VALLEY'S FIRST LAND BOOM ECALLED
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Familiar names, many of them perpetuated in the names of streets and
schools. and many borne by families still prominent in the Valley, dot
+his min., showina earlv homestead entries in the Salt River Vallev. The

map. compiled by Phoenix historian James M. ari18 Y• shows the first
big rush to claim land in the fertile Valley aft Jack Swilling began
construction of an irrigation canal in 1867. Sha eO area in the center

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•IN THE SALT RIVE.R VALLEY•
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',4 .seff/ement called "Phoenix• wos formed / n the
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1~7•18'4. /f now confain..s o6ovf .§0 per.sons who
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exf<nt of"counlry. The .$t!ffl<menf, thou_qh young, 6car.s
c.,...ry cviclencc oFthrifi- andpro.sperify. 11 (Morch 18,16'8)
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is the Pheenix Townsite, laid out between what now are Seventh Street,
Seventh Avenue, Van Buren, and Harrison. From this rather humble
beginning has developed today's Phoenix,

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This photo was taken about I 9 I 2. Do you recognize the place?
The answer is in the book, on page z74.

4

/01 [~{o

All photographs not otherwise credited are from the files
of Arizona Photographic Associates, McCulloch
Brothers and their predecessors.

6

NOSTRA CULPA
We plead guilty and throw ourselves on the mercy
of the reader. We tried our best, and at times our best
was unfortunate. It was amazing, the arguments we
could start by showing a photograph to various oldtimers or experts, each of whom positively could identify
the picture.
The picture on this page is not atypical of a problem
photo. We don't know who the men are or when the
picture was taken. None of our experts does either. But
we do know that the photo was taken on East Adams
Street before the old Adams Hotel burned down. This
would place it some time between I 896 and I 9 1 o .
Well, you might say, that's easy. What model auto is
it? We don't know.
Actually, we do solicit readers to inform us of our
sins of commission and omission. If you do know something about a photo in the book, please write and we
will add the information to the files, thus making them
more valuable for historians, both amateur and professional.
One other thing. If you have any old photographs,
please treat them with respect. They are part of the
historical record. Also, in these fast-changing times a
photo really doesn't have to be terribly old to qualify
as history. If you don't want to take care of your old
photos or would like others to be able to share them,
write us and we will try to arrange to have them cared for.

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T his obviously later-day Maricopa Indian settlement was purposely convenient to the canal. Maricopa's forebears showed
the way to the white man for irrigating desert lands.

73z.

Maricopa Indian family poses in front of its mud and reed house
for this photograph taken about r900. Note the large storage
baskets.

/

t oa q'3o

I I

Pueblo Grande, located at 46 I 9 E. Washington, photographed before it was excavated. _Note the ancient Indian canals at the upper right.

moment the army was busy surveying wagon roads . The
"Jackass Mail," more formally known as the San Antonio•
San Diego Mail Line began operations through the terri·
tory in I 8 5 7, and the following year the Butterfield
Overland Mail was in operation. A few intrepid miners
began to seek wealth from the land, but still Phoenix
slumbered.
During the great secession winter of I 860 and I 86 I
the Union crumbled, and in April of I 86 I open warfare
began between North and South. For the Southwest this
meant the withdrawal of the few troops stationed in the
territory and the resulting Indian uprisings. In I 86 I a
Confederate Army colonel proclaimed the existence of
the Territory of Arizona, an action legalized a year later
by the Confederate Congress in session at Richmond.
This Confederate Arizona territory cut across Arizona
and New Mexico just to the north of Phoenix and was
to include the southern portions of those areas. Its capital

was Mesilla in New Mexico, but this Arizona would not
long endure.
As early as I 8 56 the people of Tucson and sur•
rounding areas had asked for territorial status from the
United States Congress. Such men as Charles D. Poston
and Samuel P. Heintzelman labored toward that end.
Now with southern Arizona under the control of the Con•
federates they, as Unionists, went to work with renewed
vigor. Their cause was aided by the arrival of Colonel
Carleton and his California Column who swept the
Confederates out of southern Arizona. In April I 862,
between Phoenix and Tucson, the Battle of Picacho
Pass, often called the westernmost battle of the Civil
War, was fought.
Over the years several proposals had been introduced
in Congress to create a Territory of Arizona. One in I 8 59
authored by Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi would
have brought into being Arizuma. At last on February

16

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Pueblo Grande ruins as they look today, with museum at right. Phoenix is only city in the nation that has a staff archaeologist.

24, I 863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Arizona Organic Act and thereafter for almost a half century
the land was an organized territory of the United States.
Just after signing the Act, the Chief Executive appointed
the first set of officials who would venture west and
formally launch the new territory. Governor John A.
Gurley died before starting the expedition and John N .
Goodwin, a Maine Yankee, who had been appointed
chief justice of Arizona, was advanced to the governor•
ship. Goodwin and the bulk of his party came overland
across the plains to Santa Fe. Then with military escort
the group moved west and on December 29, I 863 at
Navajo Springs in northwestern Arizona the ceremony
was held which was to bring Arizona Territory into being.

/

Confederate veteran Jach Swilling lihed to move around, but
after learning about the possibilities of Salt River Valley
fr.om John Y. T . Smith he organized a settlement party and
founded Phoenix' first canal company. There is no hnown
picture of the fourth of the founding fathers, the Englishman,
Darrell Duppa, who named Phoenix.

Salt River Project C ollection

THE FOUNDING YEARS
by
John 0. Theobald
In September r 86 5, just four months after Appomattox, the military post of Camp McDowell was established
on the Verde River, about eighteen miles north of the
Salt River Valley. The purpose of locating the post was
to control the movement of two of the troublesome Apache
tribes, the Tonto and Pinal.
Since mounted horse troops were the key to this control, hay and grain naturally were as important an item
as food for the soldiers. John Y . T. Smith, post sutler, had
observed the extensive wild hay growth along the Salt
River in the wide valley below the junction of the Verde
and the Salt. Consequently, in r 867 he obtained the hay
contract for the post and proceeded to set up a "hay
camp" on the banks of the Salt. The camp was located
just about where Fortieth Street touches the Salt River.
In January r 867, just prior to Smith's venture, Gov•
ernment Surveyor William H. Pierce made a preliminary
survey of the Salt River Valley, locating a base and meridian point and establishing the initial monument. Before
the end of the year Smith was visited by Jack Swilling,
also a Civil War veteran, who had been around Arizona
for some years. Swilling observed the prehistoric canals
and was so impressed with the agricultural possibilities of
the Valley that he organized a canal company. In a few
months the first cultivated crops were growing and the
seeds of the agrarian empire were sowed.
One of Swilling's party was Darrel Duppa, a profligate, but educated Englishman. He, too, took note of the
extensive ruins of a once flourishing but vanished culture
in the Valley, and so named the new settlement Phoenix,
predicting that, like the mythical bird, a new metropolis
would arise on the ashes of the old. One of the earliest
known uses of the name occurs on May 4, r 868 in the
Yavapai County records as the election precinct of
Phoenix. Also in this year, Deputy Surveyor W . F.
Ingalls, who followed Pierce, now noted the quality of
the land and took cognizance of "a settlement called
Phoenix." Emigrant families had started to come to the
settlement and were engaged in general agricultural pursuits.

Captain William A . Hancock, surveyor of Phoenix' first
towmite and the first sheriff of Maricopa County. Hancock
also erected tow n's first store and w as one of the first lawyers.

In June of r 869 Swilling was appointed postmaster.
He erected a mail box near his substantial home, located
near Fortieth Street and Washington, and a mail rider
came in from Prescott with some degree of regularity. In
r 870 William A. Hancock, another Civil War veteran,
made a survey for a townsite, centering on what is now

John Y. T . Smith, seated on sawhorse, who cut hay
near Phoenix before it was founded , chats in later life with
L. H . Chalmers. Smith built first house in Valley and
laid out road to Fort McDowell .

18

Mrs. Dan M . Thompson Collection

Barry Goldwater Collection

Fort McDowell was established immediately following the Civil
War on the Verde River east of Phoenix to halt depredations by

Apaches raiding from the high country.

downtown Phoenix. This location had been opposed by
the "East Phoenix" group, led by Swilling, but a decision
was arrived at, after the democratic processes of committee
appointments and ballots were invoked on October 20,
1870. The "downtowners" won and the nucleus of the
village came into being with the first sale of city lots in
December of 1870. The first lot, on the southwest corner
of F irst Street and Washington, sold for $ 1 04, and
Hancock built the first building in the new townsite
across the street, on the northwest corner. In 1871, Maricopa County was created by the legislature and Captain
Hancock appointed first sheriff. His building, opened in
February 1871, served as headquarters for the county
offices, as well as general merchandise store and butcher
shop.
By 1872 the town had a brewery, a bakery, the
aforementioned butcher shop, a jail and the omnipresent
saloons. In the first decade of development, from 1 867
to 1877, the original ditches were extended, many new
ditch and canal companies were organized, and hundreds

of acres of new land were put under cultivation. In 1877
the legislature provided for the building of roads from
Phoenix to Globe, Prescott, Wickenburg, Agua Caliente
and Yuma. Congress in this year passed the Desert Land
Act, permitting a settler to get title to 640 acres of land,
providing he irrigated it within three years and paid a
small sum per acre. Captain William Hancock filed the
first claim under the new Act.
In 1878 Phoenix's first newspaper, The Salt River
Herald, ancestor of today's Arizona Republic, began
publication and Phoenix' first brick building approached
completion. Next year, 1 879, saw the opening of
Phoenix' first banking house, an Agency of the Bank of
Arizona. This year also witnessed the completion of the
wagon road to Maricopa. This station was the closest
point to Phoenix on the new Southern Pacific Railroad,
building eastward from Yuma. The line was completed
to Deming, New Mexico, in 1881, and gave Southern
and Central Arizona freight and passenger service from
coast to coast.

In this photo taken before r 870 at Fort McDowell, Captain
W. A. H ancock is seen lounging on bed at right. Others before

the sutler's store, left to right, are: Charles Kenyon, Capt. ]. A.
Moore, George E. Mowery, Capt. Sawyer, and Leausarder.

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

Max W. Larsen Collection
We don't know who it is or where it is, but could
it be the Lost Dutchman? Maybe he just came to town for
the hanging being prepared for the gibbet behind him.

TWO DECADES
OF GROWTH
by
Mrs. Marguerite B. Cooley
The emerging settlement called Phoenix was determined to take its place in the Territory, and this it did
during the twenty years preceding the 20th Century. The
some l, 700 inhabitants were proud of their town with
its gardens and trees. The founding fathers had laid out
wide streets and sidewalks; water Rowed through the
irrigation ditches; large supplies of merchandise were available, and people were 'moving in. These were the years
that established Phoenix permanently and showed that the
dream was one that was destined to come true.
The buildings in Phoenix were mostly adobe. After
the incorporation of the city and the first city election in
1881, a real building boom took place. Frame houses
appeared, some of them quite elegant. Brick buildings
and homes were also in evidence. Adobe blocks were a
thing of the past by now. In l 883 the Legislature
authorized Maricopa County to issue bonds for $30,000
for the building of a court house in Phoenix and in l 8 8 8
the city hall was built.
The merchants were extremely busy offering all the
necessities and many luxuries. There were ice factories,
book-sellers, a candy maker, jeweler, upholsterer, confectioner, interpreter, to list just a few. In l 880 some
50 classifications were listed and this had increased to
more than loo by l 900. Architects, carpenters, contractors, and building and loan associations came to
Phoenix in response to the increased needs.
Where there had been no place for visitors to Phoenix
to stay, rooming houses, restaurants and hotels appeared.
The Phoenix Chamber of Commerce became active, and

---

The man was a former St. Louis streetcar conductor named James Addison
Reavis, but in the Arizona of I 887 he called himself Peralta-Reavis. With
forged documents he laid claim to vast areas ,of Arizona, including the city of
Phoenix. Mines and railroads paid him thousands to keep operating, but soon
the Baron of Arizona was found to be a phony and landed in the penitentiary
at Santa Fe.
Hat!ling supplies to the dam was no mean task, in this
instance requiring I z mules to pull a load of cement.

20

Salt River Project Collection

Mrs. William Pickrell Collection

tourists were even searched out at that early date. Curio
shops were added to the listing of merchandisers.
The professions were not neglected. Some 39 attorneys were doing business by r 900; physicians and dentists were available; and St. Joseph's Hospital was caring
for the ill.
The residents of Phoenix were not satisfied with just
the necessities of life. They wanted all the better things
also. The education of the children was improved each
year with new elementary schools and the beginning of
Phoenix Union High School. Lamson Business College
began in r 890, and in r 894 the Dwight B. Heards
founded the Heard Museum. Electricity came to Phoenix

during this period. There were clergymen and churches
available for all.
Communications were far from instant, but they did
improve. A four-cell Bunsen battery provided the owner
of an ice factory a telephone line between his factory
and his residence in r 883 . In r 89 r the Sunset Telephone
Company was in operation. Users deposited a $20.00
bond for the instrument and paid $5.00 a month rental.
By r 899 long distance lines to Tucson were constructed.
By r 893 Phoenix had mail delivery to homes.
The social life in town was certainly active. Many
saloons added to the festivities, but to offset these were
a variety of benevolent organizations, the Women's Club

Italian stone cutters, who shaped and fitted the blocks for the dam, pose on a day ,off at the site.

21

Hanson's, Inc. Collection

q?11L/

Frank Cullen Brophy Collection

22

Without Theodore Roqsevelt Dam, Phoenix' flight from the
ashes would have been short-lived. Here it is from r 9 o 5, prepar-

ing the dam site, to the dedication in r 9 I
water over the top in 1 9 1 5.

of Phoenix, and the Phoenix Country Club.
The greatest accomplishment of this period was convincing the rest of the territory that Phoenix should be
the capital city. On January 26, 1889, Governor Zulick
signed into law the bill making this move. The legislature
adjourned in Prescott that evening and reconvened in
Phoenix February 7th. The trip was made by train in a

special car by way of Los Angeles. The Legislature met
in rooms provided in the city hall. That same session
created a Capitol Commission to select and obtain a site
for the capitol building, and a fund established for the
erection of the building.
The city of Phoenix was firmly established and ready
for the shining future of the 20th Century.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

I,

and, finally, first

Salt River Project Collection

Soon after completion of the Arizona Canal, a farmer listens to
the sweet roar of the water at Ingleside Falls, near Camelback
Mountain.

Before a water users' association was formed and the distribution
of irrigation was equitably organized, one way of a farmer's assuring that he got his share is illustrated in the above photo.

The parched lands of Phoenix needed lots of water from the
beginning. T hese tw o pictures show construction in the r88o's of

the Arizona Canal, a project spearheaded by W.

J.

Murphy .

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

CAPITAL OF
THE 48th STATE

on April 7, 1 914, when a commission form of city government was adopted. The assessed valuation of the city
had now risen to over $29,000,000 and by 1916 the
population had grown to nearly 25,000.
Among the many soldiers answering the call for
World War I was Frank Luke, Jr., America's second
war ace, and one of Arizona's outstanding heroes. In
1920 Phoenix celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and its
growth continued. The assessed valuation had passed
$33,000,000 and the city was in the midst of its largest
building boom to date. Phoenix Junior College was established, and Phoenix Union High School now registered
2,000 students. Before 1 92 r had come to a close the
city had 125 miles of sidewalks, while the area of the
city had grown to fifty-two square miles.
On June 21, 1922, the pioneer radio station KFAD,
now KTAR, was inaugurated. Phoenix' growing economy could further be measured by bank deposits which
now exceeded $25,000,000. The city enjoyed another
banner year in 1926 when the Southern Pacific Main
Line was completed through Phoenix, and regular passenger and express air service began the following year.
During this period several landmark buildings were built,
St. Joseph's Hospital on 4th Street, the San Carlos Hotel,
and in r 929 the Arizona Biltmore Hotel.
At the end of the decade, Phoenix had fifty-nine
churches, sixty garages, eighteen laundries, seven ice
plants, twelve hotels. Its six banks had combined re-

by
Hal Richardson
The beginning of a new century heralded a promising
time for Phoenix. The population had become nearly
6,ooo, and recognition reached a new high when President William McKinley spent a day in the city. Social
growth was not neglected since the Phoenix Country
Club, which had been organized earlier, was established
in a log cabin on Van Buren Street. A ten-acre plot was
donated for the Territorial Capitol, and the $ 130,000
building was dedicated on February 2 5, 1901, and the
Twenty-first Territorial Legislature convened in the new
structure.
In June, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt
signed the Reclamation Act providing that the proceeds
from the sale of certain lands should be used to build a
reservoir system. In 1903, to take advantage of this act
and to meet the water needs of Phoenix and the Salt
River Valley, a group of farmers formed the Salt River
Valley Water Users Association.
The commercial production of ostriches - for their
fashionable feathers - now reached its peak, and became,
while the fad lasted, a substantial industry. A new post
office was built and electric plants, steam laundries, flour
mills, ice plants and creameries for Phoenix were
expanded. On December 24, 1905, the Territorial Fair
in Phoenix opened and a few days later thousands of
Arizonans denounced joint statehood (with New Mexico) at the fair. Public opinion on this question was convincingly demonstrated on November 6, 1906, when
Arizonans defeated the joint statehood bill five to one.
Phoenix had now become the leading agricultural
region of Arizona. In the year 1908 building permits
totaled nearly $300,000 and the Carnegie Public Library
was dedicated. The assessed valuation of Phoenix had
risen to over $9,000,000 by 19 1o, and the paving of
city streets began on March 1 1. Excitement was provided when the Adams Hotel burned down early in
the morning of May 17, 191 o, but was promptly rebuilt
on the same site.
On February 14, 1912, Arizona achieved its longsought victory, as President William Howard Taft signed
Arizona's Statehood Proclamation. Arizona's first governor, George Wiley Paul Hunt was inaugurated on this
day. In 1913, nearly 3,000 winter tourists came to
Phoenix, signaling the beginning of one of Arizona's
major industries. Phoenix installed its first city manager

tMt

1 q1ogq

1911.00:L&M&'l'IOIW.

TO THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA:
t, JORN N. GOODWIN, baring been app-0intcd by the Praideot of &be Uuit.NStatn,aDCI dal1 .-J.iW, •
GOTerDOr of the TERRITORY OF ABIZOSA, do berub1 annoanee tlaa bJ Tirtae of tho ponn with wilif'll l
am inYe1ted by an Act of tbe Con"911 of the Unite& Stat•. pro'lidiaa a temponrJ pernment far tlae Tft'rito'f'1, I ahal1 thit day procted io orgHiu taid go'f'C1'ftDlftlt. TM protLliou of the Ac&, ud all Jan and n.ct-

1HUI establitbed thereby, will be enforced by the ~r Territorial olicm from and after dl'9 elate.
A. pttliminal'1 Cf111D1 will fonbwitb be taken, pd tbereaft« the Jad.irial f);1triett will be formed, _. u

eleetioa ol memben of the Leplati,. .&.embl1, ud tbe otloer ollom, povrided "1 the A.el, .. ......._

I iDTOke the aid and ~tion of all eiU... ot tM Territ0f1 in •1 el'ot1I to fttaltliU • . . . . . - ,
wbereb7 Lbe HCVi9 of life and propert7 will ba aalD.taiMcl throqhoat ita li•itt, and ita nrieil ...,_ N

JOHN N. GOODWIN.

On February 24, r863 , President Lincoln signed
into law the creation of Arizona Territory. With this
proclamation, made soon after his arrival at Fort
Whipple .o n January 22, r864, Governor John
N. Goodwin let the people of Arizona hnow about it.
An original of this proclamation recently sold
at auction for $20,000 .

24

B11MOonnor.

RICHARDC. M'CORMICK,

s......ry of tbe Territ.ry.
FORT WHIPPLE, ABIZO:I"'

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Upon the recommendation of Governor N . 0 . Murphy, the
territorial legislature in 1901 created the Arizona Rangers. Their
first captain was Burton C . Mossman . In this photo some of the
Rangers are seen with Captain Thomas H . Rynning, third from

left, w ho had succeeded Mossman . Disbanded by political whim
in 1909, the Rangers had brought law and order to Arizona
ranges.

sources of over $43,000,000, and the city area had
grown to sixty-four square miles and had 161 miles of
streets with seventy-eight miles paved, 1 20 miles of sidewalks and a population of over 48,000. The transition

decades from territory to state, 1900-1930, were ones of
great advancement and expansion at all levels of business
and industry. The decades following World War II would
witness even more and greater growth.

The last territorial officials of Arizona pose with their chief, Governor Richard Sloan,
seated, fourth fr.om left. Photo was made at capitol in r 9 l z .

Arizona's Constitutional Convention posed for its photograph towards the end of
r 9 1 o . The convention eventually came up with a basically populist constitution.
A portly Governor Hunt, with hand in pocket, reads a speech
from the front porch of the capitol ,on the day Arizona was
admitted to the Union.

This cartoon by Berryman is good enough not to need any
caption, but the artist labelled it "A Flag Day Dream." Both
Arizona and New Mexico became states in r 9 r 2 .

~
~

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

~6

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

On Saint Valentine's day, 19 r 2, President William H.
signed into law the creation of Arizona as the 48th state.

Ta~

On the day of admission there was a parade in Phoenix on
Washington Street in front of the old city hall. Behind the band
is a horse-drawn fire department steam pumping unit.

27

Lisle Updike Collection

THROUGH
THE GROUND GLASS
Time was when quality photography was almost the
private preserve of the professional photographer, viewing
the world upside down through the ground glass at the
back of his bulky camera. The amateur was not about
to lug around the equipment necessary to take fine photos,
not to mention the cumbersome processes of developing
and printing. Although George Eastman had marketed
roll film in I 889, it truly was not until the development
of panchromatic films and the miniaturization of cameras
in the 192o's that it was possible for rank-and-file amateurs to produce good photos.
So, it is to the old-time professional photographers
that we are especially indebted for so many of the excellent
pictures offered in this volume. Here are the craftsmen
we have learned to know in the publication of this book,
photographers who recorded the scene in and around
Phoenix prior to 1920.
Adkins, W. C.
Andrews, E. L.
Barton, L. C.
Beasley, Al D.
Beattie, J. W.
Branch, J. W.
Clausen, C. H.
Donnell, T. M.
Fortin, J. R.
Green, W. H. A.
Hackett, A. E.
Hartwell, Frank A.
Hartwell & Hamaker
Harrison, R. T.
Karf, A. M.

Kunselman, E. E.
McCulloch, J. M . & William
Mealey, M. W.
Mussey, F. B.
Pennington, William
Portillo, Jesus
Rothrock & Barnett
Rhodes, J. P.
Russell, William F.
Sexton, J. H.
Turnbull, Robert A.
Updike, Lisle
Westberg, J. F.
Wilson, Mrs. Lawrence

William Pennington's lugging about thirty pounds of camera
equipment up to Indian ruins was only the beginning of his
chores in I 9 o 7 . Next came developing by candle or moonlight
and, in cold w eather, keeping the chemicals and plates warm
over a miner's stove. Printing was done by thrusting plate and
paper holder through tent f/.ap into sunlight for critical number
of seconds.
When the pioneer photographer took to the road, it often meant
no r.oad at all. It also meant loading about 3,500 pounds of
cameras, plates, holders, mounts, chemicals, and studio tent, not
to enumerate the essentials for living for both man and beast.

WE TAKE

RANCHPICTURE
'AlllY 6ROUPSASPIC/JL

Lisle Updike Collection

28

As rugged as the horses and wagons were, sometimes the photographer had to pack into his customers. In this r907 photo, Lisle
Updike has his photographic and camping gear packed on one
horse, while, mounted on another, with rifie and pistol for
another sort of shooting, he is ready to make portraits of early
ranching families.

Photos taken and gathered by the McCulloch brothers form the
nucleus of the historical collection now maintained by Herb and
Dorothy McLaughlin. The two brothers are pictured at lefr,
along with Ed Linder and E. D. Newcomer as they worked on
special edition for the Arizona Republican.

29

Lisle Updike Collection

INTO FULL FLIGHT
1870-1900

'3L/Cf 3Lj

Our Phoenix was a little clumsy in taking off, but
once it was airborne it winged wonderfully into full
flight.
In this section, the reader is presented a brief
photographic record of Phoenix' development from the
beginning to the present, r 970. It is brief because r oo
years have been sifted down into sixty pages, roughly
300 photographs.
The majority of the photographs will deal with the
early 'periods, · r 870 , r 900 and r 900 , r 920, because
the Phoenix of those days has all but vanished. Another
reason for emphasis on the early times is that later periods
are strongly represented in the THEN AND NOW
section of the book, beginning on page r r 4 .
We hope the reader captures some of the flavor of
the very young Phoenix. In looking over so many photos
of those bygone days, we have come to view with some
nostalgia what we now call the old Phoenix. It seems
to us that it truly was an oasis on this harsh Sonoran
desert.

R eportedly, this was the home of Darrell D uppa, English remittance man, who gave Phoenix its name. It is located at r r 6
W est Sherman.
Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

T his lithograph is of Phoenix' first building, located on northwest corner of First Street and W ashington. It was built in I 87 I
by Capt. William A. Hancock.

NOTE: Central A venue for many years was
known as Center Street, sometimes spelled Centre.
But, since few of us remember it as such, we will
stick to the one we do know - Central Avenue.
The north -south streets and avenues originally
were named after Indian tribes.

J.

R. Darroche, Phoenix' first schoolmaster, held class in I 872
in the first County Building on South First A venue. Pupils in
the school were . . . . Hargrave, Anne, Alex, Mary and Will
Kellogg, Elizabeth and George Kirkland, Angel Moreno, Annie,
Effie, Eula, Flore and Marilla M urray, John Rosie and Sara
Osborn, Billie, Ellia and Mauda R oberts, Francisco and Jose
Rodriguez.

30

First National Bank ~£ Arizona Collection

Henry A. Salcido Collection

By October, 1873, the town had a proper school house and
this was it, located on Center Street - later Central Avenue just north of present San Carlos Hotel.

Built in 1872 by John]. Gardner, this was Phoenix' first hotel
and, not surprisingly, it was called the Phoenix Hotel. It was
located on East Washington, but whether at First, Second or
Third Streets is matter of debate.

·.- .

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

~ ·-

This is a long view of Washington Street in the
that is all we know about it.

r 87o's,

In 1878, this was Bostonian George Loring's place of business
on East Washington Street. It also was the County Court House,
W ells Fargo Station and Post Office, and it was next door to the
Palace Saloon.

and

31

Mrs. Margaret Rockwell collection

Phoenix Library Collection

Valley National Bank Collection

By the r 8 8 o's Washington Street began to take on a substantial
look, and the trees added both beauty and shade. This w as an
I.0.0 .F. parade.
The Valley Banh opened for business in 1884 with M. H.
Sherman as president, William C hristy, cashier, and E. J. B ennitt, assistant cashier.

Mayor Emil Ganz' popular Banh Exchange Hotel w as destroyed
by fire in r 8 8 5. It was located between First and Second Streets
on Washington, across from the Plaza.

-..

-- ,,

Frank Cullen Brophy Collection

34

First National Bank of Arizona Collection

Kelly's Speedy Phoenix Marhet was located on the southwest
corner of Central and Washington.
Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

On the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Washington,
the Garden City Restaurant also featured swimming and bathing.
Maybe the ditch was routed through the building.

..

This is a "bird's eye view" of Phoenix in r 8 8 5 made by C. J.
Dyer. It noted that the population was about r ,3 oo, but was
growing.

T he Goldman b' Company store on the northeast corner of
C entral and Washington handled .everything from farm equipm ent to general merchandise. Goldman is man with hand on hip.

_........--

- ~

... -·~·· ~.

·~··

-- -··... .. . ---

-·-----.
:'~~
~:-=~~~:]:: $
:-~
"-~

"

....

~-~~~~-=.;· ~.

35

lf ......_. . ;;..:::..:..=;:
.._.__..
--- ··--.... . ___

~

~

-

:.~~

~

_

,.~ ...-

Tom Chauncey Collection

Barry Goldwater Collection

First National Bank of Arizona Collection

~~~~ t/7113

q'/gq I

In 1883, the Lemon Hotel was one of Phoenix' finest. It was
owned and operated by A. D. Lemon.
Barry Goldwater Collection

It loohs lihe Jefferson Street had all the traffic it could handle
when this photo was tahen. The view is to the east from Central.

._,

___

,

.

.

·,·-J-.- ~

.

:L . - . ..
.

....

. : -(!/;,4":- : ..

h
.
.

~ 4~,"~.::,::'\> •~: ·' • ••• •• .
.. · . 1·. ·· · .~·
--~ ·-~
.

• ,...-

.

~-

I

.

.

·. ;,;.-

tf11t6

Loohing east from First Avenue on Washington Street, this was
the view in the late r 8 8 o's.

The twelve-mule-team rig was on the west side of First Street
south of Washington . The Central Hotel, with veranda, is
between Goldberg Bros. and Bee Hive stores.

34 blf ;l_.,

~- ­

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

.

-

36

William Corpstein, Jr. Collection

Luhrs C ollection

We don't know who the family is, but we like this picture of
early Phoenix home life.
Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

This was the original Commercial Hotel in i887.
Henry A. Salcido Collection

Established in i879, the S. D. Lount and Son Phoenix ice
factory, was at northeast corner of Fourth Street and Washington.

Later, S. D. Lount's ice company's name was changed to City
Ice Delivery. Lount is holding horse at center.

Neat and not gaudy would be the way to describe the Commercial Hotel lobby in the late i88o's.

Luhrs Collection

Luhrs Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

The Porter Building was on southwest corner of Central and
Washington. The second fioor housed the Arizona Improvement
Company and the Arizona Canal Company.

In r888 the Commercial Hotel was enlarged to look like this.
Later it was enlarged again and eventually remodelled into
Luhrs Hotel.

Salt River Project Collection

Frank Cullen Brophy Collection
G oing into the Nineties was a good time for fioods, especially this year, r89r, when the
Salt River rose with a fury and then subsided into tranquil beauty.
-~

Mrs. A.

J. Keen Collection

39

Mrs. A.

J. Keen Collection

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

This was the countryside northeast of Phoenix in 1895. The
photo was taken from the Churchhill residence, now the site of
Phoenix Union High School.

Phoenix, east from the Court House, looked like this. City Hall,
before the bell tower, is center-rear, First Avenue in foreground.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

The old Adams Hotel soon a~er 1896 gave a good look
at Melinda's Alley, next to Mexican-style building, center.
Churchill residence can be seen at top, also tower of waterworks
at Ninth Avenue and Van Buren.
At Phoenix High School, the girls wore maxi skirts and tightcollared blouses, and the boys jackets and ties, which seems
appropriate for such a high-style Victorian school building. There
also was no parking problem.
This is the early school on the old School Block, bounded by
Monroe and Van Buren, and Central and First Avenue.

Phoenix Library Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

Washington Street was the street in the r 8 9 o's, and for some
years afrerwards. Here streetcars on their way to The Natatorium
pass the Court House at First Street.
Henry A. Salcido Collection

The Central School had grown into this impressive structure
by end of r89o's.

Streetcars were electrified in r 8 9 3, and this .one is heading west
on Washington at Central Avenue.

In the late r89o's, Bernard Heyman had his furniture store on
northwest corner of First Street and Washington in the Berryhill
Building. Just down the street was the C. D. Dorris furniture
store. Streetcars were headed for Phoenix Park and the Capitol
Grounds.

The identification we have for this photo says that the cyclists
are part of the Nellie Bly "around-the-world". trip, passing
through Phoenix. The only journey around the world the famous

journalist took that we know of was to break the record in Around
the World in Eighty Days, which she did in 72 days, 6 hrs.,
and r r mins., on Jan. 25, 1890.

~~~-!-!/tinL~~~

~~-----~~c..._~~.....-~-"'-~-

J...l~

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

Valley National Bank Collection

Mrs. A.

The Central Hotel between First and Second Streets on
Washington, had rooms for guests only upstairs.

Washington Street also was the street for funerals, complete
with brass band and curious children.

Korrich's The New York Store was east of Second Street on
Washington.

The Fleming Building at lefe on corner of First Avenue and
Washington had only two stories, and the Bee Hive Store
advertised on the Second Avenue street sign.

q'1I43

Phoenix Library Collection

J. Keen Collection

42

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Valley National Bank Collection

d

'Wuhlllit~

..

The well-known restaurant, French Kitchen, at left, was ori ·
south side of Washington between Central and First Avenue.
The New Mills House was built in
6 1 8 West Washington.

I

8 9 3 and was located at

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

~l/. fo43

.

Washington Street was getting ready for a parade, and a good
place to have been was the balconies of the Ford Hotel at left
on corner of Second Avenue .

The Fleming Building had gone up to four stories, and A. F. C.
K irchhoff, Family Liquor Dealer, was doing business next to
the H. H. McNeil Co.

I
.-

--

43

Phoenix Library Collection

Looking south on Central Avenue from Washington in the
r 89o's was an optomistic view. The National Bank of Arizona
is at left, and the Thibodo Block at right.

The Adams Hotel, at right, was almost an outpost in this view
looking north -0n Central Avenue. Melczer Bros. Wholesale
Liquors were at left next to gun store.

On quiet days on Washington Street there was time for a chat.
Alley next to The Valley Bank in back of trio was called Wall
Street .

Adjusting and cleaning the electric arc lamps was a constant
necessity for maintaining street lighting. Note serviceman using
little stool to insulate him from chance of electric shock. This
is looking north on Central from Washington.

I<6'q ft,

Mrs. A.

J. Keen Collection

44

Arizona D epartment of Library and Archives C ollection

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

Mrs. A.

J. Keen Collection

This reportedly was the Yellowstone Saloon across from City
Hall. At any rate, it sold Yellowstone whiskey, provided steady
customers a rack to hang their beer mugs and towels for all
customers to wipe suds from whiskers.

The City Waterworks at northeast corner of Ninth Street and
Van Buren was constructed in r 8 9 6.

Luhrs Collection

Late in the Nineties the Commercial Hotel added on a third
section at right of building.

It looks like the horse trading center was outside the doctors'
oflices at Central and Adams in r 8 9 r, present site of Adams
Hotel.

45

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

Barry Goldwater C ollection

J

'~

The Q.olden Eagle Livery Stables of C. M. Sturges b' Co .
provided these elegant rigs for fancy customers.

Travelers went to the Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad Station
on Seventh Street to catch train for Maricopa Station and South·
ern Pacific main line . ·

In r 8 8 r , Edward Eisele founded the Phoenix Bakery, forerunner of H olsum. These are delivery wagons in r 8 9 4.
Holsum Bakery, Inc. Collection
'

Edward Eisele, right, poses with partner, Alfred Becher, in the showroom of Phoenix Bakery at 7 West Washington.

Holsum Bakery, Inc. Collection

. ~4· i 1. '•
l~~
. -~'.· - •

The Five Points Bakery offered goodies to folks coming into
town from westside on Van Buren or Grand Avenue.

This is the way a soda fountain and candy store was up to
date in the 189o's. It was Donofrio's near First Street and
Washington .

A pr.aper dry goods store probably looked like this, and Goldwater's did at its store near First Street and Washington .
Lightning Transfer and Storage wagons were lined up at office
on west side of Central between Washington and Jefferson.
Notice the bedding rolled up on cots on porch over sidewalk .
We would imagine that these persons are employes or relatives of Ezra W. Thayer, but we don't know.
Note the plaster horse fitted out with harness in the doorway .

47

First National Bank of Arizona Collection

Francis Donofrio Collection

Charles Donofrio, who came to Phoenix in r887, posed outside his store on East Washington in r894.

Charles H. Pratt and Cyril Gilbert started in business in r 8 9 9
in this store, where now the Tefferson Hotel is located.

It may look crude to us, but this was an efficient machine works, possibly Kunz Brothers and Messenge¥.
The Model Grocery at 42 North Central Avenue looked like
this in r898.

Francis Donofrio Collection

Mrs. Margaret Rockwell collection.

Col. William Christy, president of The Valley Banh, with
two sons, Lloyd and Shirley, show off the era's idea of elegance
and efficiency in banking.

Mrs. George H . Cavin Collection

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Leon S. Jacobs Collection

\

The J. T. Dennis, right, and Marcus Jacobs homes were located
between Second and Third Streets on Monroe and were typical
of fine homes of the Nineties. The Jacobs place lasted well into
the 196o's.
Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

The University of Arizona was in Tucson, but it had its agriculture experimental station on Grand Avenue near Phoenix.

The Methodist church at Second Avenue and Washington was
sold in 1894 to make way for the Ford Hotel.

In the 189o's, this was the new Central Methodist Church
at southwest corner of Central and Monroe .

Built in 189 2, the Roland Rasson house at 139 North Sixth
Street was a social center and the essence of elegance in that
age of innocence. House was still standing in 1970.

Lisle Updike Collection

49

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Mrs. A.

J. Keen Collection

Mrs. A.

J. Keen Collection

N.o doubt this photo was to mahe the folhs bach East jeal6us.
Some experts thinh this might be Fred Balhe, who had an
Indian curio store and built the Balhe Building at First Avenue
and Adams.

The Columbus and Adeline Gray mansion on South Seventh
Street and Mohave was a Phoenix show place.

Mrs. Dan M. Thompson Collection

Mrs. Dan M. Thompson Collection

tt~ISD

He was hnown only as Ong, but he was hnown well by many
old-time Phoenicians.
People in the I 89 o's were just as intrigued with the ruins at
Casa Grande as Padre Kino had been nearly zoo years before.

This group on its way bach from Cave Creeh included Mr.
and Mrs. Fred Tait, Mary Denny, and Blanche Hancoch.
Gathering in City Hall Plaza, where Fox Theater now stands,
was more than a sometime thing.

'!

Mrs. A.

J.

Keen Collection

50

-

Mrs. A.

J.

Keen Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

Mrs. Dan M. Thompson Collection

The Mid-winter Carnival Queen in late Nineties was Lena
Purdy of Phoenix. Her attendants from le# were Laura Pech,
Yuma, Lillie Solomon, Solomonville, Maud Marsh, Prescott,
Kate Sherman, Kingman, Miss Kenyon, Globe, Agnes Todd,
Flagstaff. Pages were Hazel Goldberg and Ruth Jessop of
Phoenix.

,......

First National Bank of Arizona Collection

On a visit to Hole-in-the-Roch about 1897 Bessie Copes, top,
and Mabel Hancock don't seem to fear getting their pretty
dresses dirty.
First National Bank of Arizona Collection

These are the first to fourth grades and the fifth to eighth grades of Creighton School in 1896. Can anyone identify them?
Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection
\l.)
The spring term class of 1892 at Mrs. C. H. Bury's Private
School posed for this picture. We know that it includes Carrie,
Waldo and Carroll Christy .

The children look gentle enough on this school picnic, but we
nC?ticed that all the teachers are huddled together.

51

Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

Morse Whitley Collection

The Boys Brigade of 1894 loohed pretty fierce, even if one
of them was out of uniform.

We don't hnow if Oscar Roberts was at the Court House because
of the law, but he and his roan horse made the perfect picture
of an Arizona cowboy.

Would you believe that there was a crichet match at Eastlahe
Parh in 1895? That is what we were told.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

This is a gun club of 1897. The only member identified is

Arizona D epartment of Library and Archives Collection

J.

M . Aithen, sprawled at left.

52

M rs. Allan Houle Collection

Phoenix Library Collection

Some oldtimers may be able to identify the staff of Phoenix
High School in the z89o's.

The first Territorial Press Association of Arizona, first row, left:
W. L. Vail, Phoenix, J. Dorrington, Yuma, L. C . Hughes,
Tucson, G. W. Brown, Tucson, J. 0. Dunbar, Phoenix. Second
row: E. D. Gill, N. A . Morford, Phoenix, Paul Hull, J. H.
McClintoch, Phoenix, R. C. Brown, Tucson, C. W. Johnstone,
Phoenix.

J. W. Dorris, le~, and S. M. Hogsett pose in z896 at their
store at Central and Adams with very small and pretty Ruth
Dorris.

Besides the bath at the Commercial Hotel, the weary traveller
could get a haircut for thirty-five cents.

BA H
-

Outside the bar of the Commercial Hotel, a young Arthur Luhrs
gets his picture taken with Sam Berry, arm around shoulder,
bartender Billy Mathews, and his father, George H. N . Luhrs.

!la

Luhrs Collection

53

Henry A. Salcido Collection

Salt River Project Collection

-

The Phoenix Midwinter Carnival of February 19-22, 1896,
was a perfect occasion for a grand parade. Here it comes west
on Washington Street at Third Avenue.
Barry Goldwater Collection

Everybody loves a parade, especially if a handsome son is in it.
These young men are part of the Phoenix High School Cadet
Corps.
Mrs. Dan M. Thompson Collection

.......

The Indians were coming hell bent, but it was only another
parade on Washington Street.

Sometimes it wasn't a parade that attracted on Washington
Street. This time it was the finish of a fire hose race.

The Phoenix Indian School Band leads a major segment of a parade on East Washington Street.

qtAs1

Phoenix Library Collection

54

Phoenix Library Collection

Army oflicers and ofjicials lead the Phoenix Indian School Cadet
Corps in an I 8 8 9 parade·
John and Lillian Theobald Collection

With an officer of the famous Rurales in the lead, Yaqui
musicians and dancers represent Arizona's southern sister state,
Sonora, Mexico.

Following the Spanish -American War, James H . McClintock
was appointed colonel of the First Arizona Infantry . That is
he, with saber drawn, at the head of his troops on East
Washington Street.

Sometimes a parade managed to get off Washington Street, in
this instance on Adams, marching west into Central Avenue.

55

Valley National Bank Collection

Phoenix Library Collection

1900 thru 1920

Mrs. Allan Houle Collection

•

Capitol Building,
f'hoenix. tlrlzona

. . . But this is the way it turned out when ready for dedication
in l90I.
According to the architects, this is the way Arizona's capitol
was to looh at the start of a new century.
Mrs. William Pickrell Collection

q'1f5 :L J

.....-r ..1&11~1&w•••
. .

. And this is how it appeared, when it got a bath as more
than nineteen inches of rain fell in 1905.
Holsum Bakery, Inc. Collection

-, 'i"

Granted, it is not much of a view of the capitol, but President
Taft was speaking .. . and, ladies, get a load of the fashions
for 1909.
Leon S. Jacobs Collection

Taft wasn't the only President to visit Phoenix at the beginning
of the T w entieth Century. Here is President William McKinley
just three months before he was shot down by an anarchist on
September 6, 1901, in Buffalo, N .Y.

Without being connected with rest of the nation by rail, it
probably would have tahen even longer than the record number
of years for Arizona to become a state. Pictured is J. 0. Dunbar
of the influential Dunbar's Weekly returning from Washington
after lobbying for statehood.

This was Engine No. l , which hauled on the Pea Vine between
Phoenix, Prescott, and Ash Forh to connect up with Santa Fe
main line.

Valley National Bank Collection

The iron horse brought the mail into town, and the four-legged
variety to oh it the rest of the way.

56

Albert J. Ross Collection

The railroads still haul automobiles, but the method of unloading
is more organized than it was in I 9 o 9 .

First National Bank of Arizona Collection
The first auto purchased in Phoenix was a 1901 Winton. It
actually was third auto in town, but its proud owner, Dr. James
Swetnam, didn't seem to mind.
M rs. George H . C avm
· C oJIect"ion

We believe this classy auto to be a 1903 Cadillac. Out for a
drive are Mr. and Mrs. Shirley Christy.

At this time the bicycle became motorized, and the Phoenix
Motorcycle Club was organized.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection
There still were places where an automobile couldn't go, and
even the Ford Hotel stage had trouble.

These intrepid motorists were on their way from Prescott to
Tucson in r904. Identifiable cars are Oldsmobile, Winton,
Franklin and Packard. Second from right are Mr. and Mrs.
Frank W . Foster and daughter Blanche of Prescott. Second le#
are Alex Lyons and W. C. Miller; third, 0. A. and Mrs. Hesla;
and fifth left, Mr . and Mrs . H. D. Atken.

57

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Melvin Goodson Collection

Albert J. Ross Collection

In l 9 08 the stage was still running to Theodore Roosevelt Dam
from Phoenix.
Luhrs C o11ection
·

We are not pulling your leg. This is the Blach Canyon Highway
in 1900.

Barry Goldwater Collection

q']'] 63

These serious and thoughtful children made up the First Grade
at old Central School in 19or.
Leon S. Jacobs Collection

In 1905, the age of elegance had not completely passed, as
Governor Alexander 0. Brodie and his wife prove.
Lance Dunham Collection

The 1904 graduating class of Phoenix High School looked
confidently into the future.
The Red Bird Band at Central School in 1902 or 1903, under
the direction of Mr. Fountain, included George and Frank
Eberle, Bobby Baher, Otto, Ulrich and Walter Thalheimer,
Floyd Marlar, Avery and Bill Corpstein, Walter Wood, Addison Brewer, George Luhrs, Vic Comfort, . George Campbell,
Nick and Joe Baiz, Roland Norris, and Adam Fike.

In 1909 Osborn was a farm-country school way out on Center
Street. These are members of the Second, Third and Fourth
Grades.
Jogging wasn't a new fad at the Phoenix Indian School in early
9 oo's, as the Cadet Corps demonstrates in this photo.

l

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

58

Luhrs Collection

Palmer Irvine Collection

Palmer Irvine Collection

The 1905 Phoenix High School team was undefeated in its
three-game schedule. Reclining in front is Ed Melczer, with Neil
McCarthy directly behind him. With the football is Captain
Lyman Latourette, and the big fellow ,over his right shoulder is
Arthur Goebel. At top right is Palmer Irvine, and in front of
him is John Wolf-Chief. Others are Bert Smith, Guy Wilhy,
Herm Rosenberg, Alex Baher, Ben Baum, Cliff Maddox, Bill
Simson, John Dunlap, and Celora Stoddard.

M rs. Ed Luke Collection

The Phoenix High School track team of 1907 or 1908 looked
neat, if not swift. Bill Corpstein is at lefe in front row.
Swimming in the ditch was the best cooling Phoenix had to
offer in 1905. These are the H. H. McNeil children in the
Town Ditch, formerly the Swilling Ditch, which passed through
their front yard at 345 W est Van Buren.

The only thing we have been able to learn about these two
formidable athletic aggregations between l 9 o 5 and l 9 IO is
that Ed Luke is at front right in the football picture and third
from right in top row in track photo.

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

59

Rev. Fred A. McNeil Collection

Albert

J. Ross Collection

qq 111

The Woman's Club of Phoenix was founded in 1900, but it
didn't get around to building its clubhouse till late in 1909.
This is laying of the corner stone at First Avenue and Fillmore.

~'''''''''

The desert is a long way from the tall timber, but a Foothills
Palo Verde made an excellent Christmas tree in 1907.
Luhrs Collection

No one seems to know - or they aren't telling - what the occasion was, but in 1900 on parade were, from left, Louise Swetnam, George Luhrs, Jr. , Emma Luhrs, and Mable Novinger.

He may look like a dude, but it is Wildcat Bert Bryan, Phoenix
broncbuster who went with the Buffalo Bill show. Wearing fur
chaps, Wildcat must have thought he was in Montana.
This is not the same bar shown earlier. The Commercial Hotel
Bar was up to date for the l 9 o o's, but the customers' drinking
habits seemed not to have changed.

There certainly was little reason for a dental patient being bored
while waiting in Dr. William G. Lentz' office in the National
Banh of Arizona Building.

In l 9 o 7, the Arizona National Guard sent the fir st national
match rifle team into competition. Since the Guard did not even
have a rifle range, not surprisingly ii took forty-third out of
forty -eight places.

Luhrs Collection

60

Arizona N ational Guard Collection

Phoenix Library Collection

Albert J. Ross Collection

About l 9 l o this was the eastern residential area of Phoenix as
photographed from a balloon. The intersection at lower lefr is
Fifth Street and Monroe. Open fields directly up the picture
from intersection are now Phoenix Union High School. House
in center with large circular drive is now Monroe School. Tower
is city water plant north of Van Buren on Ninth Street.

From this l 907 photo, it would appear that attending the Arizona
'Territorial Fair was strictly a masculine afjair.

Frank Cullen Brophy Collection

Mrs. Dan M. Thompson Collection

The Arizona Republican was at Second Street and Adams, and
the ditches were still open in town. The Churchill house of
Phoenix Union High School can be seen at top left, and the
tower of the waterworks is to the right.
Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

These were the main gates on the Arizona Canal at the Crosscut Canal and Lateral 7 . Now fort;p-eighth Street and Indian
School Road meet in the newly planted citrus grove .

q13LJ '1

John and Lillian Theobald Collection

Towards the end of the century's first decade, Phoenix' first twostory brick structure, the Irvine Building at First Street and
Washington, was beginning to show its age.
In l 9 l 5, the former Dorris Opera House was the E lks Theater,
and on October z l J.ohn Phillip Sousa and his band were appearing. The building still stands between Third and Fourth Avenues
on Washington.

The Carnegie Public Library on West Washington Street was
Phoenix' first and was dedicated in 1908.

Autos were the coming thing in 1909, but the horse and buggy
still dominated on Washington Street.

\

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61

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

D . M. Browning Collection

Barry Goldwater Collection

uEo.r. MER RYMAN __ q~
UNDERTAK[RA~o

MBALMER.

The Phoenix Country Club was isolated out at Sixteenth Avenue
and Van Buren, but never so much so as by the rains of 1905.

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

If it was time to go, this was the way to do it in

l

~

908.

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

These shops look as if they were out in the country, but in 1900
they were at Second Avenue and Jefferson, only a block south
of the Ford Hotel.

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

In 1907, Donofrio-Zunkel and Talbot and Hubbard stores were
doing fine. Then in 1908 fire struck.
Francis Donofrio Collection

J. W. Benhaw and wife in their The Curio were happy to show
off their wares, when such items as large Indian baskets were
not the rarity they are today.
Rosenzweig's Jewelers moved into this, the second store, in 1907.
It was on East Washington Street.

The Ezra Thayer Hardware store, between First and Second
Streets on Washington, looked like this.

John and Lillian

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

Theo~ld Co)lection

Francis Donofrio Collection

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

q1640

To many, downtown Phoenix had lost its charm, but this was
Central Avenue north of Fillmore. Goldwater house is second
from left.
Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

The Donofrio's ice cream wagon was a familiar sight around
town in r 9 o.8 , and it was to be so for years to come.

Valley National Bank Collection

Yes, Virginia, there was a time when you could buy a new Ford
car in Phoenix for $690 . Look closely at store window.

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

In r 908 The Valley Bank constructed a new .office between
Central and First Street on Adams and moved from its old
quarters at Wall Street and Washington.

.

17alley Bank, Phoenix, l\rlzona.

Phoenix Library Collection

Dorris and Heyman merged their furniture operations in r 9 or,
but this huge building was started by a man named Noble, who
went broke pouring so much concrete. Dorris-Heyman finished
the job and moved into the building .o n the southeast corner of
First Street and Adams in 1908.
Back in r 9 r 2, the future Mrs. Ed Luke, right, worked for
W. Dorris, Cash Grocer, at store on southwest corner of
First Street and Washington.

J.

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

I'

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

In I 9 Io, the fourteen-year-old Adams Hotel was Phoenix' pride.
Phoenix Library Collection

Then, early on the morning of May I7 fire broke out.

Phoenix Library Collection

The Fire Department called out everything it had.

But it was soon obvious that the fire had won, but it hadn't
claimed any victims.

Barry Goldwater Collectibn

Phoenix Library Collection

Building and furnishings worth about $zoo,ooo were now only
smoke.

Ph oemx
· L'b
·
1 rary C oII ectton

An indication of the intensity of the heat is the men shielding
themselves with a blanket nearly half a block away.
When the hotel was rebuilt, it made conspicuous notice that the
new building was "absolutely fireproof ." New lobby is pictured .

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In Phoenix Fire Department annals, this fire still is listed as
Phoenix' most spectacular.

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

Frank Cullen Brophy Collection

_ _

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_,_;__...;....,;~'---8

This photo is presented especially for car buffs. How many can
you identify? Wesley Hill drove m otorized- stage to Roosevelt
Dam.
John and Lillian Theobald Collection

Electric and telephone lines were beginning to be a hazard for
the birds, at least at Central and Washington.

Barry Goldwater Collection

W. L. Allison's blachsmith shop in r9r 7 had a few more years
to go before blossoming into the Allison Steel Manufacturing Co.

Tom Chauncey Collection
Citrus became a big crop in the Valley. This shipment was grown
by W. J. Murphy, pioneer canal builder and citrus grower.

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

This ,is the way they cleaned the streets so early in the morning.
Admission Day also was George Wiley Paul Hunt's inauguration as the state's first governor.

The Phoenix Indian School cadets paraded on Adams Street
in honor of Arizona's statehood.
William Jennings Bryan, harboring presidential hopes for the
fourth time, tooh advantage of Admission Day to mahe a speech.

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

66

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

In the Teens, Phoenix' streets acquired a new look with the advent of the automobile.
You are looking east on Washington from First Avenue.
Frank Cullen Brophy Collection

Air conditioning was a dream - certainly for a modest lady who
had to use this communal sleeping porch at the Ford Hotel.

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection
r.

This, no doubt, was the time when the expression "That's cooking with gas" came into vogue.
Hanson's, Inc. Collection

The city thought it bad for its image to have tents in town, such
as this one at 442 North Central, but the matter was dropped
when it was learned that many visiting legislators used tents.

In I 9 ro, the buggy business didn't feel too threatened by the
horseless carriage, as evidenced by the Pratt-Gilbert showroom,
but by I 9 I 5 Chambers Transfer b' Storage Co. was nearly
half motorized.

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

The advertising was aimed at the farm wife, and it said: "Don't
Be a Crank. Use an Automatic Cream Separator ." Demonstrating
is Bert Hanson .

Henry A. Salcido Collection

Francis Donofrio C ollection

Donofrio's ice cream plant was on First Street between Washington and Adams in r 9 r 4, while the ice cream parlor was on
Central at the present site of Security Building Annex.

The Columbia Theater bright lights were on the north side of
Adams, between First and Second Avenues, in r9r7, and
"Ramona" w as a coming attraction.

America decided that wartime was a good time to jump on the
water wagon. Ed Luhe is at left on top of wagon, and Dr. Coit
Hughes in front.

Theodore Roosevelt lahe filled for the first time and spilled over
the dam in r 9 r 5 . R epresentative Carl Hayden and other officials
went up to tahe a looh.
By r 9 r 5, Phoenix Union High School had emerged as a notable
institution.

The new Post Office and Federal Building on First Avenue
between Monroe and Van Buren w as nearing completion in r 9 r 3.

Phoenix Library Collection

68

.'r!

...

Phoenix Library Collection

Mrs. A.

J.

Keen Collection

The 1914 American Mining Congress Headquarters were in
the Board of Trade Building at Second Avenue and Adams. In
the photo, from left, are Harry Welch, secretary of Board of
Trade, E. L. Wolcott, secretary American Mining Congress,
Rep. Carl Hayden, Mrs. Birdie Fowler Keen, and Pearl Butler.

The Dwight B. Heard headquarters were on the southeast corner
of Central and Adams, until the Heard Building went up slightly
to the north in l 9 l 9.

America went to war on April 6, l 9 l 7, and Phoenix supported
the troops by subscribing to Liberty Loans.

National Guard units were among the first ready for action, and
officers of Arizona's l 58th Infantry Regiment gathered at old
National Guard Building at Sev enth Avenue and Jefferson .

During the seventeen days that Lieutenant Frank Luke awed
both enemy and allies, he paused for a picture with his ground
crew. When he was hilled on September 29, 1918, his score was
twelve observation balloons and nine aircraft.

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

Mrs. Ed Luke Collection

Rev. Fred A. McNeil Collection

The "Ole Swimmin Hole" in 1917 was in the Salt River west
of town. Boys dove under banks to catch fish in bare hands.

At the beginning of the summer, l 9 l 5, the First Troop . of the
Second Patrol of the Boy Scouts were ready for an outing.
It wam't baseball season yet in March of l 9 l 7, but the boys
on East Adams Street limbered up their pitching arms a~er a
hail storm.

From left, Bobby Baker, Kenneth Chamberlain, Avery and Bill
Corpstein hold the enemy off near the corner of Central and
McKinley in 1910.

The Phoenix Braves baseball team consis.t~d of, from left, top
row: Andy Scott, Louis Quiroz, Jay To'Wers; Sm~e~ ;·sanoqui,
Lickey Oviedo, Teddy Sonoqui; center, Ga;e Balles_tc~os, Clarence Butler, Frank Butler, Prospero Perez (bat bpy); ·kn;eling,
Ralph Buelna, Art Van Haren, and Raymond Scott.

Albert

J. Ross Collection

Young Bob Ross displays his l 9 l 8 Christmas toys. Perhaps he
was thinking of making a few trades, but he did not grow up to
become a merchant, rather a Phoenix fire marshall.
The Phoenix Gazette held an annual newsboy-s picnic, and this is
the gang leaving town in l 9 l 5.

Henry A. Salcido Collection

Barry Goldwater Collection

Lester Byron, Jr. Collection

In r 9 ro, a horse and buggy were fine for Bill C orpstein, left,
and Lester Byron to treat the girls to a picnic at Camelback
Mountain.
Elbert Gilbert Collection

The hose was to make them cool, but the suits seem to have
been made to keep them warm . Wetting down on a hot day in
r 9 r 9 are Barry, Bob and Carolyn Goldwater.

For some things horses were better, such as crossing the Salt River.

Tea dancing at Riverside Park on South Central was a pleasant
way to spend a Sunday afternoon in r 9 r 7 .
With the automobile, it meant that campers could head for the
Rim Country for the weekend.
Shoeing horses wasn't easy, but it probably was faster than
changing tires on these models.

Lester Byron, Jr. Collection

Albert J. Ross Collection

William Corpstein, Jr. Collection

qqq

~

Climbing Squaw Peak in r 9 r 5 looks like fun, but think how
much more fun it would have been in miniskirts.
The I 9 r z Senior Girls Phoenix High School Basketball T eam
were, from the top: Jean Armstrong, Carolyn Engstrom Bixby,
Louise Renaud Greenen, Alice Foushee Harris, le~ to right,
Irene Seidel Luke, Selma Geyler Wagner, Seraphine R enaud
Carter, Birdie Fowler Keen, bottom.

M rs. Ed Luke Collection

When not dancing in the Riverside Ballroom, the young people
could watch Bill Corpstein dive from a chair on the high tower
into six feet of water.
Not all was fun and games. The McCulloch wives dry dates
to satisfy winter sweet tooths.

John and Lillian Theobald Collection

Mrs. Margaret Rockwell collection.

The "Goldfield or Punctured" bicycle group appears to have
been miners who might have commuted to the Goldfield mines
out Apache Junction way.
Mrs. G. Warren Campbell Collection

.

( ~

----

- _.

The man with the cigar is Barney Oldfield driving in the Los
Angeles to Phoenix race of r 9 r 2 .
First National Bank of Arizona Collection

This Maxwell racer was getting a push to start in a Fairgrounds
race in r 9 r 3 .
Barry Goldwater Collection

This photo of a Stanley Steamer at the Fairgrounds trach should
help explain why it did not become a hot consumer item.

104 :Lt 3

Some forms of recreation never seemed to change. This is the
Palace Saloon at 3 7 East Washington. The Palace tooh up a
collection for Adams Hotel employees after the r 9 r o fire and
collected $ r, roo.

Hattie Mosher, daughter of early Phoenix businessman, W. D.
Lount, started building north of Van Buren on Central A venue
and never finished .

At the beginning of the r 92o's, the School Bloch between
Central and First Avenues and Monroe and Van Buren had
lost its school and was used for parhing and advertising .

73

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

1920 thru 194 0

Albert J. Ross Collection

The Westward Ho Hotel started up in 1927, but it ran into
difficulties and had to wait till l 9 2 9 to be completed. The
Phoenix Woman's Club is in foreground.

-

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

{

In 1928, the Security building was going up on the northeast
corner of the old School Bloch.

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

At right, the new County Court House - City Hall was under
construction in r 929. So was the Adams Hotel Annex, in background. At far left, the Ellis Building is under construction,
and in background the Westward Ho Hotel is being topped off.
Mr . and Mrs . George H. M. Luhrs break ground in 1928 for
Luhrs Tower at First Avenue and Jefferson. Others in photo,
from left, are: E. J. Wasielewski, Mrs. Ella Luhrs Taylor, Emma
Luhrs Stroude, Arthur Luhrs, Henry Wasielewski, George
Luhrs, Victor Wasielewski ..

The old County Court House had stood since 1884, but it
came down in l 9 2 8 to make way for the new.
This city view to the southwest from the San Carlos Hotel shows
the City-County Building nearing completion.

Henry A. Salcido Collection

74

E.

J. Wasielewski Collection

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

This was view to south of Phoenix in r 9 2 9 from Hotel Westward Ho. Hattie Mosher empty buildings are at left.
Albert J. Ross Collection

qg ~LJ3

By late summer, 1929, the Luhrs Tower was nearing completion. .
Mrs. William Pickrell Collection

The Professional Building w as underway in I 9 3 I on the
southeast corner of Central and Monroe.
By mid-r93o's Korrick's w as in its new building next to
Goldwater's.

'''' :!Ill"

AID33

This aerial view in r 9 3 o shows the Fox Theater under construction on site of old City Hall at First Street and Washington.
One of the last .of the construction boom, the Phoenix Title
and Trust Building was nearing completion in 193r.

q ~() 62.

75

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

The agricultural area to the northwest needed a school and
built Washington School, but Northern and Twenty-seventh
Avenues were still unpaved.
Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection
The Tovrea House or Carrara Heights, long a landmark between
Phoenix and Tempe on East Van Buren, was started by Alissio
Carrara. E. A. Tovrea bought it in 1927 and finished the work
before his death in 1932. His widow, Mrs. William Stuart,
lived in the house until recently.

ft

Camelback Inn was relatively small, but it was a luxurious oasis.
Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

~..:,
CV13LJ

J

The year l 926 was a big one for Phoenix transportation. On
September l 5 , Phoenicians welcomed the first train on Southern
Pacific main line passing through the city, and in same year they
got the new Union Depot.

16~}

This Arizona State Tuberculosis Sanatorium near Papago Park
no longer exists, but this w as the way it looked in the 193o's.

A /048

Familiarly known as Hunt's Tomb, Governor Hunt built it in
r 9 3 2 in memory of his wife. He also is buried at the marker
in Papago Park.
The all purpose gasoline station was created to take care of the
burgeoning number of autos.

Southern Pacific Company Collection

Melvin Goodson Collection

Boy Scouts of America, Theodore Roosevelt Council Collection

Henry A. Salcido Collection

With George Miller at the wheel, a group of Boy Scouts headed
for the cool of Camp Geronimo in the summer of l 9 3 o.
The period was one of revolution in transportation, but some
still found use for older forms, such as the bicycle.

Mrs. Dan M . Thompson Collection

Following World War I, Americans helped Europe rebuild by
raising funds by such as this open air-air lunch on East Adams
Street. Man in light suit at right is Gov. Thomas E. Campbell.
The Arizona National Guard Band provided music in 1928 for
Easter sunrise services at Camelback Mountain's Echo Canyon.

The Phoenix Union High School class of 1928, and many
other classes, long remembered Dean of Women Miss Rosen•
berry, second from right, front .

Mrs. LuCeille Wallace Collection

The Phoenix Flying Club of 1935 had its picture taken m
front of Benny Moeur's taper-wing Waco.
That is not the ol' swimmin' hole in back of the girls, but a
stock tank on the Ryder Ranch at South Seventh A venue and
Vineyard Street .

A :LJ :i_q

Luhrs Collection

Lisle Updike Collection

Styles in camping have changed since Lisle Updihe tooh the
family out in 1923, but the fun hasn't.

A bunch of the Luhrs and Seidel children demonstrate what
children thought canals were made for.

William Corpstein, Jr. Collection

Albert J. Ross Collection

They weren't really bragging. It was only a fair day's catch.

In r 9 2 5, there were still plenty of ruins to pohe around in at
old Fort McDowell.
Walsh Brothers Office Equipment Collection

Rudolph Chevrolet Collection

Business sometimes could be trying, as in r 9 2 8 when a customer
bought a new Model A Ford car at Rudolph's with 82,030
pennies.
Mae West came to town in r 9 2 9 to impress the locals that she
wasn't play acting in "Im No Angel."

There was worh to do and things were !oohing up in r 9 2 3. Phil
and Dich Walsh set up their office supply business in part of the
McNeil Company Building at r 3 2 W. Washington.
Ground was brohen for the Christian Science Church at First
Street and Roosevelt in r 9 2 5.

79

Henry A. Salcido Collection

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

North of Bethany Home Road, Central Avenue presented a
cathedral drive.
Albert J. Ross C ollection

The Town Ditch in 1924 was still open and running.
Cotton was hing and the bolls were busting out all ever, but
before long farmers were moaning as the marhet also went bust.

f} 'l'33

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copy ne.,.

b"l4!' 1111.Je,.

Fsll\ .P~~,rss

This was Lahe Roosevelt in 1932 problem at Central and Roosevelt.

that is, the drainage

The Phoenix Jaycee Rodeo Parade still was the biggest thing
in Phoenix in 1937·

,Phoenix Press Box Association Collection

'
Arizona's Air National Guard flew fighter planes in l 9 5 l . Heading the squadron photo, from left, are Governors Howard Pyle
and Dan Garvey, Major General A. M. Tuthill, Colonel Frank
Fraser, and Lieutenant Colonels Barry Goldwater and Larry Bell.

In 1950 the T empe Normal School was Arizona State College,
and its football team hit the big time with Wilford "Whizzer"
White being named to the Associated Press All America.

A young Bobby Ball was beginning to make a name for himself
in r952, the year he and Clint Brawner took Blakely's car to
the Indianapolis 500.

In 1955, Jimmy Bryan, with Chief Mechanic Clint Brawner,
won the Phoenix r oo-mile race, and they were well on their
way to becoming one of the nation's greatest racing teams. Bryan
was cut down by an accident in r 9 6 o.

l 9 54 was the year Phoenix and Arizona thanked Senator Carl
Hayden for his many years of service to the state in the legislative
halls of Washington.

At last, in l 960, Arizona's House and Senate got proper quarters
to carry out their business at the capitol. At left is the Senate Wing.

In 1964, Vonda Kay Van Dyke rode triumphantly into Phoenix,
the second Arizonan to capture the Miss America title.

Frank Lloyd Wright paused for this photo at Taliesin West in
r 9 6 r , one of the last to be taken in his colorful and influential
career in architecture.

Western Electric chose Phoenix, and in r 968 it completed its
cable plant at 505 North Fifty-first Street, twenty acres under
roof, the largest telephone cable production facility in the world.
Senator and Mrs. Barry Goldwater exchange glances at testimonial dinner given in Phoenix in 196 5, fallowing his unsuccessful bid for the presidency. A not-yet-President Nixon and
Bob Goldwater are at left .

Lorna Lockwood was named Chief Justice of the Arizona
Supreme Court in r 96 5, the first elected woman Supreme
Court member in the nation to hold that post.

Phoenix got a new main Post Office at Fifteenth Street and
Buckeye Road in r 9 6 7 .

With the Salt River plugged by so many dams it is nearly
impossible for the river to ~ood, but it did in l 96 5.
The Washington Hotel on First Street went down in 1970 to
make way for Valley National Bank's 35-story, two-block building complex between Central and Second Streets and Van Buren
and Monroe .

l 9 70 was the year of construction of the American Express Card
Division Western Regional Operations Center at Twenty-fourth
Street and Lincoln Drive. Most of the center's 240,000 square
feet is below ground level.

A long -time Phoenix landmark, the Ford Hotel at Second Avenue and Washington, was knocked down in preparation for the
First National Bank's 26-story building complex that will take
up all the old Fleming block.

Going into the Seventies, Phoenix acquired two professional
sports teams - in 1967 the Phoenix Roadrunners in ice hockey,
and in r 9 6 8 the Phoenix Suns basketball team.

85

Airesearch Manufacturing Company was the first major industry
to tahe advantage of Shyharbor Airport's industrial development,
and in r 970 it was contributing systems to America's Apollo
space flights.
Scottsdale was prepared for the Seventies with a new Civic
Center complex, which in design loohs to the future without
forgetting the past.

The Scottsdale Municipal Airport opened its 4,80 0-foot runway
in r 968. Taxiways are arranged so all industries can be served
by aircraft at their front doors.
A last minute photo in downtown Phoenix records, not so much
what is there, but w hat is to come. At left The Arizona Republic
and The Phoenix Gazette complete their expansion program,
while in the foreground the new Valley National Banh corriplex
prepares to tahe shape, and in the bachgr.ound the Civic Plaza
is under way.

The north slope of Camelbach Mountain is running out of
available space, but building continued" into 1970.
The older and different Arizona is not only being preserved in
photos. The Pioneer Arizona Foundation is doing it with threedimensional authenticity at its community off the Blach Canyon
Highway north of Phoenix.

86

The new Phoenix Indian Medical Center off Sixteenth Street
north of Indian School Road will provide health care to ~ndia~s
not only from Arizona, but from Nevada, Utah and California.

The First Federal Savings Building on North Central Avenue
at Earll Drive was still Phoenix' tallest structure in l 970 .

In 1970, Superstition Freeway had made the turn to the east
from the Maricopa Freeway and was beginning to cut a swath
south of Tempe on its way to Apache Junction.
The Lahe Country development was underway in l 9 70 on
its 463-acre site south of Baseline Road near Rural Road, s_outh
of Tempe. Besides man•made lahes, pla~s call for 880 single
family dwellings and 920 apartment units.
Big Surf came to Phoenix in 1970, so even if desert rats have
nu sinhing ship to leave they can hang five on a board.

The Phoenix Zoo, supported by the more than 7 , 000 members
of the Arizona Zoological Society, in the eight years of its
existence has come to be rated in the top ten in the nation.

City of Tempe Collection

TEMPE
1871-1970
By
Max Connolly
Nine miles east of Phoenix (city hall to city hall)
is the modern city of Tempe, home of Arizona State
University. It was in l 870, shortly after Phoenix' found·
ing, that Charles Trumbull Hayden moved his freighting
business from Tucson to the banks of the then flowing
and often turbulent Salt River to establish a ferry service
and build a flour mill. His first structure, a storehouse
built in r 870 of mud and willow wattles, was replaced
in l 87 l by La Casa Vieja, an hacienda and the birthplace of U. S. Senator Carl Hayden, his son.
Tempe dates its founding as r 87 r. Early settlers
called the place Hayden's Ferry. About r 877 the name
was changed to Tempe for, as Darrell Duppa had noted,
its hill, its bend in the river and its verdant fields so
resembled the Vale of Tempe in ancient Greece.
Tempe developed as an important railroad junction
and livestock shipping point, along with a basic agri•
culture. Irrigation water was plentiful. When the
Territorial Normal School (now ASU) was established
in l 88 5, the town's identity with education commenced.
Today, Tempe is a potpourri of industry, education, culture, homes, churches, recreation, and a mecca for sports
fans.
A. P. K. Safford was territorial governor when
Tempe was founded. Tucson was the territorial capital
city. In fact, by r 87 r, the Territory of Arizona itself
was barely eight years old.
Until r 940, Tempe was just a quiet and pleasant
home community of 2,906 residents, but World War II
changed that. Population zoomed to 7,684 in 1950, to
24,897 in 1960, to 45,638 in 1965, and today it
has an estimated population of 70,000. Corporate limits
spread over 2 5 square miles.
The university's r 970 enrollment is 2 5,000 students
on campus, with perhaps 4,000 more in summer sessions
and off-campus classes. Few of these students are counted
in Tempe's population, so, in truth, Tempe daily serves
nearly r 00,000 people within its rapidly expanding
bounds.

This is the north end of Mill Avenue in the 188o's or 9o's.
Large building at lower right was the Hayden Flour Mill, and
the white house viewed over the roof was La Casa Vieja . Small
block house in center was the jail, and the bridge across Salt
River served the Maricopa and Phoenix Railway.

CITY OF
JIOHl Of ARIZONA STAT£ UNIVERSITY
Changing the view to the southwest at or about the same time,
the two-story building at right was the Casa Loma Hotel, while
the two-story house at Fifth Street and Mill, left, was the
Curry house.

The editors want to make special mention of the
Tempe Old Settlers' Association and to commend
them for their successful efforts in preserving a
photographic record of their community's past.
City of Tempe Collection

88

Salt River Project Collection

In 1905, the Curry house at Fifth Street and Mill Avenue, far
right, had been replaced by two-story building. The two
churches in right portion of photo were known as the North

,

and the South Churches, not due to geographical situation, but
because of Civil War sentiments.
Salt River Project Collection

The cable that towed Hayden's Ferry across the Salt River
got its power from the energy of water flowing in the river.
The bridge was for the Arizona Eastern or Maricopa and Phoenix
Railway.

I

r

••

\

On the night of April 12, 1905, the Salt River roared out of
contr.ol, and the Santa Fe Railroad bridge went down. Waters
from this flood reached as high as Jefferson Street in Phoenix,
when more than nineteen inches of rain fell.

....
l ~
I
89

Henry A. Salcido Collection

Halbert Miller Collection

Halbert Miller Collection

Looking north up Mill Avenue fr.om Fifth Street in about r900,
the Casa Loma Hotel has had a facelift and added a third story.

The Maricopa and Phoenix road apparently thought its bridge
had withstood the flood, but this is what happened when a train
tried to cross.

The view north from Sixth ,and Mill hadn't changed much by
r 9 2 o. Tempe National Banh is at left, and up the street where
the word "drugs" can just be made out was Harman's Drug
Store, where the Post Office rests now.

About 1890, Curt Miller operated the "News" Printing Office.
This building stood at what is now Tempe Beach.

Frank Connolly Collection

90

Senator Carl Hayden Collection

fo11.:u

This is the original Hayden's Flour Mill below Tempe Butte,
probably pictured in the I 87o's.

Later, about i885, an entire front section was added on to
the mill.

fo1oq

This view from the back of the Hayden Mill shows it in i916 ,
not too long before it burned in I 9 I 7 .

On Fourth and Mill, east .o f the Casa Loma Hotel, was
Goodwin's store, and in this photo Willy and Tom Goodwin
are behind the counter. One of the products they sold was
Fairbanks Gold Dust, doubtless not the real McCoy.

Mrs. Aurelia Miller Collection

Mrs. Irene Bishop Collection

Mrs. E stelle Hackett Collection

Around 1916, Sunny Monday laundry soap was a big seller
in Birchette's Grocery Store, which was located at present site
of Western Savings b' Loan Association office. We don't know
who the two cute little girls are, but Roy Hackett was standing
between the two men in back.

Finch's Stable shows off one of its steeds in the early l9oo's.
Stable was located between Second Street and Maricopa and
Phoenix R ailroad.

Getting ready for a drive some time about 1900 was Dr. B. B. Moeur
and family. House was located at Seventh Street and Myrtle Avenue.

Mrs. John K. Moeur Collection

92

Carl Spain Collection

The only pertinent information we have about this blacksmith shop was that it was located on Sixth Street east of Mill.
One thing about which there is no argument is that this City
Hall Building is only a memory, having been torn down for a
new one. But there is plenty of argument over the identity of
the gentlemen in this photo.

Around r9r2, Miss Estelle Craig was Tempe's telephone operator. Brother Roy paid a visit to the office in the Laird and Dines
Building at Fifth Street and Mill Avenue.

Mrs. Estelle Hackett Collection

93

Mrs. Edwin Daley Collection

Mrs. Estelle Hackett Collection

The Arizona Mercantile Co.'s store was between Fourth and
Fifth Streets on Mill Avenue at turn of the century, now Parry's
Buffet. Roy Hackett is on the wagon and behind him, from left,
are Will Hackett, Jim McNeil, Lou Moore and unidentified
man with beard.

Carl Spain Collection

This "energy engine," which was located on Broadway near
the railroad tracks, was destroyed by a wind in 1907. It pumped
water with energy from solar collector.

94

......

,......

Mrs. Ophelia Celaya Collection

,.....,~~~~~~

The children from the Tenth Street School visited Tempe Union
High School for their Maypole dance in r 9 r 3. The building
later was destroyed by fire.

Pictured in I 890, this was Tempe's first Catholic Church. It
was located just below Little Butte.

95

Mrs. E leanor Cochran Collection

Father Daniel McCready Collection

Leldon Windes Collection

In a more innocent age, about 1900, these were students having
a good time on the Tempe Normal (A.S.U.) campus. They are,
from left in front, Russell Windes, Cecil Sherwin and Frank
Parry. In back are Jessie Dickinson, Lena Lillard, Lora Finch
and Mildred Hart.
The 1898 Tempe football team was ready to play, but first it had to tahe the train to Phoenix to meet the .opposition.

City of Tempe Collection

Albert

J. Ross Collection

qq q q

J

The view from Double Butte looking east on Broadway was
mighty bleak in r 9 r 5. City of Tempe can just barely be made
out, light forms at upper left near horizon. The same view from
a helicopter in r 9 70 presents a startlingly different vista.

In r 9 5 5 Tempe still was a compact little college town huddled
near the site of Hayden's Ferry. Aerial view to south in r 9 7 o
shows it devouring the neighboring farm land for living room.

97

SCOTTSDALE 1882 -1970
By
Maxine Olmsted
While Chaplain Winfield Scott convalesced from
a Civil War bullet wound, he dreamed of settling in
the far West. The dreams materialized nearly 20 years
later when he staked a claim, in 1882, to 320 acres on
what is now the northeast corner of Scottsdale and Indian
School Roads.
In l 896, the first school was established in the
teacher's living room with some half-dozen youngsters
assembled. The minuscule school district was christened
Scottsdale for the army chaplain who had become the
dusty little community's most enthusiastic booster. The
next year a one-room, wooden school house was built,
and by l 9 lo Scottsdale boasted a two-room, red brick
schoolhouse complete with two-room basement.
Cultural interests were confined to an occasional
Chautauqua performance in Phoenix or Tempe. The
schoolhouse was the focal point for community meetings
and social life. When the high school was completed in
l 92 3, there were baseball, basketball, and football games
to see. Cars surrounded the field and folks sat in the cars
or on the running boards to watch and cheer. The first
polo in the Valley was played at Judson School in 1928.
Nighttime air conditioning was achieved by sleeping
on screened porches. Butter, eggs, milk, and other perishables were kept comparatively fresh in large boxes draped
with water-soaked burlap wicks. Drinking water was
kept cool in ollas wrapped in wet burlap and hanging
from porch ceilings.
Saturday nights fifteen to twenty wagons overflowing with Pima and Apache Indians came to town. The
Indians, · quiet and friendly, made camp in the mesquite
bushes and offered baskets, pottery, and scarce wood for
sale. Their favorite beverage was strawberry pop.
At long last, in l 9 5 l, Scottsdale was incorporated.
Its population was 2,000. Now, in 1970, its population
is 66,800, an increase of 3,24r percent.

This is the earliest photo, 189 7, we know of Chaplain Major
Winfield Scott, the founder of Scottsdale. He is the gray-bearded
gentleman second from right.

Leldon Windes Collection
The quality of this photo is not good, but it shows Mrs. Scott
at her second home in 1899, with two boys ready for school.

q7"' q l

On the day after a rain in 1900, Mrs. Scott posed sidesaddle
on her husband's mule, Old Maud.

98

Leldon Windes Collection

Leldon Windes Collection

A happy day in I 9 o 3 at the Underhill home on the corner
of Indian School and Scottsdale Roads. The occasion is the
wedding .of Helen and Walter Smith, a violinist who had come
to Scottsdale to cure tuberculosis . Chaplain and Mrs. Scott are
fourth and fifth from left .

In this photo, the Coronado School, which was built in 1910,
could not have been very old. Those identified, from left to right
are: Wilford and Helen Hayden on horse, Edward and Mary
Graves, Nina Bassom, unknown, George Service, James Vanderhoof, Mrs . Grace Last in back of boys. Nora Coldwell, George
Thomas, unknown, Carl Bassom, Grace Thomas in back, Ellsworth Brown, unknown, Ruth Brown in back, John Williams,
Polly Elliott, unknown in back, Bill Miller, unknown in back,
unknown, Stanley Ellis Thomas in back and May Vanderhoof,
unknown.

Rev. Verner A. Vanderhoof was Baptist minister and good friend
of Scott. Picture was taken in I 9 r 6. The horses were named
Mrs. Fred Mathis Collection
Matthew and Luke.

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

99

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

Mort Kimsey Collection

Around I 9 I 7 it appears that women's worh was to wash the
Model-T, and m en's work was to hitch it up to a threshing
rig. Mrs . Mort Kimsey and Mrs. Jule Benroth are the nonautomatic car washers.

This must have been a gag photo for the folhs back in Indiana
in the early I 9 I o's, as Mrs. William E. Kimsey threatens her
husband with a club to do the washing. From the photo, the
neighborhood hids weren't sure how to take the scene.

Mort Kimsey Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

IOO

M rs. A.

J. Keen Collection

President Woodrow Wilson's vice president, Thomas R.
Marshall, maintained a home in Scottsdale from 1916 to 1925.
The men on the porch, which may have been at the Phoenix
Country Club when it was on North Central at the Arizona
Canal, were entertaining the vice president in 1916. Mrs.
Mort Kimsey and Mrs. Jule Benroth popped corn at the vice
president's hearth in 1920.
Mort Kimsey Collection

q g I JI

Affiuence was not common in old Scottsdale . George H. Thomas
was a boy in this house, which was built in l 9 o 2. His mother
did washing to support her family after her husband died. The

cart was specially rigged for laundry delivery, and water for
washing was pailed from ditch and stored in barrels.

IOI

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

(p4 3l/ 3

Looking to the northeast from about 4,000 feet, the changes
the hand of man hath wrought smce I 9 5 8 are clearly visible.

Motorola plant near Hayden and McDowell Roads is just about
center of photos.

Keying on the intersection of Scottsdale and McDowell Roads from about r ,ooo feet and
looking to the southwest, the changes that have taken place iust since 1958 dazzle the eye.

105

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

T he abandoned sugar beet plant at Glendale long has been a
landmark, but this photo was taken when it was operating between
r 9 o 6 and r 9 r 6. The poor quality of beets has been given as
the reason for the plant's demise .

The Glendale State Banh was the community's first and was
located on the corner of Glendale Avenue and Fifty-eighth Drive.
It was built by Charles E. Gilbert and was still standing in 1968.

There weren't as many gadgets available in I 9 I 3 as there are
today, but Sine's hardware store doesn't look as if it could have
taken another item.

Mrs. Harold Brewster Collection

107

Glendale, News-Herald Collection

0. S. Stapley Company Collection

Glendale, News-Herald Collection

Agriculture was booming in I 9 24 and so apparently was International Harvester as it supplied the Stapley store in Glendale
with twenty-six tractors. Go ahead and c.o unt the front wheels,
then divide by two.

I 9 I 5 was a good year for ducks, frogs and fishes, and they
would have felt right at home in beautiful, downtown Glendale .
We wonder if the young lady on the box was prepared to direct
traffic.

Immediately following World War II, General Barton K. Yount
spearheaded the founding of the American Institute for Foreign
Trade, utilizing the facilities of the former Thunderbird pri·
mary flight training center. Today, it is the highly successful
Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management.

Luke Air Force Base was established as a pilot training field
for World War II. It was deactivated in r946, only to be reopened due to the Korean War . The Thunderbird Homes project
for 725 Air Force families was constructed in r957·58

108

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

If you thinh these ostriches have funny loohs on their faces,
how would you looh if you had just had your tail pluched? All
photos were tahen around 1907. We don't hnow who or where
the women were sorting feathers for m'lady's fan, but the man
helping a chich .out of an egg was William Patterson.

109

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

town Glendale is at right, and the view is to the southeast. The
earlier photo was taken in 1960, the later in 1970.

These two aerial views show how the two cities, Glendale and
Phoenix, are becoming part of one vast metropolitan area. Down-

I IO

PHOENIX MAYORS
On October 20, 1870, the Salt River Valley Town
Association was formed, and its articles of Incorporation
were signed by these first settlers :
Darrell Duppa
Barnett and Block
Jame-s Murphy
William A. Holmes
Jacob Starar
Columbus H. Gray
James McC. Elliott
William Rowe
Daniel Twomey
Edward Irvine
Andrew Starar

Wm. B. Hellings and Co.
Thomas Barnum
John T. Dennis
James M. Buck
John T . Alsap
Martin P. Griffin
J. P. Perry
Michael Connell
Charles C. McDermott
John P. Osborn
Paul Becker
James D. Monihon

From 1870-187 5 the community was managed by
townsite commissioners John T. Alsap, James Murphy,
and J. P. Perry, with Alsap as chairman and Capt.
William A. Hancock as secretary. An election on October
20, I 87 5, replaced the commission government with
three elected trustees: John Y. T. Smith was made
chairman, Charles W . Stearns, treasurer, and Captain
Hancock continued as secretary. The Phoenix Charter
Bill was passed by the Eleventh Territorial Legislature
and signed by Governor John C . Fremont on February
25, r88r. The following are Phoenix' mayors since
that time :
1881 -John T. Alsap
88 l - Francis T. Shaw
l 8 8 3 - DeForest Porter
l 884 - George F. Coats
l 8 8 5 - Emil Ganz
l 8 8 7 - DeForest Porter
l 8 8 8 - A. Leonard Meyer
l 889 - George F. Coats
l 890 - T . N. E . McGalsson
l 8 9 3 - Joseph Campbell
l 894 - J. D. Monihon
l 895 - R. S. Rosson
1894 - J. D. Monihon
l 897 - J. C. Adams
l 898 - C. J. Dyer
l 899 - Emil Ganz
l 90 l - Walter Talbot
1903 - Walter Bennett
1905 - J.C. Adams
1905 - F. B. Moss
l 906 - L. W. Coggins
l 909 - Lloyd B. Christy
l

9 l 4 - George U. Young
9 l 6 - Peter Corpstein
l 920 - Willis H. Plunkett
l 922 - L. L. Harmon
1923 -Louis B. Whitney
l 925 - Frank A . Jefferson
l 928 - Fred J. Paddock
l 930 - Frank D . Lane
l 932 - Fred J. Paddock
l 934 - Joseph S. Jenckes
l 936 - John H. Udall
l 9 3 8 - Walter J. Thalheimer
l 940 - Reed Shupe
l 942 - Newell Stewart
l 944 - J. R. Fleming
l 946 - Ray Busey
l 948 - Nicholas Udall
1952 - HohenFoster
l 954 - Frank G. Murphy
l 956 - Jack Williams
l 960 - Samuel Mardian, Jr.
l 964 - Milton S. Graham
1970 - John D . Driggs
l
l

Mayor John D. Driggs, r970

I I I

PHOENIX MEN AND
WOMEN OF THE YEAR
The Phoenix Advertising Club made its first award to
the Man of the Year in 1949. Two years later, it realized
its oversight and made its award to the Man and Woman
of the Year. Anyone can nominate a resident of Phoenix
as a candidate, but the final selection is made by a select
committee of members of the Advertising Club. The
nominees for this honor are judged on the basis of their
success in community projects, unselfish efforts on behalf
of others, and the generous use of their time without
consideration of personal gain.

1949 - Barry Goldwater

1950 - Howard Pyle

1954 - R ead Mullan/Mrs . John Eisenbeiss

1955 - Eli Gorodezhy/Mrs. Raymond Torrez

1956 - Walter Ong/Mrs. Roy Shoemaker

1959 - John Mills/Mrs. John Miller Williams

1960 - George Christie/Mrs. Joseph E. Clifford

1961 -Arthur Schellenberg/Mrs. Placida Smith

1964 - Newton Rosenzweig/Miss Lucille Hicks

1965 - James Patrich/Mrs. Eugene Tompane

1966 - Frank Snell/Mrs. George Danieli

112

r95 r - Stephen Shadegg/Mrs . Ernest Suggs

r952 - Charles Hoover/Mrs. C . Noble Churchill

r957 - Ben Projan!Mrs. Norman Hurley

r958 -Alexander Raisin/Mrs. Albert Colby

r9 62 - Walter Bimson/Mrs. Leslie R . .Kober

1963- William P. Reilly/Mrs. Richard Fennemore

1967 - John Armer/Miss Arlena E. Senaca

1968 - Herman Chanen!Mrs . Anna Kopta

I I

3

r953 - Jach Williams/Mrs . Fred Elder

1969 - Lawson V. Smith/Mrs. John W. Kiechhefer

THEN AND NOW
Public Services
As we have seen, the story of Phoenix through the
oo years of its existence has been one of growth, at
times spectacular growth. But these same I oo years also
have been a time of great change in the style of life for
Americans, perhaps especially for residents of the Salt
River Valley. These have been the years of technological
revolution; when what was good enough for today was
I

inadequate for tomorrow; from the ceiling fan to the
swamp cooler to refrigerated air conditioning.
The change has been everywhere, but where it has
shown up dramatically, at least in photographs, has been
in public services as they have coped with the challenge
of change and growth. Of course, it seems only natural
to criticize public service institutions for how they have
fallen short. For some reason they thrive on it. But, as
the photographs on the following pages will demonstrate,
a word or two of congratulations would not be out of
order either.

Phoenix Library Collection

The first specifically covstructed government building was Maricopa County Court House, completed in 1884 at First Avenue
and Washington. Top shows the Phoenix Park- Capitol Grounds

streetcar on Washington tracks in 1896; lower left, ageing with
dignity in early l 9 2 o's; and bright new again shortly after l 9 2 9.

The next government building was the Phoenix City Hall, located
between First and Second Streets on Washington and completed
in 1888 . Top shows it soon after completion; left, after the bell
tower had been added in 19o5 to call up volunteer fire fighters;
right, in the age of the tin lizzie; and lower right, in 1952, in
increasingly cramped quarters.

Arizona D epartment of Library and Archives Collection

I I

5

By the r 9 6 o's, when Phoenix was nearing half a million population, it was obvious to everyone that the old City-County
By November 7,

I

Building couldn't handle the job. The taxpayers voted, and a
new City-County Complex began to tahe shape.

9 6 1, site preparation had begun to the west - lefr in photo - of the old City-County Building.

Two additional city blocks had been cleared away by May

I

96 3.

There it was, on October 12, 1966, ready to conduct the city's
and the county's business in a comfortable and graceful setting
- at least for a few years, at any rate.

By the end of January, 1964, Phoenicians had a pretty good
idea of what the new city skyline was going to look like.

I

17

The photo apparently was taken in Tucson, but this reportedly
is a hose reel team from Phoenix. Teams from Phoenix, Tucson
and Prescott often raced, and in 1895 and 1896 Pioneer Hose
Company No . l of Phoenix was champion.
The volunteer fire department posed for this picture in l 8 9 7
in fr.ant of the station at northeast corner of First Street and
Jefferson. A close look will show City Hall at left-back and that
firemen sported elaborate uniforms.

These are members of Aztec Hook and Ladder Company N o.
l , a volunteer organization which lasted until l 9 l l . The only
one identified is Homer H. McNeil, directly below horses on the
hook and ladder rig.

ln 1908 horses still were in use at Station No. I. Phoenix had
six companies with over a hundred members. Horse teams had
such endearing names as Fitz and Joe, and Nancy and Flora .
The "big steamer" truly was a formidable engine. For a time
it was feared that horses would not be able to handle it on wet
dirt streets, but the hefty black pair, Dewey and Schley, managed.

Henry A. Salcido Collection

II8

Rev. Fred A. McNeil Collection

John and Lillian Theobald Collection

Tom Chauncey Collection

The Fire Department on parade on Washington Street sometime
soon after 19 ro. The "big steamer" leads the way, followed
by the "little steamer."

Motorized units began to replace horses in 1 9 1 4. In this picture,
taken in I 9 1 6, our experts identify the trucks as H upmobiles.
Note that steamers are now pulled by trucks.

The fires may remain the same, but the buildings in which they
take place have changed. Here is the latest in Phoenix fire fighting equipment in front of the oft-remodelled Station No. I.

I

19

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Mrs. Gene Cunningham Collection

. .-.::z.
Some early Phoenix law men were, from left, Jim Murphy,
George Brawner, Sheriff Jeff Adams, John Conner, unidentified,
George Sears, and Nat McKee.
Tom Chauncey Collection
Phoenix' fin est went on parade in the 189o's marching east on
Washingten Street past First Street.
Phoenix Fire Department Collection

PHOENIX ?OLICE DEPARTVENT

Maricopa sheriff's deputies in the 1 9 z o's included Leman
LaTourrette, left , unidentified, George Shade, Charles Musgrove, Charles L. Nofziger, Harry DeWinton, and Ed Rupert.

- 1921 -

Th e 19z1 Phoenix Police Department had adopted conservative uniforms, but it had acquired a racy Henderson motorcycle .
left, are Clem Cruz, Jach Curley, Captain E. W . Titel , Chief .
Mattloch, John Tardy , George Haines, and Ernie Sauer .

By 1932 the Traffic Division had acquired four motorcycles,
and commanding them, from lefr, were Morris Rowe, Ernie
Littlefield, Franh Lindsey, Harry V olgamott. In bach, from

Phoenix Police Department Collection

120

A well-hept secret on January r4, 1949 , was that this photo was being made. The entire Phoenix Police Department is in it.
Members of the 1954 Sheriff's Posse listen attentively as
Sheriff Cal Boise, second left, gives them instructions. The horse
in the stall obviously thinks the whole thing is a johe.

The Sheriff's Office had help from this aero squadron in r94r.
From left, they were Sheriff Lon Jordan, A. Lee Moore, John
Lockwood, Andy Anderson, L. D. Bech, Otho Greenway,
Carl Knier, Clyde Barker, Walter Butler, unidentified, and
Don Keller.

D on Keller Collection

121

Jack M iller Williams Collection

What looks lihe a farm at the bottom of the photo, is really
Shy Harbor Airport in 1929.
It looks a little more lihe an airport in 1934.

This was Shy Harbor Airport terminal in the early 193o's. The
open-air chapel was used mainly for weddings.
By 1946 the terminal had been spruced up, but the chapel,
remained.

L ooking to the east, runways are roughed out by 193 9.

In 1946 the runways were paved, but they mainly ran north
and south.

122

Shy Harbor built a new terminal in 1952, which was ready for the arrival of the big "Connies'' in 1957·

With jumbo jets a reality, Shy Harbors' two terminal wings are
again with growing pains. But the question is, how
big can Shy Harbor become?

As the planes got bigger and faster, the runways grew wider
and longer, until today they look like this.

threaten~d

123

Leon S. Jacobs Collection

Originally Papago Park area was set aside as a townsite for
Papago and Pima Indians. No Indians set up camp there.
In I 9 I 4 it was designated a national monument by President
Woodrow Wilson, and claims of homesteaders were rejected. In
I 9 3 o the national monument was abolished, and most of the
land w as given to the state.
By I 9 5 8 most of the area was within the limits of the City of
Phoenix, and the state graciously put the land up for auction.

Albert J. Ross Collection

Phoenix bought it in I 9 5 9 and turned it into another of the
city's desert parks.
Actually, the area in point of use is probably the oldest of the city's
desert parks. It has been Phoenix' favorite picnic area at least
from the 189o's.
Of course, now a visitor doesn't have to make a day of it in a
wagon, and there are many more things to do besides picnic.

124

/01'1~1

This pleasant house and these congenial surroundings on Seventh
Street between Polk and Fillmore were the home for Phoenix
Junior College in 1926.

This aerial in 1945 shows Phoenix College a few years after
moving to its present site on West Thomas Road.

By l 9 3 o the college had acquired this substantial building at
corner of Seventh Street and Fillmore.

In this recent view, the houses that used to adjoin the college on
the west have been torn down and a parking lot has taken over.

/Ci~Lj

Tempe Old Settlers' Association Collection

Phoenix Library C ollection

The class of r 8 9 8 gets its picture taken on the steps of 0 Id
Main soon after it was completed.

Very possibly the first class at Tempe Normal School had its
photograph taken in r 89 r in front of the school's first building.

Old Main as it looked when the trees were young in the early
19oo's.

President Theodore Roosevelt addresses a Tempe crowd in r 9 r r
from the steps of Old Main on the campus.

Arizona Depanrnent of Library and Archives Collection

'

126

In

I

9 4 I this was the view looking towards the campus.

An aerial view taken in I 946 shows that a new Arizona State
University has a lot in store for it.

It is evident from this recent photo that ASU has gained a great
deal, but it also is apparent that in the process it has lost many
beautiful trees.

127

Albert

Phoenix Library C ollection

J. Ross Collection

\

In r 9 r 2 sulky racing was a big draw to fairgoers.

Auto racing was big attraction in r 9 r 9.

The writing in the picture says G len Curtiss brought his plane
to the fair in r 9 o 9, but some experts say it was in r 9 r o and
others that he was not here at all.

First National Bank of Arizona Collection

In r 908 the fair had a dirigible that performed stunts when its

The balloon probably wasn't g,oing anywhere, since no one
lopks apprehensive. The balloon was feature of r 9 r o fair .

pilots ran up and down catwalk suspended at bottom.

1

Albert J. Ross C ollection

128

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

This is the third Territorial Fair, 1907, but pictured
management of the first fair in l 9 o S.

is

the

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

In 1954 almost as many automobiles as people went to the fair,
but there still was horse racing for fans.

By l 9 6 5 it seemed there were more automobiles than people
at the fair, and horse racing was thing of the past.

This shot from a balloon in l 9 lo shows why officials probably
were criticized for placing fairgrounds too far out in country.
Typical of the type of displays that interested fair goers in
was this one. Cyril S. Gilbert is man with moustache.

H anson's, Inc. Collection

l

9l 3

129

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

The wind toppled this ninety-fioot stack on the original power
plant in 1903 .

This is how the steam electric plant near Second Avenue and
Buchanan appeared in 1909.

Arizona Public Service Company Collection

Arizona Public Service Company Collection

Henry A. Salcido Collection

---!!!!!!===----==:::: .............
In

l 9 z 7 this truck caravan was used to promote sale of electricity through use of ranges and refrigerators.

The old Board of Trade Building on the northwest corner of
Second Avenue and Adams was headquarters for Central Arizona
Light b' Power Company in mid-twenties.

American kitchens have come a long way since l 9 3 4, when these refrigerators were delivered to a new apartment house.

Arizona Public Service Company Collection

You won't see a rig like this grading road beds anymore. Four
mules and a fresno do the job in late I 92o's for new steam electric
plant at F arty-Third Avenue and Southern Pacific Railroad tracks.

In the r93o's Central Arizona Light b' Power had moved
headquarters into this elegant building at Third Avenue and
Washington.
.

Arizona Public Service's steam plant at Forty-third Avenue looked
like this in 1947.

A later addition, but not the latest, to the Arizona Public Service
power production is the Ocotillo steam plant east of Tempe.

131

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

This was the central office of Arizona Telephone b' Telegraph
Company at 32 N. First Street in 191 I.

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

The Phoenix Exchange Building at Third Avenue and Adams,
when it was acquired by Mountain States Telephone b' Telegraph Company.

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

This is how the operators operated at the exchange of Consolidated Telephone, Telegraph b' Electric Company in 1910.

On a wet winter's day in 191 4 the lone installer's truck goes on
assignment on West Adams Street, le~ to right, Frank M. Davis
and Charles R. Loving.

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

q,.., '3

to<

In I 9 2 I the telephone company had to expand its facilities at
Third Avenue and Adams.

lt was before the hard hat, but telephone linemen got the job
done in I 9 I 9.

Mountain Bell, Inc. C ollection

•

After the expansion, the telephone operating room was new and
modern for I 922.

Many things have changed in telephone communications in recent
years, but one of the most obvious is the change in Mountain
Bell truchs. Compare this with earlier installer's truch .

1 33

Salt River Project Collection

Before the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association was formed
in 19o3 , private canal companies assumed the job of distributing
irrigation water.
It was a cumbersome rig, but it was the best to be had around
19 1 o. Salt River Project found better ways to clean canals.

In the early days of intense irrigation, pumps were used to lower
the water table to keep ground from being saturated.

Salt River Project Collection

q'1 ~ t.J I··"

Salt River Project Collection

....

~~~~~~~

~~~--~~~~~

Burning weeds along ditches is not highly recommended these
days , but in 1 9 3 3 it was accepted and efficient.

Six-cylinder White trucks with a seven-yard capacity did the
heavy work for the Project around 1920 .

Salt River Project Collection

1 34

Henry A. Salcido Collection

From this familiar building west of Central on Van Buren, the
Water Users' Association handled water distribution in its
250,000 acre domain.

This is what a ditch headgate looked like in the old days, and
a familiar sight they were.

Salt River Project Collection

Lining canals and ditches has been a long-time program of the
Project, but the techniques have changed.
By r 9 6 o the Project had moved its headquarters from downtown
to an attractive site near Papago Park. Still growing, this is how
it looks now.

In1921 the Pmject had twenty-one electric customers. By 1969
it was selling 4.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity with the
aid of such plants as this one at Agua Fria.

135

Saint J.oseph's Hospital is Phoenix' oldest. Early in the winter of
1894, two of the Sisters of Mercy, who had come to Phoenix in
l 8 9 2 to teach, learned of a young man who died alone of a pulmonary hemorrhage, because there was no one or any place to
care for him. By January, 1895, with the support of the town,
the sisters had a six-room adobe building at Fourth and Polk
Streets ready to care for twelve patients. These photographs tell
the subsequent story of the hospital - the brick and mortar part
of it.

Barry Goldwater Collection

This new brick structure with twenty-four private rooms was
completed in 1896.
Total disaster was barely averted on October 5, 1917. Phoenix
Union High School football team helped get all patients out of
the flaming building.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

In l 8 9 9 the sisters thought they would have to close the hospital
due to lack of operating funds. This photo of l 9 o 5 shows how
Phoenix rallied behind them and gave .the hospital a new wing.
In the l92o's as Phoenix grew Saint Joseph's expanded with
better buildings.

Phoenix Library Collection

A51'7

Saint Joseph's facilities had expanded again by r 9 3 r, and with
the D epression on it seemed adequate for some time.

With the end of World War II and the press of population,
Saint Joseph's moved to West Thomas Road, and the new building was .nearing completion in spring of r 9 5 3.

A generous citizenry made it possible for Saint Joseph's Hospital
and School of Nursing to look like this in r 9 59 .

Still growing and changing, Saint Joseph's stands today better
prepared to serve the community that has served it so well.

1 37

Melvin Goodson Collection

The forerunner of Phoenix' Good Samaritan Hospital was this
structure built in 1908 by Dr. F. G. Angeny on Third Avenue,

south of Van Buren. In r 9 r r it became the Deaconess Hospital,
so named after Methodist Deaconess Lulu I. Clifton, its founder.

Construction for a new hospital at Tenth Street and McDowell
was begun in r 9 r 7, but not completed until r 9 2 3. This photo
was taken in r 9 3 r .

Continuing to grow, Good Samaritan looked like this from the
front in r 96 r.

Good Samaritan continued to keep pace with the community.
This I 9 5 5 aerial shows additions of new wings and Sexson Hall
for nurses' training.

Recent aerial shows Good Samaritan ready to meet the future
with expansion to the south.

139

Saint Luke's Hospital Collection

Like many health facilities in and about Phoenix, Saint Luke's
Hospital was established as "St. Luke's in the Desert," a sana•

torium for consumptives. This was the first administrative building

When Saint Luke's got a new infirmary in 1 9 r r , it was fortunate
that President Theodore Roosevelt was out for the dedication
of Roosevelt Dam . He also dedicated the new infirmary, as shown
in this photo.

In r918 Saint Luke's got some badly needed bungalows, and
here one is shown being dedicated by The Right Reverend
Joseph A. Atwood, Episcopal Bishop of Arizona.

Saint Luke's Hospital Collection

as pictured in r907.

Saint Luke's Hospital Collection

Saint Luke's Hospital Collection

This very early aerial photo, i925, shows that Saint Luke's
was established on an old Indian ruin. Whenever there has been
construction, there also has been excavation.

By i957 Saint Luke's was taking on a more permanent look,
but it was pressed for space. This remodelled administration
Saint Luke's Hospital Collection
building was serving as infirmary.

Many Saint Luke's Balls later and after much hard work, this beautiful facility is now the new Saint Luke's Hospital.

Phoenix Library Collection

When the "Thieving Thirteenth" legislature in r 8 8 5 gave
Tucson the "sop" .of the university and awarded the plum of

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

Arizona State Hospital to Phoenix, architects came up with
this design for the institution.

Phoenix Library Collection

Insane 1\sylum, Phoeni1<, 1\riz.

Actual construction .of the hospital followed the design closely,
except that porches were added at both levels.

If a person must be confined, the State Hospital in the early
r9oo's seemed a nice place to be so - at least in this photo.

By r953 the ·State Hospital had changed completely, at least
in appearance.

The State Hospital is still changing, and now the new Maricopa
County Hospital has been added at the north.

The Desert Mission started in early I 92o's with assistance of
the Friendship Circle of the Washington Sunday School, a
Mission Center of the First Presbyterian Church of Phoenix.

In the r 9 3 o's some c.ottages w ere built to aid in the convalescent

The bus for The Desert Mission also served as an ambulance, or
maybe it was the other way around.

In I 9 5 6 the name of the facility was changed to Tohn C. Lincoln
Hospital in recognition of his aid. Here he is seen breaking
ground in r955 for the South Wing.

care of tuberculous patients.

This modern four-story hospital building was completed in z 9 6 5, b{ft finishing touches and facilities
on fourth fl.oar were only completed this year, making total patient beds 202.

143

Memorial Hospital Collection
~

~~

Construction began in

l

942 for Memorial's first hospital at

l 200

Memorial Hospital's beginnings were much the same as other
long-time Phoenix hospitals, the only difference possibly being
that they were even more humble.
In an early trough of the Depression, 1934, Saint Monica's
Community Center was started in an old unused gr.ocery store
building at the corner of south Seventh Avenue and Sherman
Street. The area was notable in that most of it was without running
water and sewage systems.
With the cooperation of Dr. Preston Brown and Sister Mary
Monica of Saint Joseph's Hospital a home maternity delivery
service was begun. Next, a rundown barber shop was converted

s ,outh Fifrh Avenue.
into a clinic building.
With the urgency of World War II, Saint Monica's was able to
garner funds, and in 1944 a modest Saint Monica's Hospital
was opened. Its name was changed to Memorial Hospital in
1949· When St. Joseph's was moved to its Thomas Road
location in 1953, it left Memorial's emegency room as the only
one in downtown Phoenix. It has treated over 300,000 emer•
gencies.
The Memorial Hospital complex also includes two eleven-story
apartment buildings which provide senior citizens quick access
to hospital facilities and services.

Memorial Hospital is now better prepared to care for a needy Phoenix area.

1 44

Hayden Library - Arizona Collection

qrt {oq4

THEN AND NOW
Locations
At this point a change of pace seems to be called for.
We thought we would play a little game: print a photo of
a specific place or location taken in the late 18oo's or
early 19oo's and then ask the reader to identify it.
Fortunately for everybody, we discovered that even
we couldn't do it without expert help. Then it dawned
on us that quite possibly eighty percent of the people
who now live in Phoenix moved here after I 9 5 o.
So, what we have decided to do is present all the
photos at the same time, the oldest to the newest. This
way the old-timers can point to the old photo, while concealing the newer ones, and tell their grand children that
they know what or where it is. Of course, newcomers can
do the same, but they had better sneak a peek at the
latest photo first.
It is our opinion that, if anyone can identify more
than half a dozen of the oldest photos right off, he qualifies
to be called a pioneer, whether he came to Phoenix prior
to 1890, or not.
The earliest photo w as taken before electricity came to town,
probably about 1885. The Monihon Building was quite lonely
then. By 1907, next photo, it had plenty of company and was
dwarfed by the old Adams Hotel in back. In the current view of
the northeast corner of First _Avenue and Washington, one of the
striking aspects is that all- _the trees are gone and concrete, glass
and steel now gr.ow in their place.

q

145

~ 3 IL/-:V

Henry A. Salcido Collection

This is in the r89o's. The stacks of old steam power plant in
bach may give a hint.

This one from r923 gives it away.

The same place a little later.

Luhrs Collection

Luhrs Collection

Of course, you hnew it all the time - the Luhrs Building at
the southwest corner of Central and Jefferson.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

In the late 188 o's or early 'z 8 9 o's a landmark building was yet
to be constructed tQJhere trees are in back.

In the late 9o's the camera has moved to other side of the street,
but just above balcony the new old Adams Hotel can be made out.

In the 192o's the McArthur Brothers were doing great business,
judging by the number of Dodge autos on the street. The corner
of the new Adams is just visible.

Certainly, you have been looking north on Central just below
Washington Street all the time.

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

147

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

8'S" 3q q

We know that this is about I 8 9 6, because the Methodist church
at le~ was torn down soon after for a new one. Here's a hint:
the big building was called the Central School.

The scene did not change much between I 9 I o and
although the old Central School has been torn down.

After the Heard Building was constructed, this is the way it
looked from the other side of the street.

That's right, you have been up in the Adams Hotel, looking
north up Central Avenue past Monroe Street .

t111

I~

I

9 2 o,

Henry A. Salcido Collection

This shot was made about 1900 and shows tower of city water worhs at left and Lount's ice plant at right.

PX.-

Civic Plaza. You have been looking east on Adams Street, First
Street in the foreground .

The older of these two photos was tahen in 1949 and shows the
area in its heyday. The latest shows it getting ready for new

'

~---

-

~<i30L/- 3

1 49

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

In 1926 there was a different Adams Hotel and the Heard

The fancy building at left was the old Adams H-0tel. Building
on far right housed the post office until I 9 o 5. Note the muddy
street and the arc lamps for street lighting.

Building had gone up. The banner across street advertises a football game at Phoenix Union High School Stadium .

'~~~II.ii
•

Mrs. George H. Cavin Collection

150

The view south from Central and Monroe hasn't changed much since 1946. The Heard
Building has lost its KT AR radio towers, and there has been some face lifting.

I

5I

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

The earlier photo was taken in the late r89o's, showing the
Fleming Building, left, and the spire of the First Presbyterian
Church. The recent photo was taken from the same location,

looking west on Adams Street from Central and Adams. In
older photo note the open ditch.

C/<;fl ID- I

---------.---~-=,,.....-

------

Scl..~ 0

Perhaps there are some old timers who remember back to 1923
when the Central School Bloch was empty and used for parking.

Following World War II, the old School Bloch was the first in
downtown to take on a new look as the Banh of Douglas built
a Phoenix headquarters.

And this is the northeast corner of First Avenue and Monroe
Street as it looks today.

153

Phoenix Library Collection

Arizona D epartment of Library and Archives Collection

Would you believe that this is a parade of the 1.0.0.F. on
Washington Street in 1884? Would you also believe that the
adobe structure at right is .o n the site for the new 25-story headquarters complex of First National Banh? You'd better believe it.

Here is the same corner sometime after 1895, when the Fleming
Building was getting two-story addition and the ground ffoor
housed the Phoenix National Banh. Ford Hotel is at far left.

This panoramic view in early r 9 Io's presents a different angle of
the northwest corner of First Avenue and Washington. First
Avenue and the Fleming Building are at right.

About I 920, Washington Street at First Avenue looked like this.

Phoenix Library Collection

1 54

For the third time, the old corner is going to get a maior facelifting, but this time the entire block will get the treatment, too .

As late as April 2 9, 196 9 the Fleming Building and the Ford
Hotel were still standing, although a modern Mountain Bell
Telephone Building seemed to look down disapprovingly.

1 55

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

With some hard study even a newcomer might be able to determine the location of the r 9 r o photo taken from a balloon. The
curve at the bottom of the photo was the Fairground's race track

turn into the back stretch. Just to the bottom, out of the photo,
is Six Points. There's no mistaking the location in the up-to-date
picture.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

(

The earliest photo shows the southwest corner of Second Avenue
and Adams advertising Ringling Brothers Circus coming September 1 5, and we guess it is sometime around 191 o. In the early

(

(

192o's a steam shovel prepares to dig a basement for an Elks
Club that was not built. Today, it is the Palace West theater,
which was the Orpheum, and built in 1929.

1

57

Phoenix defies the laws of gravity. It seems to say that what
comes down must go up. The earlier photo, taken in r954,
shows the six-block area, bounded by Second and Fifrh Streets

and Washington and Monroe, before it was razed. The latest
photo shows the new Civic Plaza beginning to rise.

Mountain Bell, Inc. Collection

No fair looking ahead. Where is it? According to our inf ormation, this photo was taken in the r 8 8 o's. The toll gate was owned
by the Central Avenue Improvement Association, a subsidiary

of the Arizona Water Company. The price was twenty-five
cents for wagons and buggies.

Here it is in 1948, a very pretty street. Double lines of palms
down both sides assured safe and leisurely walking.

In r 9 70 this is the view north on Central Avenue from
McDowell. What a change in less than roo years!

159

At some time in the 19 3o's the milk men, wagons and teams lined up for the photographer at the old Central Avenue Dairy.

In this I 9 5 5 aerial to the north the scars in the open field are all
that is left of the Central Avenue Dairy. It was located where
Earll Drive dead ends into Central Avenue.

What is it? Is it a missile site? Maybe a widget factory?

160

Park Central was on a grand scale for the Phoenix of 1957,
but it is still growing as this latest view testifies.

ness in r 957.

161

Certainly, you hnow what went into the large empty space. It
is the Civic Center at Central and McDowell. The first photo

was tahen in 1948; the second in 1955; and the third in 1970.
Nice use of space, isn't it ?

162

Heard Museum Collection

You knew without looking at the lower photo that the corner at
lower left was Central Avenue and Monte Vista. You knew that
it was the old Dwight B. Heard place in the late i92o's. It's

where the Heard Museum and Phoenix Towers cooperative
apartments are now.

Frank Cullen Brophy Collection

No use playing games with this location north of the Grand
Canal on Central Avenue. When Brophy College Preparatory
School was built in r 9 2 9, many Phoenicians thought it a mistake

to locate it so far out in the country. The early photo does show
that it was isolated, but look at it now.

Afrer World War II, Litchfield Naval Air Facility became a
lonely graveyard for phased-out military aircrafr. It is now no

longer lonely nor a graveyard, but Phoenix' Litchfield Municipal
Airport. The early photo was taken in 1954.

for a song. But now that Chris-Town is on that big open field,
how much would you have to pay?

If you were a real estate man in 1958, how much would you
have been willing to pay for this corner? It is at Nineteenth
Avenue and Bethany Home Road. Sure, you could have got it

166

Open space - it was everywhere in i947, especially in the
vicinity of Paradise Airport at Nineteenth and Peoria Avenues.

Wouldn't this have been a nice corner to have put up a hamburger stand then?

KTAR Broadcasting Collection

When KT AR moved its transmission facilities out to the corner
of Thirty-sixth Street and Thomas Road in r 94 I, the engineer

who manned them must have felt he had been sent to the end
of the earth. Thomas Road is the street along the bottom of photo.

By 1959 KTAR's transmitter engineer no longer was so lonely.
This view is looking to the east, with Thomas Road running up
the left side of the photo.

Today; if the shopping center didn't carry the name Tower Plaza,
it would be quite easy not to notice that the transmission facilities
are still in the area.

168

Here's another of those missed opportunities. You are looking
south down 44th Street at its intersection with Thomas Road.

In I 9 5 o, when the first photo was taken, the field across Thomas
Road and to the left was wide open and awaiting. Thomas Mall.

E. D. Newcomer Collection

This is the earliest aerial of downtown Phoenix that we know
of - taken by E. D .- Newcomer in I 9 z 7' about mid-point
in the building boom of that era. In the photo, Central Avenue
runs from lower left to upper right, from Madison to Fillmore.
The Luhrs Building is up, but not the Tower. The Adams Hotel

hasn't put on its annex, and the old City Hall hasn't been torn
down for the Fox Theater. The Heard Building is up and the
San Carlos Hotel is still under construction. At the very top
right, the Westward Ho has eight stories built.

This photo, taken in 1949 from the same angle, shows the early
building boom completed. Major buildings additionally constructed were the Luhrs Tower, City-County Building, Phoenix

Title b' Trust, Professional Building, Security Building, and
new Post Office.

'lOI 3.:b

In this shot it is r 9 6 r and a new building boom. Starting from
the left, here are some of the new structures: Luhrs Parking
Garage, Mountain Bell Building, the Federal Building, Korrich's
remodelled and a new Penney's store, YMCA, and the First
National Banh Building.

Here is downtown Phoenix in 1970 . Some of the new construction to look for is the City-County Complex, a new First
National Banh Building growing out of the old Fleming -Ford
Hotel block, Arizona Title Building, the site for new Valley
National Banh Building, and at far right the Civic Plaza site.

173

1 73

James E. Kintner Collection

in time for the Depression by the McArthur br,others - Charles,
Warren and Albert. Albert McArthur was the architect.

In this aerial photo taken in r 9 2 8 or r 9 2 9, the Arizona Biltmore
was still under construction. The beautiful resort was built just
Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

This is virtually the same view as the full-page photo at the front
of the book, only about thirty years later, some time in the r 94o's.

t1<6 31 ti -

174

J

I

THEN AND NOW
Areas
We have seen a great deal of growth and change, but
there still is another facet to the Phoenix story. Some
would call it urban sprawl. Others might say it is the
creation of megalopolis. And yet others would aver that it
is the making of a great city.
At any rate, as population streamed into Phoenix,
it had to have some place to live. There were two ways
to accomplish this: the .city could go up, or it could go
out. As we all are aware, it went out. Recently, it also
has been.going up..
ln this sectioQ, we ·hope to give the reader some
impression of the almost amoeba-like growth of Phoenix.
It is truly startling, especially when one pauses to consider
that just about all of it happened in the past twenty years.
This is the area between Indian School and Osborn Roads, but
looking to the south, with the intersection of Central and Indian
School Road at the bottom of the picture. In the 1959 photo,
the Guaranty Banh Building was iust beginning to rise, but the
Rosenzweig Center had not yet begun to replace the old Sciots
Ballroom.

175

Lance Dunham Collection

In the late r88o's the Osborn School was established way out
in the country on the northeast corner of Central and Osborn
Road. The original two-story building was built in r 8 9 2 by
architect J. M. Creighton. Later it was added on t.o, and its roof

Lance Dunham Collection

fiattened. The small structure at right later got two wings and
became the cafeteria. The picture of the school before it came
down was taken in r 9 6 3 .

Backing up to an aerial view in 1959, the Central and Osborn
area was still quite dormant, but with 20-20 hindsight it is
apparent that the school at left center occupied a strategic location.

In these next two aerials, the first in 1965, the dramatic transformation of the Central and Osborn area is strikingly evident.
It all has happened in about ten years, and it still is happening.

177

Here is the west side of S unnyslope in r 9 5 4 , and again in r 9 7 o.
What occurred in those sixteen years is perfectly apparent. The

intersection of Central Avenue and Dunlap is at about center of
the photos, easily identified by Sunnyslope High School.

Canal at right center in the pictures and intersects with Dunlap
towards the bottom. The view is to the southeast.

This is the east side of Sunnyslope . The early aerial was taken
in 1947, the later in 1970. Seventh Street crosses the Arizona

1

79

These shots are still of the east side of Sunnyslope, but the view
is to the northeast. Twelfth Street runs on the right side of the

two little hills to intersect, upper left, with Dunlap. Early photo
was tahen in i958.

180

The view moves to the south along the edge of Squaw Peak.
Sixteenth Street and Glendale is the intersection at far left, and

Maryland is the street which runs east into the Squaw Peak
Water Treatment Plant. Early photo was taken in 1959.

181

Where these men and boys were inspecting a bull from the
Milky Way Hereford Ranch in r947, today it easily could be
in the Food Bazaar of Town and Country shopping center.

The I 9 5 6 aerial shows the ,old Arizona Biltmore entrance at
Twenty-fourth Street and Camelbach . To the west oft Camelbach, construction on Town and Country has just begun. In the
contemporary photo, the Biltmore entrance has been moved and
many of the empty spaces have been filled.

182

In this r 946 photo of the Arizona Biltmore entrance the view
is to the north and to Squaw Peak. The current photo shows

the press of the city everywhere, but the famous resort maintains
its dignity.

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

19 7 0 hardly a jackrabbit can be found, and target practice
against the mountain is discouraged.

A wagon road was the main arterial at the west end of Camelback
Mountain in 191 o. By 1949 the situation really hadn't changed
that much, a few new houses, but the streets still were dirt. By

185

Arizona Pioneer's Historical Society Collection

Arizona Department of Library and Archives Collection

These photos are in the same general area as the previous set,
but the view is to the north. T he empty divided road is probably
Forty-eighth Street som e time in the I 9 r o's, and the team cutting

hay is a little later in the vicinity of Sixty-fourth Street. A citrus
grove and C amelback M ountain .c 93 2. T he two aerials speak
for themselves, the early one having been taken in 1954.

186

A 'i?I J

The area around Thirty-sixth Street and Lincoln Drive was beginning to
develop in 1960. An area of bonton ruggedness, it ts still gr.owing today.

188

These shots are in the same area, but the view is to the west
towards Clearwater Hills residential development. In the 1953
photo, Paradise Valley Country Club had just scraped its golf

course out of the desert, and home builders probably viewed
the rocky acres with skepticism.

This view is looking west on Camelback above where it intersects Seventh Avenue. We suppose that the folks who owned

those two empty patches have been able to afford a good vacation
in recent years. The early photo was made in 1955.

191

These two pictures demonstrate what can happen to a Phoenix
area in very few years, in this instance the vicinity around the

junction of Camelback with Black Canyon Highway. There
are only five years between the photos, the first taken in r965.

Royal Palm Road in 1950 . In the ensuing twenty years the
area has remained reasonably quiet, but no longer rural.

A quiet rural scene would have been an apt description of the
area west of Eleventh Avenue - palms in foreground - and

193

This is the same area at the same time, but looking to the south, palm-lined Eleventh Avenue on the

1 94

le~ .

look due west up Indian School Road and the Arizona Canal,
with Thirty-fifrh Avenue in the foreground .

The early view to the southwest shows the early stages of
Maryvale in 1957. The recent view has swung to the lefr to

195

In these three photos there is a good example that big things
can come from small beginnings. The modest start of Youngtown
on the east bank ,of the seldom wet Agua Fria River is shown

in the first photo taken in 1955· By 1960, the senior citizen
community idea had caught on, and the Del E. Webb Corporation began Sun City. And look what's happened to Sun City!

This 1s Litchfield Park

in

1958, and this 1s Litchfield Park in 1970. The view is to the west.

1 97

In 1956, Moon Valley was as empty as a valley on the moon,
except for nearby and brand new Turf Paradise Race Track .
On a hazy (smoggy?) day in 1960 there was evidence that

somebody had plans for the valley. We now know what those
glans were.

1

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One of the things we have noted in sorting over so many
photographs is that industry can act as a magnet to real estate
development. We don't propose that this was a unique discovery,
but the facts of the matter do show up starkly in photographs.

Look at these photos of the Deer Valley area bordering on
General Electric' s information systems plant taken in 195 8,
1961 and 1970 .

2 00

the Sperry Rand Corporation had established a production facility in the area. By 19 70 a lot of other things had been established.

Except for the cultivated fields, in 1956 the area around Black
Canyon Highway and Deer Valley Road was empty. By 1959

201

Sometimes the reverse can be true, when population attracts
industry. In 1962 Airhaven Airport lay idle near the inter-

section of the Blach Canyon Highway and Indian School Road.
By 1970 it had become an industrial parh.

202

Another example of industry moving into populated areas is
the vicinity ·Of Blach Canyon Highway, Thomas Road and

Grand Avenue. The first photo was made in 1958. The second
is contemporary.

.·

In 1965, the area south of the Maricopa Freeway and the
Twentieth Street interchange is nearly bare, but in the five years

since then it has taken on a new look.

Motorola's semiconductor plant at Fifty-second Street and
McDowell was a fairly small facility in a sparsely populated

area in 1959· By 1970 it is obvious that as Motorola prospered
so did the area.

THE PUBLISHERS

Phoenix for her husband's health, but he passed away
in 1947.
In 1950 Herb and Dorothy were married, and,
soon after, Dorothy took up photography. They have
gained national status as one of a half dozen man and
wife photographic teams in the United States.
The McLaughlins organized Arizona Photographic
Associates in 195 5. Herb is noted for his work illustrating the complexities and, yes, the beauties of industry.
Dorothy's specialty is the wonder-filled and fragile world
of children.
Both are members of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, the Professional Photographers of
America and the Phoenix Press Club. Dorothy is a
member of and also past president of Soroptimist Club
of Phoenix and Inter-Club Council, while Herb is a
member of the National Press Photographers Association, the Phoenix Art Directors Club and past president
of Sales and Marketing Executives of Phoenix. He also
is currently chairman of the Facilities Committee of the
Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and is Treasurer of
the Rotary Club of Phoenix-West. Between the two
of them, they have won three "Best of Show" awards
of the Art Directors Club.

Herb and Dorothy McLaughlin are photographic
illustrators. They work independently, as well as a team,
doing advertising photography both locally and nationally,
editorial photography for many national and foreign
publications, and commercial and industrial photography.
Their credit line is often seen in Arizona Highways
magazine.
Herb got his start back in 193 7 doing work for
Indiana newspapers while attending Purdue and Indiana
Universities. Next, he became a specialist in photographing auto racing, but before long he had branched
out into more generalized work. In 1941, he won one
of the coveted "Best News Photograph" awards of Editor
and Publisher magazine for a picture of firemen engulfed
in a fiery explosion, which was published world-wide.
Dorothy's early background had nothing to do with
photography. Reared in Manti, Utah, a small town
south of Salt Lake City, and a graduate of Snow College,
she later found herself, with her late husband Marion
Jolley, playing doctor, nurse and surrogate parent to
a flock of 20,000 turkeys. In 1945, they moved to

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