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    Vanishing Phoenix
    Vanishing Phoenix
    Vanishing Phoenix
    Ebook171 pages58 minutes

    Vanishing Phoenix

    By Robert A. Melikian

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    About this ebook

    Lord Darrell Duppa, along with his friend Jack Swilling, suggested the name "Phoenix" for the city he had cofounded because it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization. Settled on the ancestral lands of the Hohokam Indians, Phoenix was thriving by the early 1920s when craftsmanship and attention to detail were the orders of the day. Buildings were designed to welcome residents and travelers alike. Today the Fox Theater, the Clark Churchill House, the Kon Tiki Hotel, and the Fleming Building exist only in photographs and in the memories of Phoenix residents. The National Register of Historic Places and the Phoenix Historic Property Register have heightened public awareness and appreciation for the community's historic landmarks, but much has been lost already. Remembering these buildings and landmarks is essential to understanding this remarkable city.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439639665
    Vanishing Phoenix
    Author

    Robert A. Melikian

    Author Robert Melikian grew up in Phoenix, and his family has owned and operated one of Phoenix’s oldest hotels, the Hotel San Carlos, since 1973. In this book, Melikian showcases the area’s evolution from an “oasis in the desert” to a cosmopolitan city using more than 200 vintage images from the Arizona State University McLaughlin Collection, the Phoenix Museum of History, and private collections.

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      Book preview

      Vanishing Phoenix - Robert A. Melikian

      buddy.

      INTRODUCTION

      The U.S. territory of Arizona was officially organized on February 24, 1863, when Pres. Abraham Lincoln signed it into law. Previously during the Civil War, on February 14, 1862, Jefferson Davis had created by proclamation the Confederate territory of Arizona—exactly 50 years to the day before Arizona was to become a state. Pres. William Howard Taft approved Arizona’s statehood on February 14, 1912.

      To protect the growing number of prospectors and miners that were coming into the newly formed territory, U.S. Army Post Camp Verde (changed to Fort McDowell in 1879) was established on the west bank of the Verde River approximately 6 miles above its confluence with the Salt River. John Y. T. Smith (Y. T. stood for Yours Truly) is credited with seeing the wild hay growing and setting up a hay camp along the north bank of the Salt River approximately 35 miles from Camp McDowell in 1867. John W. Jack Swilling saw the potential of the prehistoric canal system and started to develop it in the winter of 1867–1868. In 1870, the 240 residents in the area voted to establish a town on the site we now know of as downtown. It was on cleared, flat ground, above the seasonal floodplain to protect it from flooding, and located about a mile north of the Salt River. The town of Phoenix was initially 1 mile long, a half mile wide, and contained 96 blocks and 320 acres. Resident Darrell Duppa, a Cambridge graduate, reportedly said, Let’s call it Phoenix, for here, on the ruins of the old, a new city will arise, according to the 1892 Phoenix City Directory. By 1874, lots were selling for $7–$11 each, and there were 16 saloons, 4 dance halls, 2 monte banks, and 1 faro table.

      At first, the buildings were principally constructed of adobe. Then a local brick kiln was established in 1878 and brick became the material of choice because of its strength and fireproof quality. Completion of the railroad to Maricopa in 1879 and the transcontinental railroad through Arizona in 1883 and 1884 made wood, plate glass, stone, prefabricated items, and pressed and cast metal available for use in constructing Phoenix’s early buildings. According to Gerald A. Doyle and Associates in the Roosevelt Neighborhood Historic Buildings Survey, Phoenix residents wanted to provide themselves with the comforts of the cities from which they came and to create the appearance necessary for a real town, so the new settlers hastened to discard the use of native materials to create architecture that resembled the rest of America. Thus, architecture in the Queen Anne, Eastlake, Shingle, High Victorian Italianate, and late Second Empire styles began appearing, albeit in simpler versions than their eastern counterparts. Floods, which occurred in 1890 and 1891, changed the pattern of growth, which from then on went north for those who had the money.

      Despite occasional natural disasters and setbacks in the national and local economies, Phoenix began the growth that has continued to this day. The early events that were the foundation for this growth were the completion of the 44-mile Arizona Canal, which opened up an additional 100,000 acres of desert to potential agricultural development; construction of a railroad to Phoenix in 1887; an urban railway system, started in 1887; a prosperous local agricultural economy that produced products in commercial quantities; organized promotional efforts, especially by the newspapers and the Phoenix Board of Trade (1888); the establishment of Phoenix as the territorial capital in 1889; the passage of the National Reclamation Act in 1902; and the organization of valley farmers as the Salt River Valley Water Users Association. These last two events were necessary for the construction of Roosevelt Dam, which solved the valley’s water problem.

      The economy of Phoenix was initially based on agriculture. Businesses and industries were then created to serve the booming agricultural interests and were dependent on the success of irrigation farming. These included hardware and building supply companies, mercantile establishments, real estate firms, banks and loan companies, hay and grain storage warehouses, agricultural implement and machinery companies, and railroads.

      The need for diversity became apparent after a series of droughts. Boosterism started to focus on the local climate and health, then tourism. Phoenix began to attract people and grow: 29,000 lived here in 1920; 48,000 in 1930; and 65,000 in 1940. A turning point came in 1940. The city had gone far with farming, a healthcare center, and then a distribution center, but when the war hit the United States, Phoenix turned rapidly into an industrial city. Luke Field, Williams Field, and Falcon Field brought thousands of men into Phoenix. When the war ended, many of these men returned to Phoenix looking for work. Large industry, learning of this labor pool, started to move branches to the area.

      The era, commencing with 1940, marked the end of agriculture’s role as the area’s chief provider. It was the beginning of greater prosperity than Phoenix had ever known through industry and skilled labor. In 1950, Phoenix had 105,000 people, with thousands more living in adjacent communities. In 1970, the population was 584,303 people, almost six times the 1950 population. The population now is around 1.3 million people.

      HISTORIC PRESERVATION

      Phoenix has not done a great job when it comes to preserving its historic buildings. Consider, for example, that of the 143 historic commercial buildings that miraculously survived until 1984, 55 of them, or 40 percent, have been destroyed in the past 25 years. Business sentiment is not very sympathetic to preservation, and the city’s historical preservation ordinance offers very little protection, only a 365-day demolition delay at most. As a result, we have lost almost all of our commercial buildings,

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