History  (top)

Nearly 900 years have passed since the earliest known Valley residents, The Hohokam, carved an elaborate network of canals into central Arizona, diverting water from rivers to nurture their crops. One of their first major canals ran north from what is now Sky Harbor Airport along 44th street. Today, 44th street is the main exit north from the airport. As with this early major canal, the Hohokam's homes and ball fields sleep forever beneath Phoenix' bustling city streets. Like their predecessors to the north the Anasasi before them, the Hohokam mysteriously disappeared from the area in the 1400's

Some of the nation's finest history and archaeological sites are found in the Valley of the Sun, from the internationally renowned Heard Museum to the new Deer Valley Rock Art Center, which showcases more than a thousand different petrographs You can find hidden jewels, like the Historic Saguaro Ranch Park in Glendale, once a working ranch now restored for tourists that reminds us that the area's past was largely agricultural. Smack in the middle of downtown Phoenix is Heritage square, which includes the Historic Rosson House, the Phoenix Museum of History, and the Arizona Science Center, among other cultural attractions-all of which remind us that this major city was, until a short time ago, just another farming and ranching community. And lest we forget that the Phoenix area has been settled off and on for thousands of years, don't overlook Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, one of the world's largest existing prehistoric dwellings.

MUST SEE HISTORICAL ATTRACTIONS IN CENTRAL ARIZONA

• Arizona Historical Society
• Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum, Phoenix
• Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
• Deer Valley Rock Art Center,Phoenix
• Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg
• Heritage Square
• Phoenix Heard Museum
• Historic Saguaro Ranch Park,Glendale
• Hoo-Hoogam Ki Museum, Scottsdale
• Mesa Southwest Museum
• Mesa Phoenix Museum of History
• Phoenix Pueblo Grande Museum
• Phoenix State Capitol and Hall of Fame Museum
• Taliesin West, Scottsdale
• Tempe Historical Society Museum

Spanish explorers and missionaries were the next major cultural development to the Southwest. The written history of Arizona began when the Spaniards sent exploration parties northward from Mexico. The first was a Franciscan priest named Marcos de Niza, who entered the territory in 1539.

Other Spanish missionaries followed and established missions to bring Christianity to the Indians. Tumacacori Mission, north of Nogales, was founded by Padre Kino at the center of an Indian settlement. This mission is now a National Monument. Padre Kino also laid the foundations for San Xavier del Bac Mission on the outskirts of today's Tucson, still used for regular services by the Tohono O'Odham Indians who live nearby.

After Kino's death, Spanish development of this area came to a halt. In 1821 Mexico declared its independence from Spain and eventually went to war with the United States. This war ended in 1848, and the land north of the Gila River became United States territory. In 1853 the rest of the area was acquired by the Gadsden Purchase. With the Gadsden Purchase the great westward movement of our early pioneers began.

In 1864, a man named John Smith established a hay camp to supply forage to the soldiers at Fort McDowell (the major US Calvary post in central Arizona) 30 miles away. By 1868, a small colony had formed approximately four miles east of the present city. Swilling's Mill became the new name of the area. It was then changed to Helling Mill, after which it became Mill City, and years later, East Phoenix. Swilling, having been a confederate soldier, wanted to name the new settlement Stonewall after Stonewall Jackson. Others suggested the name Salina, but neither name suited the inhabitants. It was a Englishman, Darrell Duppa, who suggested the name Phoenix, in as much as the new town would spring from the ruins of a former civilization(the Hohokam) just as the legendary Phoenix rose up from the ashes.

In the early years Phoenix was wild, lawless western cowboy town. By 1879 Phoenix had become the trade center of the Southwest and had begun to overcome it's riotous beginnings. The 1900's brought much progress. In 1911, the Salt River Project, Roosevelt Dam, was completed This project helped the desert blossom. In 1926, the Southern Pacific Railroad connected the city with the east bringing people much easier to the west.

WW II brought many military installations and training facilities to the Valley. After the war many former military people decided to uproot from their previous homes around the country and settle in the Valley where they had trained. The advent of air conditioning helped the desert heat more bearable and allowing great expansion of the area. Phoenix is the capital city of Arizona and continues to grow and expand greatly at an incredible rate.

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