Early Phoenix

by Kathleen Garcia

Overview

Like the mythical bird it is named after, Phoenix rose from the desert heat to become a prosperous and vital city. Settled on the lands of the ancient Hohokam Indians, Phoenix began as an agricultural community in the 1860s. It was appointed county seat of Maricopa County in 1871 and territorial capital in 1889. By 1900, town boosters were calling Phoenix an "Oasis in the Desert" and the "Denver of the Southwest." By 1920, Phoenix was on its way to being a metropolitan city with a population of 29,053 and sporting an eight-story "skyscraper." Many farsighted individuals documented this development through photographs, allowing today's residents to see the community's amazing growth from small town to big city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738548395
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	05/26/2008
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 7.14(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

With a master of arts in Southwest and Arizona history, author Kathleen Garcia has worked at the Phoenix Public Library for 20 years, the last 13 in the Arizona History Room. During her time there, Garcia has worked on a digitization project of Phoenix photographs from the public library's James H. McClintock Collection and the Phoenix Museum of History's image collection. It is from this digitization project that the majority of photographs for this book have been drawn.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     6
Introduction     7
An Adobe Town: 1870-1880     11
Downtown Phoenix: 1881-1920     17
Phoenix Movers and Shakers     51
Schools, Churches, and a Hospital     67
A Social and Cultural Phoenix     83
Women and Homes of Phoenix     93
Agriculture and Irrigation in the Valley     111
Bibliography     127