Featured Stories
Mesa Arizona Temple
Prior to the construction of the Mesa Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, church members wishing to marry in a temple were required to make the grueling journey on the “Honeymoon Trail.” The trail was named “Honeymoon”…
Imagining Encanto
William Hartranft founded Encanto Park in 1934, seeking to create a park for Phoenix that was like San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park or San Diego’s Balboa Park. Hartranft’s inspiration tells us how Americans living in the 1920s imagined what a park…
A Cotton Growing Community
The original pioneers settled in the area around the current city of Peoria in about 1886. Settlers started planting a variety of plants to see what would grow best. Additionally, early farmers raised horses and cattle, sheep, hogs, and grew grains…
Recent Stories
Phoenix's Drive-in Church
Completed in 1965 by architect E Logan Campbell, the Glass and Garden Drive-in Church redefined the traditional church- going experience. Designed to accommodate Arizonans inclined to stay in their vehicles, the creation of the church reflected the…
Enchantment
The first president of the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board, William Hartranft, modeled the city's Encanto Park after San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. In so doing, Hartranft channeled the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted, an American landscape…
The New Windsor Hotel
The New Windsor Hotel is a survivor in downtown Phoenix. It was built in 1893 and had several remodels and name changes such as “The Windsor” and “The Sixth Avenue Hotel.” The hotel survived gentrification and was accepted in the National Register…
Ecology and Tourism in the Southwest
The Desert Botanical Garden emerged as an antidote to the agricultural and economic development of Phoenix. A dedicated group of Phoenix residents, concerned about the city’s sprawling expansion and the increasing destruction of the surrounding…
The Desert Botanical Garden
Founded in 1939, the Desert Botanical Garden has helped to change the way Phoenicians see the Sonoran Desert. As Phoenix began to grow in the 1920s, many residents saw the desert as a blighted landscape in need of improvement. Local politicians and…
Sun City: A Revolution
Sun City revolutionized housing and retirement in the United States. It became the nation's largest and most successful retirement development and contributed to a new formulation in how Americans thought about life during retirement. It provided…
Salt River Stories
A project by Arizona State University & Mark TebeauSalt River Stories brings the history, cultures, and communities of the Valley of the Sun, the Phoenix-Scottsdale-Tempe metro area to your fingertips. Salt River Stories is created by students & faculty at Arizona State University in collaboration with the community. It is powered by Omeka + Curatescape, a humanities-centered web and mobile framework available for both Android and iOS devices.
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