Phoenix has become an oasis amidst the desert sands, and visitors flock here for several different reasons: warm winter temperatures, spectacular desert scenery, and more days of sunshine per year than anywhere else in the United States. Located in the "Valley of the Sun" on the upper edge of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix has become the fifth largest city in the US. In fact, Phoenix has grown so much that the communities of Glendale, Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe, have become its suburbs. The first people to settle and farm in the Phoenix area were the Hohokam Native Americans who arrived around 300 AD. They built miles of waterways from the water of the Salt River, which fed their crops and villages. It is a mystery why these ancient people vanished, but the accepted theory is that their settlement was destroyed by a long, merciless drought. In 1867, a farmer by the name of Jack Swilling of Wickenburg discovered the environment of Phoenix to be quite appropriate for farming. He formed an irrigation canal company and began digging.
Not long after water began flowing into the region, an increasing number of settlers arrived and established permanent homesteads. One resident by the name of Darrell Duppa recommended they name the town "Phoenix" after an Egyptian legend, which told of a bird that was burned in its nest. From its ashes, arose a new and more beautiful bird. Duppa and other settlers shared the belief that Phoenix too would arise from the ashes of ancient cultures and grow into a new and more beautiful city.
In 1874, Ulysses S. Grant issued a patent for the site of Phoenix and the city was officially incorporated on Feb. 15, 1881. Phoenix was surveyed and lots were established within the 96 blocks of the town site. It remained a small farming community until the 1930s when tourism began to flourish due to the warm climate, healthy environment and the completion of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. |
