by relocating it to the grounds of Sharlot Hall Museum. “We got a Bicentennial grant, put together a committee, raised the money, moved the Bashford House, and did the survey of Prescott’s historic buildings. Then we published a booklet called Prescott, Arizona Territorial Architecture.”
Mrs. Ruffner worked with her friend, Polly Rosenbaum, to create the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame, as a way to recognize and honor the women who helped build the state. She has also worked diligently to establish many historic preservation districts and to protect hundreds of buildings by getting them listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of her projects in Prescott include Fort Whipple, the Santa Fe Railroad Depot, the Hassayampa Inn, and the Arizona Pioneers’ Home.
Today, she is leading efforts to restore the historic Elks Theater in Prescott, originally the Elks Opera House. “I believe this may be my last major project," she says. "I will rest on my laurels when we get that Elks Opera House restored and back in business.”
Elisabeth Ruffner believes, “Buildings don’t exist just because they are handsome or old. They have to have a purpose." Arizonans can visit and enjoy many historic sites today, and in the future, because of her dedication to save the tangible places of the past.
