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    Downtown Phoenix
    Downtown Phoenix
    Downtown Phoenix
    Ebook185 pages1 hour

    Downtown Phoenix

    By J. Seth Anderson, Jim McPherson and Suad Mahmuljin

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    About this ebook

    On a bed of a primordial ocean floor and in a valley surrounded by jagged mountains, a city was founded atop the ruins of a vanished civilization. In 1867, former Confederate soldier Jack Swilling saw the remains of an ancient canal system and the potential for the area to blossom into a thriving agricultural center. Pioneers moved into the settlement searching for new opportunities, and on October 20, 1870, residents living in adobe structures that lined dirt streets adopted the name Phoenix, expressing the optimism of the frontier. For decades, downtown Phoenix was a dense urban core, the hub of agricultural fields, mining settlements, and military posts. Unfortunately, suburban sprawl and other social factors of the post–World War II era led to the center’s decline. With time, things changed, and now downtown Phoenix is uniquely positioned to rise again as a prominent 21st-century American city.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJan 2, 2012
    ISBN9781439649923
    Downtown Phoenix
    Author

    J. Seth Anderson

    J. Seth Anderson holds a master's degree in history from the University of Utah. His research examines the intersections of religion and sexuality, specifically within gay and lesbian history in the American West.

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      Book preview

      Downtown Phoenix - J. Seth Anderson

      written.

      INTRODUCTION

      Where there is water there is life, so it is no surprise that the major cities of the world are near ports or large rivers capable of sustaining a constant incoming flow of raw goods, people, and ideas. Phoenix never had such an advantage. The Salt River is mighty but was only a source of water for irrigation, not shipping. In this isolated area, rugged frontiersmen forged a new American city when they came west seeking opportunities, wealth, and freedom. The railroad propelled Phoenix from a small farming community to a hub of commerce, mining, military, and farming. Presidents, activists, celebrities, and religious leaders visited Phoenix as it transformed from a rural settlement into the sixth-largest city in the United States. The remaining historic buildings, houses, schools, basements, and even an underground bowling alley whisper secrets about the city to those who will listen.

      Phoenicians today define downtown in various ways. With this book we hope to define downtown and its function as a dynamic center for commerce, entertainment, and quality residential life. We follow the rise and decline of downtown and hope that it can again reclaim the position of an important urban center rather than an overgrown suburb. With the exception of the canals, this book focuses primarily on the original Phoenix Townsite to the warehouse district and between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue. We also include the area west to the capitol building and Grand Avenue because floods in Phoenix forced growth northward early on in the development of the city. Neighborhoods developed along linear paths of the streetcar system to the north and east of the townsite. Commercial buildings and neighborhoods nearest downtown have mostly been razed, but the potential for quality redevelopment remains.

      Located in the Salt River Valley of central Arizona surrounded by ancient mountains that glow under the industrial strength sunlight, a city of paradoxes was born—a new American settlement atop an ancient civilization; a wild frontier built to resemble refined Victorian architecture with intricate designs, chimneys, turrets, cornices, and mansard roofs; and a city rising in an unforgiving climate, yet capable of sustaining all forms of life and vegetation.

      A spirited former Confederate soldier gazed at the Salt River Valley for the first time in September 1867 while traveling across the arid ground towards the gold mines in the Bradshaw Mountains. John Jack Swilling looked across the prickly desert to where the massive blue Arizona sky met the land and saw what others before him and what countless others after have also seen: potential.

      Swilling could not have known how long the area had been untouched by human beings, and there is no way he could have known anything about the First Phoenicians—the Hohokam—other than what he saw of their ancient canal system. The canals snaked across the soil, fed by the Salt River, and were capable of irrigating hundreds of thousands of acres. Swilling could not have known that he was looking at the remains of the most extensive and efficient canal system in prehistoric America, dug by the Hohokam’s own hands.

      Contrary to the popular myth, the Hohokam did not vanish overnight; their society gradually declined over generations. Archeologists and historians do not fully understand what events led to the decline of this great society, although many of the theories seem plausible. Social unrest, soil salinization along with other environmental changes, war with other tribes, diseases, floods, or droughts all could have played a part in their decline.

      When Swilling saw the thirsty land in 1867, he knew it had the potential to be irrigated to grow crops, sustain life, and build a new city in the American Wild West. By December 1867, he had organized the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company and undertook the task of clearing out the ancient canals. Ten canal companies irrigated 113,000 acres by 1900. Prosperity downtown was manifest by the commercial buildings and infrastructure in the city. Electric streetcars that supported the growth into the residential areas replaced horses and buggies, dusty roads were paved as the automobile began to dominate the landscape, and the railroads brought new capital and investment to Phoenix.

      Social diversity emerged in Phoenix as African Americans, Chinese, Jews, Greeks, Mexicans, Native Americans, and Irishmen developed areas downtown. As these communities grew, they built houses, business, schools, markets, and places of worship; few of these structures remain downtown today. Chapter Four focuses on the contributions of the African American community to downtown Phoenix from territorial days, through the years of segregation and the civil rights movement. The African American community was small in downtown Phoenix when compared to other cities. Socioeconomic factors and circumstance brought people to Phoenix who fought discrimination and left a legacy of persistence, patience, and achievements. This rich history remains in scattered houses, parks, churches, and schools downtown. We are hopeful that a future Images of America book will be written about the African American community in Phoenix to explore this history in greater detail.

      The story of downtown Phoenix is not over; it is just beginning. Downtown is raw and edgy, rough around the edges with a spattering of disconnected buildings and parking lots next to skyscrapers, residential complexes, and local businesses. The demand for an urban core is becoming more pronounced as people move out of the suburbs into the city in search of a community with roots and amenities of urban living with an authentic sense of place. Some locals lose patience and leave town for more mature cities; but for those who choose to remain, the challenge to correct the damage that has been done and create a 21st-century, American city speaks to their individualism and tenacity. After all, you have to be tough to live in Phoenix. Like those who came before them, urban Phoenicians today face difficult challenges, but Phoenicians are by nature optimists who have never let floods, poisonous creatures, or searing summer heat stop them from loving their city.

      One

      THE CANALS, THE ROADS,

      AND THE RAILS

      When the founders of Phoenix arrived in the 19th century, the Salt River would have been rushing with water,

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