Gibson - Phoenixs Ahwatukee-Foothills

In an area with no historical society, museum, or record repository, where does one go to learn its history? If the records of the company that developed Ahwatukee no longer exist, having been discarded long ago, then what hope is there to learn of how we arrived where we are today? Where does one begin to look?

In my case, it was with many of the people who had a hand in shaping the areas history. Only through the graciousness of many individuals is a book like this possible, and I am privileged to have been the recipient of countless acts of boundless generosity.

Individuals and institutions to whom I am indebted include Archaeological Consulting Services Margerie Green; Arizona Department of Transportations Doug Nintzel and Stuart Chase; the Chandler Historical Societys Nate Meyers; Landiscors Nora Hannah and Jennifer Kellerman; Taliesin Wests Margo Stipe and Bruce Pfeiffer; the Wisconsin Historical Societys Lee Grady, Andy Kraushaar, and Marguerite Moran; the Ahwatukee Foothills News s Brian Johnson and Renie Scibona; and the Arizona Historical Foundations Linda Whitaker, Susan Irwin, and Jared Jackson. My sincere gratitude goes to the foundation director, Jack August, for his invaluable mentoring and consistent guidance.

Thanks also to those voices on the telephone for their generosity to someone they havent met, not even to this day, including Patty Artist, Ben Furlong, Alma Gates, Mike Longstreth, and Barbara Brinton Hackett. One individual in particular, Mike Foley, distinguished himself with his consistent insight, graciousness, and tenaciousness. I hope to one day have the opportunity to thank each one of these individuals in person.

Deserving of special thanks are those who invited me into their living rooms, kitchens, dens, and offices as they shared their recollections of days past. Posthumously Eli Gates and Marion Vance are fondly remembered. And I will be forever indebted to Art Brooks, Elaine and Jim Burgess, Carolina Butler, Tom Carney, Chad Chadderton, Sal DiCiccio, Evelyn Dye, Helen and Dick Evans, Grady Gammage Jr., Lois and Joe Garner, Melainie Gates, Phyllis Gates, Bruce Gillam, Ruth and Jim Goldman, Tom Kirk, Joe LeChaix, Susan and Ronnie Livingston, Kathy Martin, Dick McKenna, Pete Meier, Bill Montgomery, Hazel and Tom Owens, Jack Owens, Thelma Poitras, Randall Presley, Sheila Pruitt, Judy and John Ratliff, Rick Savagian, Clay Schad, Charles Schiffner, A. Wayne Smith, Jim Spadafore, Tom and Mike Vance, Lew Wilmot, and Beverly and Bill Woodmansee. Not all of their stories could be printed, but their enthusiasm and encouragement always kept me going!

Finally thanks to my wife, Angel, and son Matthew for enduring a seemingly never-ending series of interviews, research projects, and midnight writing sessions. My appreciation, too seldom expressed, for their understanding, patience, and support, recognizes the invaluable role they played in my completion of this book.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blank-Roper, Laurie, and Richard W. Effland. Archaeological Investigations at Two Sites Within the Ahwatukee Expansion Area . Tempe, AZ: Archaeological Consulting Services Limited, January 1981.

Collins, William S.. The Emerging Metropolis: Phoenix 19441973 . Arizona State Parks Board, 2005.

Effland, Richard W. and Margerie Green. Proposed Ahwatukee Expansion . Tempe, AZ: Archaeological Consulting Services, Limited, November 1979.

, and. The Mystic House: Documentation of the Ahwatukee Ranch and The Slawson Home . Tempe, AZ: Archaeological Consulting Services Limited, July 1981.

Furlong, Ben. The Story of Kyrene. Kyrene School District, 1992.

Gammage, Grady Jr., Phoenix In Perspective , Arizona Board of Regents, for and on behalf of Arizona State University, and its College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Herberger Center for Design Excellence, 1999.

Green, Margerie, A National Register Evaluation of Camp Ocatillo and Pima Ranch . Archaeological Consulting Services Limited, January 1983.

Green, Margerie, Archaeological Test Investigations at Pima Ranch . Tempe, AZ: Archaeological Consulting Services Limited, May 1983.

Green, Margerie and Richard W. Effland, Archaeological Investigations at the Pecos Ranch Development Property . Tempe, AZ: Archaeological Consulting Services, Limited, May 1984.

Its history grand but its days numbered, the Ahwatukee ranch house stands guard during the early days of Ahwatukees development. Looking northeast from the house in 1973 toward Interstate 10 and the first homes in the master-planned development, the ranch from which the community takes its name stood proudly for over 50 years. Through the Ames and Brinton ownerships, with Byron Slawson the constant throughout, the ranch marked a time now long gone when large tracts of open desert in close proximity to Phoenix could be purchased and used to build extravagant winter homes. The ranch house, the first and once the only non-homesteaded residence in the future Village of Ahwatukee Foothills, was torn down in 1975. With that, one era ended as another began. (Courtesy Robert Peshall.)

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SETTLERS AND WATER

The countrys wild and at-times inhospitable West had been tamed to a degree a thousand years ago by the Hohokum. But it took an act of government to encourage systematic settlement after the Civil War. Each settler under the Homestead Act was required to establish a residence in a structure of not less than 12 by 14 feet and to farm a certain percentage of his or her land. The canals from which farmers brought water to their lands were fed by the Salt River, originating in eastern Arizona and flowing southwest year-round through Phoenix. Farming could be very good when Mother Nature cooperated, but crops were often wiped out when flooding or drought occurred. The construction of Roosevelt Dam brought much-needed stability to the Salt River Valley and gave birth to a series of farms along a main canal that ran through part of the future Ahwatukee Foothills.

The Hohokum were skilled farmers who harnessed the life-giving waters of the Salt River through an elaborate series of irrigation canals. Dug by hand, the largest of these canals measured 35 feet wide and 10 feet deep. This map of the Salt River Valleys prehistoric canal system shows the Salt River crossing the middle of the map with todays South Mountain, then the Salt River Mountains, at bottom center. Significantly, the future Ahwatukee area (right of the mountain) is designated as high ground. (Courtesy Arizona Historical Foundation.)

In order to encourage settlement of the American West, the Homestead Act was signed into law by Pres. Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The act provided undeveloped land, typically 160 acres, to any settler willing to make certain improvements to it. Some of the first families in what became the Kyrene farming community and Ahwatukee-Foothills came to the area based on the prospect of owning land under the Homestead Act. (Courtesy Arizona Historical Foundation.)