Born: December 9, 1880, in Salt River, Missouri
Died: April 2, 1944, in Tempe

Garfield Goodwin came to Tempe as a child in 1888. He enrolled at the Territorial Normal School (now ASU) in 1896. He was an outstanding athlete, and played on the school's first football team before he graduated in 1899. He started a career as an agent for Wells Fargo & Co. and the American Railway Express Co.

But his main business was running the Goodwin Curio Store, where he sold a variety of Indian crafts and artifacts. In the summer each year he would go to Indian reservations and to Albuquerque and Santa Fe to buy silver jewelry, pottery, blankets, and prehistoric artifacts. He also dug up artifacts at prehistoric sites throughout Arizona (which would today be a serious federal crime). Goodwin sold his first collection to Mrs. Mae Heard, who later used her personal collection of Native American art to establish the Heard Museum. Goodwin operated his curio store, located in the Goodwin Building (514 S. Mill Avenue) for 41 years, from about 1903 until his death in 1944.

Mr. Goodwin served on the Tempe City Council, 1922-1928, including one term as Mayor of Tempe, 1924-1926. In 1934, he headed the Tempe Beach Committee, which planned the construction of new facilities in the community's first park. He served as Secretary of the Arizona State Teachers College Board of Education in 1930s and '40s, and led efforts to make the Tempe school a 4-year liberal arts college. He also promoted building a new ASTC football stadium, which was completed in 1937 and named Goodwin Stadium in his honor. Goodwin also served terms as President of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and the Tempe Rotary Club.

Garfield Goodwin was the youngest son of John F. and Mary Richards Goodwin. He married Jennie M. Kemper in 1903. She died in 1912. He married Charlotte Josephine Mullen in Tempe on August 7, 1913. He was the father of three children: Gloria Goodwin Futerer, Sadie Goodwin Kleinman, and Kemper Goodwin. He is buried in Double Butte Cemetery.