The late Maricopa pioneer and farmer John Smith’s children announced today they are donating the family’s iconic estate, 20864 N. Smith Farms Road, to the city government to become a “historical facility.” 

John Smith died peacefully in his home on that property Sept. 1, and today at his celebration of life at the University of Arizona Maricopa Agricultural Center, his children, Jim, Jack, Matt, Mark Smith and Lisa Balcer announced the 2.5-acre estate would become a public gathering place. 

Smith’s surviving wife, Mary Lou, is in an assisted-living facility in Chandler, according to friends of the family. The Smiths built the farmhouse in 1955. 

“As a family, we are donating the farmhouse to the city of Maricopa to use as a historical facility,” daughter Balcer announced to a crowd of friends, family members and city officials. 

“That house was a gathering place for probably everybody in this room at some time or another, and we want it to be a gathering place for Maricopa,” Jack Smith said.  

The compound nestled in The Villages at Rancho El Dorado is valued at $707,300, according to the Pinal County Assessor’s Office.