20/20 hindsight

A score of things that made today's Phoenix:

1. ASU: In 1920, Tempe Normal School was awarding teaching certificates and providing high-school courses. From there it became Tempe State Teachers College (1925), Arizona State Teachers College (1929), Arizona State College (1945), and finally a university (1958). Today, under the dynamic leadership of Michael Crow, ASU is one of the largest universities in the United States. Among its five campuses/centers is the transformative downtown Phoenix location. The downside: Phoenix is by far the largest metropolitan areas in America with only one real, full-sized university.

2. Agriculture: A century ago, Phoenix was the center of a major agricultural empire thanks to its location in one of the planet's great alluvial river valleys. Anything would grow — just add water, which was abundant thanks to Theodore Roosevelt Dam and its successors. It's almost all gone. At one time, we could feed ourselves and exported produce and beef to the nation. Now Phoenix is almost entirely reliant on the 10,000-mile supply chain. A more foresighted place would have established agricultural trusts to preserve the citrus groves and Japanese flower gardens.

3. Air conditioning: Refrigerated air showed up in movie theaters and new hotels a century ago. Swamp coolers and central air units made Phoenix bearable for more people year-round (no more sleeping porches and wrapping oneself in wet sheets in summer). For awhile after World War II, Phoenix was also a center of air-conditioning manufacturing.

4. Climate: Contrary to today's myths, climate was not one of Arizona's original "C"s (Cattle, citrus, copper, and cotton). But the dry air did attract people with tuberculosis and other lung ailments. Since the 1930s, Phoenix has marketed itself as a sunny resort, something that gathered momentum with the great Sunbelt migration. And...championship golf!

The result is a population of sun- and heat-seekers, willing to put up with anything as long as it's sunny and warm — very different from when I was growing up. Now this "C" carries a sinister connotation for anyone paying attention. Unaddressed, climate change will make Phoenix uninhabitable by 2100.

5. Downtown: The city in 1920 ran from Yavapai Street south (about a quarter mile below the railroad tracks) to Virginia north, 21st Avenue west to 24th Street east, with some islands. Downtown — Fillmore to the railroad tracks and Seventh Avenue to Seventh Street, was the commercial, office, financial, and retail center of the state.

A series of bad timing, bad luck, and civic vandalism nearly killed it after World War II. Heavy lifting since the years of Mayor Terry Goddard, gathering speed recently, has brought it back. But without the texture and variety of a real big-city center.

6. Economics: Phoenix is 1920 was agriculture, small local businesses, and local banks. Today it's real estate, back offices, call centers, a few legacy tech fixtures, and catering to tourists and retirees. In between, Phoenix received some major operations thanks to Cold War spending and local recruitment efforts, especially Motorola. It hosted some major headquarters, such as Valley National Bank and Greyhound/Dial that were located in the Central Corridor, provided high-end jobs, and gave generously to the community. That's all gone now. Phoenix wages are lower and economic assets fewer than peer cities and metros.

7. Ending isolation: Separation from the rest of the nation by mountains, desert, and wilderness was the biggest thing that kept Phoenix small. That started to change with the 1926 completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad's northern main line and moving almost all its passenger trains through the new Union Station. More connections came with the Interstate Highway System and jet airliners at Sky Harbor International Airport. Alas, thanks to lack of leadership, Phoenix is the largest city in the United States without intercity passenger trains.

8. Federal assistance: Despite the myth of rugged individualism and minimal government, Phoenix wouldn't exist without enormous federal investment. Since 1920, this includes more dams, the New Deal saving Phoenix from the Great Depression, Cold War spending saving it again from the sharp recession after the end of World War II, federal home loans, flood control, the Central Arizona Project, and light rail (WBIYB). Interior Department money was also critical to preserving the upper part of Camelback Mountain from development.

9. Freeways: A century ago, paved streets and highways were relatively rare in the Phoenix area. The Tempe Road (Van Buren Street) was two lanes wide. Phoenix resisted freeways from the 1960s to the 1980s — it didn't want to "become another LA."

But a failure to prevent sprawl and provide transit alternatives — plus vast in-migration of newcomers without the old ethos — made freeway expansion inevitable. It has radically transformed the city and made fortunes for the Real Estate Industrial Complex. Today Phoenix has one of the more extensive freeway systems in the country and is building more. And it never became "another Los Angeles."

10. Growth: Phoenix always wanted to grow (population increased 65% from 1920 to 1930). But even the wildest civic booster then couldn't have imagined that today it would be the nation's fifth-largest city and 11th largest metropolitan area. Unlike the post-World War II years or even after the 1990 recession when the Greater Phoenix Economic Council was established to create advanced-industry clusters, the push to add people disconnected from also increasing a quality economy.

The result is that Phoenix is beyond population overshoot, but uncompetitive compared with its peers. Yet the local-yokel refrain, "People keep moving here, so everything must be fine," shuts down serious discussion. Growth doesn't pay for itself. Population alone is a terrible drag. And other growth — in college-educated adults, major headquarters, advanced industries, world-class cultural assets, people lifted from poverty, increased education funding, etc — isn't the obsession and doesn't happen.

11. Immigration: Hispanic immigration, especially from Mexico, began to transform the overwhelming Anglo city of Phoenix starting in the 1980s. Tourism, construction, lawn services, housekeeping, and other areas created an insatiable demand for low-wage immigrant labor. This has continued despite the hostility of the right. One result: Most of the city proper is now poor and Latino, surrounded by Anglo suburbs.

12. Leadership: Phoenix in 1920 was led by the Chamber of Commerce, presidents of the local banks, owners of the Republic and Gazette, downtown merchant princes and, sometimes, politicians. This model continued for the next six decades, with the cast of characters changing as well as the emergence of some large corporate players (Valley National, Greyhound/Dial, Karl Eller's Combined Communications). They saw the health of the city and their companies as intertwined.

By the time it was formalized as the Phoenix 40, it was controversial and about to enter its death spiral. Now nobody can "write checks and knock heads" for the good of the city. This is a branch-office town. Phoenix has no civic stewards such as Seattle and the late Paul Allen. And it shows.

13. Media: The hot new medium in 1920 was commercial radio, with Phoenix gaining its first station (KTAR) in 1922. The Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette were under separate ownership. Today Phoenix is the nation's 12th largest media market, with television, radio, and the Arizona Republic. The latter, after long ownership by Eugene C. Pulliam's Central Newspapers and then Gannett, is facing big challenges under a new Gannett, merged with GateHouse. The risk is a weaker and less local media compared with the midcentury heyday here. With few exceptions (e.g. The Seattle Times), this is a national phenomenon.

14. Politics: "Everybody" knows Arizona is a deep-red state. A century ago, it was a solid Democratic state and remained so for decades — our Democrats were conservative "pintos." But they believed in activist government in the New Deal and Sen. Ernest McFarland's work as "Father of the GI Bill." The entire congressional delegation worked for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) and other assets.

Statewide, this evolved after Barry Goldwater's surprise victory over McFarland in 1952 (Mac was hurt by Truman's unpopularity), then Big Sort migration that brought Republican Midwesterners. Still, the state was competitive until the turn of the century, even seeing Democrat Janet Napolitano win the governorship. Then...deep red with a D.C. delegation doing nothing for the state. Lately, Democrats have made congressional gains. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is...a pinto. Everything old is new again. But until Democrats control the powerful Legislature the Kookocracy will rule.

Phoenix went from a corrupt City Commission to the "clean Businessman's Government" of Charter. This morphed into today's district representation. Although nominally nonpartisan, the majority of today's City Council are Democrats. Phoenix has its red areas, such as the one represented by "Better Call Sal." And the state tries to hobble Phoenix at every opportunity. Can Arizona turn purple? It all depends on whether Hispanic turnout can improve.

15: Retirees: Del Webb opened Sun City in 1960. Since then, the Phoenix area has become a mecca for retirees. They support large sectors of the service economy. And many are fine people, with Sun City touting its commitment to volunteering. But for many, "home" is where they came from. They resist funding schools, the arts, and other pillars of the commons. The rich in north Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, and Carefree live "exclusive," disconnected lives, hostile to Phoenix.

16. Sprawl: Since the 1950s — accelerating to one-acre-an-hour in the 1990s — single-family-house developments have transformed the Edenic Salt River Valley. Mostly gone are citrus groves, farms, flower gardens, shade trees, and the oasis. In their place is a vast concrete slab from Buckeye to past Apache Junction, Pinal to Yavapai counties. The development is remarkable in its bland sameness. And the resulting heat island has made summers hotter and last longer. In 1920, Maricopa County has about 90,000 people. Today, metro Phoenix holds at least 4.8 million. The inefficient thinning out undercuts civic connections and adds to car dependency.

17. Sports: These pastimes were small-time a century ago, with the Teacher's College Bulldogs, Phoenix Union High, and  minor-league ballgames at the old Phoenix Municipal Stadium at Central and Mohave. The Pro-Am golf tournament, precursor of the Phoenix Open, started in the early. 1930s. Spring Training followed starting in the 1940s. When the Phoenix Suns started play in 1968, it was the city's first big-league team. Now metro Phoenix is home to MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL teams. Sadly, most take the amorphous name "Arizona." Phoenix is also unusual in supporting so many pro teams with such low overall wages.

18. Supersize suburbs: For most of the 20th century, Phoenix was the dominant city of the Salt River Valley. Towns such as Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, and Glendale were separate and small into the 1960s. By the 1990s, with the combination of development interests and rush for sales-tax dollars in the state's dysfunctional tax system, these towns had become giant.

Most are far larger than suburbs elsewhere. Mesa is more populous than Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and the city of Atlanta. Scottsdale sucks economic assets, declines regional cooperation, with the others battle over scraps. Phoenix outclasses these suburbs in size and capabilities, but they constitute a "veto elite" against the city and compete fiercely. Where cooperation happens, as in light rail, good things are possible.

19. Tourism: Only the most adventurous came here early on, but by the 1920s, tourism had taken root as a major business. This was helped by better railroad service. Today, tourism is a multi-billion-dollar sector. The downsides: Low pay, environmental stress, and the question of how long resorts can keep prospering amid a big, dirty city (and COVID-19).

20: Water: This is the big unknown. The renewable supplies of the Salt and Verde rivers were enough to support a modest city and agricultural economy. The coming of the CAP enabled the explosion of population and sprawl. But the Colorado River is over-subscribed and desalination plants are highly unlikely. Turning central Phoenix into a concrete- and gravel-blasted landscape, "shaded" by palo verdes and wide-open "shade structures" is keeping the short hustle going for now. But...it's Chinatown, Jonny.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[100 Octane]

Thank you. Outstanding as always.

Nice picture too.

[Bill Pearson]

Nice. I am in the middle of A Brief History of Phoenix and some of the characters are simply fascinating.

It is a challenge when you think about how many people came from somewhere else and how little they care about how Phoenix developed. The oddity is we have better access to all things historical and yet most folks are fixated on what their latest text message is or who tweeted what?

It's one of our struggles in Sun City. Although we are only 60 years old, most residents are clueless about just how unique we are. Working on a marketing strategy built around this: "The Community That Changed A Nation." We'll see.

[Mike Doughty]

“Can Arizona turn purple? It all depends on whether Hispanic turnout can improve.”
I have been hearing this for at least 50 years and it ain’t gonna happen. If the corona virus doesn’t reveal the emptiness of conservatism nothing will. If people don’t get their heads out of the sand now I give up.

[El Kabong]

Good post, and I recommend your book on Phoenix history to everyone.

[soleri]

Mike, the hot political wonk of the moment is a woman named Rachel Bitecofer. She correctly predicted the Democratic House pick-up of 41 seats. She just moved Arizona from toss-up to lean Democratic: https://www.niskanencenter.org/bitecofer-post-primary-update/?utm_source=The+Bulwark+Newsletter&utm_campaign=01ba331b2e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_26_11_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f4bd64ac2e-01ba331b2e-80696337

[Mike Doughty]

Soleri- I’m more concerned about Wisconsin,Michigan and Pennsylvania. Although ,I like her comments about Az..I don’t see how anybody cannot but blame Trump for the existing mess we are in re: the Coronavirus and his America first policy..

[Cal Lash]

Mike. We knew this was coming.
Around 58 to 62 i was reading stuff with big hints. Try some research.
First Recorded Pandemic, 541AD, Justinan.
And then how the Obama administration handled H1N1.
Keep the Faith, maybe the Democrat convention will select Pelosi for president and Cuomo as VP.
"Anybody but Bernie."

[Phil Trum]

Cal Lash
You have got to be fucking kidding.

[Cal Lash]

Phil. I come here to evoke responses.
And
Maybe its cause i read The Jacobin news on Sleepy Joes Disappearance?
My above was about 20/20 Hindsite.
Forest Gump would be a better choice than the Donald. The planets most dangerous thing.
I am not the smart guy in this room.
Just the ole campfire guy in the desert.
Cal
whose IQ is 100 on a good day.

[Cal Lash]

Hmmm?
Googling Phil Trum and Philtrum is interesting!

[Cal Lash]

Phil, note i was quoting not saying "anybody but Bernie."

[Bill Pearson]

Cal: I suspect his angst was over Pelosi. That said, i'm growing more fond of Cuomo on a daily basis. Besides, he isn't older than dirt.

[Cal Lash]

What Ageism Angst on this blog.
Then why did we let Toomas Hendrick escape New Jersey to become Estonian president?

[Cal Lash]

Oh he is not a citizen? But i heard that we had a foreign born president some time ago?

[Bill Pearson]

Suffice to say Jon, you have an eclectic group of posters. Our bad as we tend to drift. Let me try and get it back on topic, at least kind of.

Just finished A Brief History of Phoenix. Fun read and when i was done i was filled with a sense of loss. In fact you could have named it “Paradise Lost,” but seems to me that title was taken. I suspect you have peaked my curiosity in that i know some of the characters are well worth a deeper dive.

What is so frustrating is there is so little interest by almost anyone when it comes to our roots. For whatever reason, it is as if no one cares because it just doesn't matter. My best guess is that would be true in a lot of places. Though i do suspect the more transient the population, the less interested in how and why we got where we are.

The beauty of your book is it helps fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Having read many of the columns you have written, they all fit with the sense of loss from what you knew, loved and appreciated. Obviously having witnessed the changes, you feel more intimately attached.

After reading your book, i get it. It’s probably why i so enjoyed the Mapstone series. Your ability to weave history into the story telling helps make it come to life. Reminds me of Nelson De Mille and his unique way of drawing readers in.

I often think younger people find history boring and perhaps the key is to make it both interesting and educational. Of course i am neither young or “normal” so i don’t know what my critique is worth. Kudos because it helps me as we lay plans in being able to tell the “Sun City” story.

[Rogue Columnist]

Thanks for the kind words, Bill. Phoenix has a rich history, usually lost by the enormous population churn.

[Yesi Merino]

Thank you for sharing the history about Phoenix,it's such a great city to visit.