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The Origin of the City of Phoenix
Courtesy of the City of Phoenix Official Website
Phoenix Arizona's Modern
History begins just after the Civil War ended. In 1867, Jack Swilling of
Wickenburg stopped to rest his horse at the foot of the north slopes of the
White Tank Mountains. He looked down and across the Salt River Valley and his
eyes caught the gleam of the brown, dry soil turned up by the horse's hooves.
Swilling saw farm land, mostly free of rocks, in a place beyond the reach of
frost or snow. All the Valley needed was water.
When Swilling returned to Wickenburg he organized the Swilling Irrigation Canal
Company and moved to the Valley. That same year, his company began digging a
canal to divert water from the Salt River into the rest of the Valley. By March
1868 water was flowing through the canal and a few company members raised meager
crops that summer. By the end of 1868 a small colony had formed about four miles
east of Phoenix Arizona's current location. The colony was named Swilling's Mill
at first, then Helling Mill, Mill City and eventually East Phoenix. Swilling, a
former Confederate soldier, wanted to name the settlement Stonewall after
Stonewall Jackson. Others suggested Salina. But it was Darrell Duppa who
suggested the name Phoenix, since the town would spring from the ruins of the
Native American's former civilization in the area.
Phoenix officially was recognized on May 4, 1868 when the Yavapai County Board
of Supervisors formed an election precinct. A post office was opened on June 15,
1868 with Jack Swilling as postmaster. And the first steam mill, Richard Flour
Mills, was built in 1869. Pioneers started moving to Phoenix soon thereafter and
a meeting was held on October 20, 1870 to select an official town site. John
Moore, a well-known former in the area, hosted the meeting and offered 40 acres
of his land to establish the town site. Instead 320 acres were purchased via
subscription, raising $50. The original town site now is within the area known as
Copper Square. The Salt River Valley Town Association was formed to administer
to the town site.
The original town of Phoenix Arizona was one mile long, a half-mile wide and
covered 96 blocks with Washington Street as the main street. East-west streets
were named after presidents while North-South streets originally carried Native
American names before being changed in favor of Phoenix Arizona's current
numeric grid system.
The first sale of lots in Phoenix resulted in the purchase of 61 lots at an
average price of $48 each. The first store building was Hancock's Store, a
general store opened in July 1871 on the northwest corner of First and
Washington Streets. The first church opened in 1871 when the Central Methodist
Church opened its doors.
Maricopa County was created on February 12, 1871 by the territorial legislature.
Maricopa County was Arizona's sixth. Phoenix's first school opened on September
5, 1972 inside the county courtroom and the first separate school building was
completed on Center Street (now Central Avenue) in October 1873.
President Ulysses Grant issues a parent to Judge John T. Alsap for Phoenix's
present site at a total cost of $550 for 320 acres. In 1874, downtown lots were
selling for $7 to $11 each. That year also marked the arrival of the first
telegraph line in Phoenix Arizona. A year later there were 16 saloons, four
dance halls, two monte banks and one faro table in Phoenix Arizona. The first
bank, National Bank, was established in 1878 with capital stock of $200,000. By
1880 Phoenix boasted a population of 2,453, a school enrollment of 379, an ice
factory, a brick sidewalk in front of the Tiger Saloon and a semiweekly
newspaper, the Phoenix Herald.
Phoenix Arizona officially became a city on February 25, 1881 by mandate of the
territorial legislature. That year also saw the Legislature unsuccessfully
attempt to have the United States Government establish a mint in Phoenix and the
Holsum Bakery opening for business. Five years later, an electric plant was installed in Phoenix and the city's first fire engine company was
installed in Phoenix and the city's first fire engine company was established.
Phoenix, Arizona Local Government Website
http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us |
