Nearly 5,000 miles away from the shores of Ireland is the Irish Cultural Center of Phoenix, a product of two hundred years of Irish migration, an international relationship built out of the Cold War, and one determined Arizonan Irishman.

During the Cold War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the Sister Cities program in 1956 to establish, promote, and symbolize international comradery, connection, and partnership between American and international cities. In 1972, the city of Phoenix joined the program with the establishment of the aptly named non-profit organization Phoenix Sister Cities, which tasked themselves with locating and partnering with cities abroad, symbolizing a desire for Phoenix to build an international presence and image as an international hub, akin to New York City or Los Angeles.

The city of Ennis, Ireland was designated a Sister City of Phoenix in 1988, marking the fifth international connection fostered by the program, and the first of European denomination. The Irish city was chosen due to the impact of Irish immigrants on the state of Arizona itself and the continued existence of Irish heritage present in contemporary Phoenix.

In the months following, the residents of Phoenix voted to set aside $500,000 worth of funds for a future Irish Cultural Center to be constructed in the heart of Downtown Phoenix. This demonstrated a connection between the two distant cities and Phoenix’s commitment to the Sister Cities program. 

The Irish Cultural Center (ICC) was the brain-child of Irish-American city Councilman Howard Adams, who wanted to celebrate the Irish heritage he shared with many Phoenicians, and help showcase Phoenix as an international metropolis. The Cultural Center was designed as an event and museum space meant to recognize and celebrate the Irish heritage - which over 10% of Phoenicians share-  while honoring the influence of Irish migration to the Western United States during the 20th century.

The ratification of the Japanese Friendship Garden in 1987, a symbol of connection with one of Phoenix’s other Sister Cities, Himeji, Japan, had a major role in helping Adams push for the Irish Cultural Center. With the creation of the Friendship Garden on the grounds of Margaret T. Hance Park, Adams knew he had an opportunity to make his Cultural Center a reality. Adams was an influential figure in the process of bringing Ennis in as a Sister City of Phoenix, and spent weeks travelling to the Irish city to help make the connection a reality a year after the Garden’s opening. Adams heavily campaigned for the ICC in yearly Council agendas, with the Cultural Center finally coming to fruition and construction slated to begin in 1999. Funding and construction was streamlined by a joint effort between the non-profit organization Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation and the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, who together fundraised over $700,000 through private donations and city bonds. The Center would become an ideological and geographical neighbor to the Japanese Friendship Garden, with land from the Margaret T. Hance Park set aside to host the Irish campus.

Whereas the Friendship Garden was proposed by the Himeji major to celebrate the two cities’ mutual relationship and honor the impact of Asian immigrants and culture in Phoenix, the Center was proposed and supported locally by Arizonans, both of Irish descent (like Adams) and not, who wanted to provide a gathering place for and celebration of Irish heritage and culture.

The creation of the Irish Cultural Center came at a time where cities throughout America began to celebrate their Irish heritage. Cities like Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco created Irish Cultural Centers of their own in the latter half of the 20th century, which served to celebrate Irish culture and heritage, as well as recognize the impact of Irish immigrants and their descendants who resided in the regions. Cities began to host Irish festivals and parades throughout the month of March, and Irish pubs became more popular sites around downtown centers. Like Phoenix, many of the major cities celebrating Irish identity in the postwar years did harbor many Irish migrants and serve as the homes of various Irish diasporas throughout the United States throughout the late 19th and into the 20th century. On a federal level, President George H.W. Bush proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1991, designated to honor the contributions of Irish immigrants and their descendants to American society, which has remained an annual tradition of Presidents since.

Phoenix’s Irish Cultural Center was established with the creation of the An Gorta Mór, or the Great Hunger Memorial, designed by Phoenix artist Maureen McGuire and crafted by sculptor Seamus King, which honored and memorialized the Irish populace who struggled and starved during the Great Famine of 1845-1852. It was the first structure built on the newly-approved site in 1999. Standing as an arc made of stone tablets with a poem inscribed on its face, the statue symbolizes a passageway from the old world into the new. A staple of Irish cultural centers throughout the United States, commemorations of the Famine remember those Irish who escaped hardship and migrated to the United States in the hope for a new life. The statue in a way also served as a stamp of authenticity onto the developing Cultural Center, connecting it to cultural centers beyond.

After funding and development for the Center was officially approved, the construction of the rest of the site’s features - including a stone replica farmhouse, great hall, courtyard and cottage - began in 2001, designed to showcase Ireland’s historical past and the lives of those who lived during it. The Great Hall was the first building constructed, and used stones imported from County Clare, Ireland for its detailing.

After years of deliberation, planning and fundraising, the Irish Cultural Center officially and ceremoniously opened in March 2002, coinciding with St. Patrick’s Day, with the unveiling of the An Halla Mór, aka The Great Hall. The opening ceremony saw many key figures in attendance, including the Mayor of Ennis, but did not include Councilman Adams, who died just a year before in 2001.

The replica cottage, planned since the Center’s inception, was eventually completed in 2004, built as a model of an 1850s Irish cottage, complete with furnishings and built from stone sourced from Ireland. Original plans for the cottage included an authentic thatch roof and dirt flooring, which was quickly rejected by the City of Phoenix due to fire and safety hazards. The standing cottage sports authentic furnishings, opening a portal to a distant historical past and providing an ‘authentic’ experience.

In 2012, the McClellan Library opened as the newest edition to the Irish Cultural Center campus, a hub for research in Irish culture and genealogy. Designed after a twelfth-century Norman castle, the McClellan Library, named after beneficiaries and late former Shamrock Foods owners Frances and Norman McClelland, hosts a vast collection which spans over 8,000 books and research materials, and includes a genealogical research facility, allowing visitors of Irish ancestry to become more aligned with their European heritage. The Library is the largest of its kind in the Western United States, and continues to host classes, festivals and events meant to spread knowledge and appreciation of Irish culture and heritage. The Library also permanently hosts an exhibition on the Book of Kells, a Latin manuscript dating from the 8th-9th century containing four gospels of the New Testament, designed to emphasize and promote learning of Ireland’s Catholic roots.

In 2019, the Center hosted the International Famine Commemoration, an annual event remembering and honoring those lost during the Great Famine, becoming one of the only American cities to host the event behind New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. The event also sought to recognize the Irish Cultural Center itself and the emigration of millions of Irish to the American West during and after the Famine.

Currently, the Irish Cultural Center accepts tours and walkthroughs of its campus, library and exhibitions. Standing on the exquisitely modern Central Avenue and Portland Street, the stone-laden Cultural Center stands out as a relic of a historical ethnic past, as well as a product of postwar American celebration of Irish heritage and migration, and a testament to the strong will of Councilman Adams.

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Following the first few decades of its postwar boom, many residents felt Phoenix lacked a distinct sense of urban soul, describing the growing metropolis as “a collection of neighborhoods in search of a city,” an issue which grew more apparent as more people flocked to the Valley. As residents and city officials began to ponder where the heart and soul of the city and its community would lie, an unlikely result emerged: a grand parkspace in the Downtown region akin to New York City’s Central Park, born from an unlikely and seemingly unrelated source: traffic.

Hance Park was the byproduct of the creation of the Papago Freeway and the fractured community that came as a result of the Freeway’s construction. As Phoenix grew in population into the 1950s through the 1970s, traffic grew to be a major issue in the metropolis. Cars lined Phoenix’s streets and roads were backed up for miles; a venture across the city could take up to an hour in better traffic conditions. As conditions worsened, more plans arose for a freeway to be built through the heart of Phoenix to relieve congestion, which would become the Papago Freeway.

While the Freeway was meant to ease tension on surface roads, its creation only heated up tension within the city. The Freeway was planned to be built along existing neighborhoods in the heart of Downtown Phoenix, which would need to be demolished and their residents displaced. The Freeway’s planned construction path required the demolition of over 1,000 established homes and relocation of 3,000 residents. The Freeway also split Downtown Phoenix into two sections: North and South, which was already separated in terms of race due to housing discrimination protocols during the 1950s and 60s. Meant to bring Phoenix together, the Freeway seemingly served to divide the city further.

Alongside the Freeway, Hance Park (originally named Deck Park) was decided to be built atop its surface. The purpose of the park was multifunctional. Not only would the Park provide functionality to the layer of concrete keeping the underground freeway system in place, it would also provide new community grounds. Original plans for the Park included an amphitheatre, a community arts center, and multiple areas for children and adults alike to relax, creating a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of inner-city life, whilst providing a space for artistic and cultural endeavors to flourish.

Centered in the heart of Downtown, the Park was positioned to become the heart and soul of Phoenix’s urban jungle. In conjunction with the nearby arts and cultural district, the Park was in a prime location to serve as a space for the community to come together and share ideas, art and fun. Hopeful of the Park’s future and communal outreach, many supporters of the park began drawing comparisons to New York City’s Central Park. The Park also served as a way to heal the metaphorical scars afflicted by the Phoenix community caused by the Freeway’s construction, replacing the demolished neighborhoods with a new vibrant park space meant to build and foster a new sense of community.

The Papago Freeway officially opened in August 1990, and its accompanying Park began construction shortly after in January 1991. After construction began, the then-named Deck Park was honorably and posthumously named after former Phoenix mayor Maragret T. Hance, the city’s first female mayor, and former chairwoman of the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board. The renaming of the Park, similarly to the creation of the Park itself, quickly became the center of controversy, as Mayor Hance was a prominent voice in the creation of the Freeway and displacement of the residents in the path of its construction.

Hance Park officially opened in April 1992 to much celebration, but to an equal amount of dismay and uncertainty of the Park’s future. While the city had high hopes for the Park, it did little to capture the hearts and attention of the desert-city dwellers. The space remained primarily empty during its first few years, devoid of life and excitement. Within the next decade, the City of Phoenix began construction on various projects on park grounds meant to expand and bring life to the Park. Built within park grounds were the Burton Barr Central Library, Community Arts Center, Japanese Friendship Garden (Ro Ho En), and the Irish Cultural Center. Both the Friendship Garden and Cultural Center were products of joint efforts between the City of Phoenix and its Sister Cities (Himeji, Japan and Ennis, Ireland) to establish connections between the two distant regions and promote a mutual understanding of international support.

With the changes to the Park’s surroundings came a new symbolic image for the Park itself as the heart of the metropolis. The city hoped that by building businesses that housed arts and culture on park grounds, it would give the Park, and the Downtown area itself, a new image as a vibrant, artistic and modern metropolis of international decree (akin to New York or Los Angeles). Hance Park soon after formatted itself as an unofficial celebratory host site of the Phoenix Sister Cities initiative, commemorating Phoenix’s relationship with its Sister Cities. Besides the Garden and Cultural Center, the Park also serves as the home of a golden statue of two pandas (titled Maternal Love) gifted by the city of Chengdu, China - Phoenix’s fourth Sister City - symbolizing the connection and mutual friendship between the two cities, a statue that remains to date. Also on Park grounds existed a collection of the different flags of each country of Phoenix’s various Sister Cities, though currently down for the Park's reconstruction.

While the centers around the Park garnered new attention and excitement, the Park itself did not, and remained stagnant in a similar status of limbo as it had remained in during its first few years of existence. Serving primarily as a temporary event space and the grounds of a widening population of people experiencing homelessness, the Park was not yet the center of urban sprawl and the heart of Phoenix’s urban identity it was imagined to be in its inception. The coming of the 2010s brought new changes to Hance Park, with the founding of the non-profit Hance Park Conservancy, which was tasked with maintaining and facilitating the Park’s expansion in accordance with the city’s developing plans for the space.

Plans regarding the new face and symbolic image of the Park remained in a consistent buffer zone of deliberation and reformation, due to cost concerns and conflicting ideas of the park’s aesthetic. After the Parks and Recreation Board passed the original reformation plan for the Park in 2014, and made adjustments in 2016, the City of Phoenix finally revealed an updated $100 million Hance Park Revitalization Plan in 2019, paving the way for the Park’s anticipated and tribulated extension. Broken into phases, the revitalization plan mapped out the expansion of the park grounds with the creation of a cafe space, playground, community garden and amphitheater stage meant to entice visitors and finally harbor Phoenix’s urban cultural identity.

The first phase of construction began and was completed during 2020, with the addition of a playground and fountain area named Fiesta Bowl PLAY at Hance Park, marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Fiesta Bowl. The next phases of construction are currently being prepared for implementation, for which updates are provided by the city. The Park’s overall construction remains unslated for a proper date of completion. Only time will tell if the Park will grow into the true heart of Downtown Phoenix’s growing and increasingly-diverse urban community as it was planned to be thirty years ago.

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C.P. Stephens DeSoto Six Motor Building was one of the longest operating dealers on Phoenix’s automotive row. Construction was finished on C.P. Stephens’ building in 1928, the same year that the DeSoto brand was created, and the same year Stephens opened his DeSoto dealership. Stephens’ dealership was one of the more successful automotive dealerships along auto row as it operated in the same location for more than 25 years and was one of the last dealerships to operate on Phoenix’s auto row before relocating to be closer to its customer base.

Stephens’ success with his auto dealership in downtown Phoenix’s auto row was not only due to the popularity of the DeSoto brand just in Arizona but around the country as a whole. DeSoto broke sales records in its first year of production, a contributing factor to the success of Stephens’ dealership was also in part due to his used car lot which was located a few blocks away from his auto row DeSoto dealership. In 1929, supply exceeded demand for new automobiles, which allowed for the rise around the country for used car dealerships to be increasingly popular as “dealers were handling more used than new cars.” Stephens took out ads in newspapers almost daily to promote the newest and best vehicles DeSoto and Plymouth had to offer. However, Stephens mainly took out ads to promote his used car business which offered all brands of automobiles for increasingly affordable prices. Stephens even offered vehicles for as low as $150 in 1930 at his “big downtown used car lot,” today that $150 would be worth only $2,000, showing just how attainable a vehicle is to the lower-middle-class residents of Phoenix from his used car lot.

The DeSoto brand was created by its parent company Chrysler in 1928, which was near the same time that Chrysler purchased their former rival, Dodge Brothers. The DeSoto brand was created to fill a gap between the low-end Dodge vehicles and the high-end Chrysler vehicles. In 1929 the new DeSoto model sold for $845 and set a new automobile inaugural year model sales record, selling more than 80,000 vehicles in the United States--a figure that would not be beat until 1960 when the Ford Falcon sold over 85,000 units. The DeSoto brand became increasingly popular not only in Arizona but throughout the U.S. as time went on. In 1928 it was ranked the 15th most sold automotive brand in the U.S., by 1929 it had surpassed automotive giants such as Hudson and was ranked number 12 most sold automotive brand. During the 1930s, the DeSoto brand was at a high of 9th most sold vehicles and a low of 14th.

Throughout the prewar period, DeSoto was praised as being an affordable, reliable and a relatively inexpensive option with the amenities of a high-end automobile. Its new “Airflow” design in the mid-30s inspired European automotive brands such as Volvo, Peugeot, Volkswagen and even Japanese Toyoda, now known as Toyota. Such influential design cues were its aerodynamic front end, rounded body-style and spacious interior. The DeSoto Airflow was first shown at the Chrysler pavilion at the Chicago World’s Fair. It was seen as one of the most beautiful designs of an affordable American vehicle. Unfortunately sales did not reflect this, with only 13,940 units sold during its initial year. DeSoto was the perfect brand of automobile for the Phoenix area as it was a modern designed vehicle, affordable to the middle-class yet offered a greater sense of luxury than its competitors.

The Second World War drew military operations, personnel, and contractors to the Phoenix area, Stephens used this opportunity to buy and sell autos to these servicemen and contractors that flooded the region. He put out advertisements in newspapers such as the Arizona Republic offering incentives to his new customer base with tailored promotions like his “WAR Transportation Sale” at the beginning of the war. With incentives such as “If you plan on leaving soon, we will buy your car at top price and permit you to use the car until you leave” by the end of the war. These sales tactics were very successful for the dealership, and those that could not afford a new DeSoto would be referred to his used car lot just a few blocks away. By the 1950s, both the DeSoto brand and Stephens’ dealership were still booming in sales, yet increased diversification and poor management within the Chrysler company caused the death of the DeSoto brand in 1960 as Chrysler could not economically justify updating the brand.

Stephens’ success was in part due to the popularity of the DeSoto brand in Arizona, and in part due to his own business tactics of good and persistent advertising to his customer base, being middle- and lower-middle-class Phoenicians. Stephens eventually moved his dealership to Van Buren Avenue in Phoenix in 1954, following the trend of other dealerships that attempted to once again be closer to their customer base as they were in the early years of Phoenix’s automotive row. What was known as auto row in downtown Phoenix is now simply Central Avenue; it is home to the Phoenix Central Library, civic spaces, and modern art-inspired bars and restaurants. The DeSoto Building remained an auto-related building until 1975 when it became an antique store then remained vacant for a number of years until it became a hip marketplace. It is now under renovation to become a bar and set to open by the end of 2019 according to the owner of the property.

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The A.E. England Motorcar building was an automotive dealership constructed in 1926, situated along Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix - what would become known as 'auto row.' A.E. England constructed the building to be his Phoenix dealership for the Hudson-Essex brands. These Hudson and Essex brands were very popular throughout the U.S. in the 1910s-20s, especially in Phoenix and surrounding areas where there were wealthy entrepreneurs seemingly flooding the region in the first part of the twentieth century.

The rise of the automobile in Phoenix and America occurred in the latter half of the 1910s as more automotive brands became not only available but more affordable and attractive to upper, middle, and lower-middle class Americans. The rise in the popularity and use of the automobile in Phoenix was in part due to the financial success of the region, as well as improvements such as paved roads through the implementation of the 1916 Federal Aid Road Act which allocated federal funds to support road building projects. Phoenix had a rise in wealthy businessmen that came to the area during the period before the First World War through the early 1920s. “Auto production increased from about 4,000 vehicles in 1900 to over 1.9 million in 1920” which shows the vast market that was available and brought dealers such as A.E. England to supply the tremendous demand. In Maricopa County alone, there was an increase in auto registration from 1925-1930 of 15,767 automobiles. Agriculture in Phoenix was booming as there was an intense need for foodstuffs in Europe due to the devastation of the First World War, and companies such as Goodyear would flourish from both European and federal contracts to aid the war effort and supply goods after the war, which helped supply the region with wealthy entrepreneurs. The rise in wealth in America helped to spur auto culture. Arizona became known for its dramatic and picturesque landscape which attracted automotive tourists and helped to increase demand for automobiles within Arizona.

A.E. England Motorcars opened the Hudson-Essex automobile dealership for business the night of July 30th, 1926 with a party-like atmosphere according to the Arizona Republic. Mr. England paid $75,000 for the lot and the construction of the building; today that would cost around $1.06 million. The company sold Hudson and Essex automobiles, which were popular mid to high-end luxury vehicles, the Essex brand being the mid-priced option and Hudson being the high-end option. At the time when A.E. England opened his auto row location, the Hudson-Essex models started at $660 for the lowest priced Essex and up to $1,165 for the Hudson, while the Ford model T range only cost $260 for the lowest priced option and $660 for the top of the line option. Hudson-Essex outsold all competitors in Arizona during 1928 with 877 new vehicles being registered in Arizona that year. This shows not only the popularity of the Hudson-Essex brands in Phoenix in the 1920s, but also the tremendous wealth that had accumulated in the area to support such sales over less expensive auto brands.

By the time A.E. England Motorcar building was constructed and went into business in 1926, the automobile market in the U.S. was nearing its pre-war peak. Supply for autos in the U.S. began to surpass demand by the late '20s. As a result, more and more dealerships began buying and selling used automobiles to stay afloat during the economically tumultuous times of the Depression. Although Arizona was relatively unaffected by the Depression compared to the rest of the U.S., England’s dealership announced on the 19th of October, 1930 that it would no longer operate. In the Phoenix-based newspaper, The Arizona Republican, England announced that he “sold [his] entire stock of Brand New Hudson and Essex Automobiles to J.A. Herzog, who takes possession immediately. This closes out [his] stock of these cars.”

A.E. England's endeavor lasted only four years, yet the impact of his Hudson-Essex dealership was noticed throughout Phoenix and Arizona as the brand’s success was nearly unmatched in the late 1920s thanks to A.E. England’s dealership building. The success of this dealership in Arizona was in part due to the wealth that flowed through the region in the early twentieth century, and in part due to the widespread popularity of the brand and its messaging of such popularity. Presently (in 2019) Arizona State University owns the A.E. England building and uses it as a civic space for meetings, classes, art events, and banquets.

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The 1898 Queen Anne-style theater, located at 300 West Washington Street in Downtown Phoenix, was originally constructed by architect S. E. Patton for nearly $35,000 (nearly $1 million today) and boasted conical towers, 20 bay windows, accommodations for 1,200, and the largest known state on the west coast.

A critic wrote of their preview of the theater in 1898, “The prevailing tint throughout is a delicate pale green, and when lighted by 384 brilliant electric lights, the scene is one of vast and unlimited confusion, until one becomes reconciled, when the beautiful frescoes that so profusely embellish the walls and ceiling stand out as clear as if in relief. Elaborate greenish portieres form the background of the loges, while the handsome gilded Chinese curtains that drape the windows yield the finishing touch to this Parisian palace of Phoenix.”

On December 16, 1899, Patton’s Grand Theater managed to make headlines across the country. During a production of Don Caesar, the chorus, armed with muskets and supposed black cartridges, found themselves shooting small missiles intended for target practice into the cast. The shooting severely injured actor Paul Gilmore, who took six shots, and actor Lewis Monroe died of wound complications. “The Great Gilmore Massacre,” as the event was ultimately named, left many wondering if Gilmore’s theater troupe was jinxed. Just a few days later, actress Kathrine Kidder fainted on stage due to extreme exhaustion, severely hitting her head on the stage floor.

Nearly two weeks after the Great Gilmore Massacre and 14 months after its opening, S. E. Patton sold the theater to E. M. Dorris and renamed the Dorris Opera House. Over time, however, the term “opera house” was exchanged for “theater”, as the building was never truly constructed for operatic concerts. Many of the first Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association meetings were held within the Dorris Theatre from 1899 to 1901, forming what is now known as the Salt River Project. By the early 1910s, the theater renamed itself once again as the Elks Theatre, hosting Elks club meetings upstairs, and varying performances downstairs, including the play the Pirates of Penzance, bandleader John Phillip Sousa in 1915, and even D. W. Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation. Come the Great Depression, the theater took on the name the Apache, and by the 1950s, again renamed itself as the Phoenix Theater and served as a movie theater until 1965.

By 1984, the twin conical towers iconic to the theater had disappeared, and many of the bay windows had been bricked in. The atypical pink plaster was a remnant of the past, cracking off with each passing day. Inside, little remained of the then state-of-the-art seating, and the glamorous frescos on the ceiling were instead covered in political posters. At the time of its destruction in 1985, the Dorris Opera House served as a municipal annex for city clerk election materials rather than a theatrical paradise. Many parties attempted to preserve the theater over the years to no avail, including Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard. However, the cost to restore the historic building—estimated at over $1 million—proved to be too steep for Arizona preservationists. Director of the Central Phoenix Redevelopment Agency Jim Forsberg stated in 1984 that if any buildings were to be redeveloped in the Downtown Phoenix area, the Palace West—now known as the Orpheum—was significantly more suitable.

Today, in place of the once great Patton’s Grand Theater, stands the Phoenix Municipal Court: one of the top ten busiest municipal courts in the United States. While the architectural significance of the 19th-century style theater is now lost to photographs and distant memories, the Orpheum, built just 30 years after Patton’s, remains on Adams Street, preserving some memory of early Phoenix theatrical history.

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Finished in 1930, the U.S. Post Office in downtown Phoenix was built by private architects who designed typical federal buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. The art that is found inside the building is quite unique. The murals reflect the economic and social downturn of the depression and represent the social realist art movement of the 1930s and 40s.

Social Realism was an art movement that depicted working class citizens and the poor. It is supposed to be a critical view of life. A famous social realism piece can be found in the Kansas State Capital in Topeka called "Tragic Prelude." The painting is of John Brown rising to the top during the Bleeding Kansas conflict. Bleeding Kansas was a hot conflict just prior to the American Civil War. Another notable example is the painting "American Gothic" painted by Grand Wood which depicts a farming couple holding a pitchfork and sport sour faces.

The post office has been in use since 1936 and is much smaller than originally planned because of lack of funds during the depression. It was supposed to have two more stories and have been finished several years prior, but politics and slow government process during the Depression halted those dreams.

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The Maricopa County Courthouse and Phoenix City Hall stand on the same plot of land as the original courthouse, which was built in 1884. For more than 40 years, the original courthouse stood out as an architectural landmark in a city that was dominated at the turn of the nineteenth century by largely non-descriptive low-rise frame buildings.

The original 1884 courthouse was built using adobe brick and constructions methods, as was common at the time. Prior to air conditioning, adobe bricks, often made on-site, worked to cool buildings by spreading heat away from the buildings core. The original courthouse also had a clock tower, as did many nineteenth-century municipal buildings, to serve as a master clock for transportation systems--in this case Phoenix's early trolley system. 

As Phoenix boomed in the 1920s, civic leaders, including the judges who worked at the courthouse, questioned whether the courthouse was adequate to the many demands placed on it, including court functions, administrative offices, and a jail. In 1927, Maricopa County Voters endorsed constructing a new, more modern courthouse, and demolishing the original.  At the same time the City of Phoenix was busy planning its ambitious future, and sought a new City Hall as well. As a result of the vote, the City and County were able to merge their respective administrative apparatus into a single building the covered an entire block--along Washington Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. The Maricopa County Courthouse and Phoenix City Hall opened in 1929.

The Maricopa County Courthouse gained national notice in 1963 with the criminal trial of Ernesto Miranda. His legal case against the State of Arizona progressed to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1966. The Miranda Rights law regarding self-incrimination arose as a result of this Supreme Court verdict. The Maricopa County Courthouse received its entry in the National Registry of Historic Sites in 1988 due to the magnitude of this court case.

edited 11/15/2019: mtt

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The site for Phoenix Union High School was surveyed in 1897 to build a high school. Once complete, the complex served the community in more ways than education. For 40 years, it was the educational, cultural, theatrical, civic, and athletic center of Phoenix. Community events were held in the complex, including performances, meetings, and celebrations. Additional structures for education were built in 1912. At the time, the buildings were progressive and state-of-the-art. Each department was set in a different building to create a core campus. This style of campus with a central core was only found in California high schools at the time. The new buildings created a well-ventilated campus with lots of light and pure water.

An auditorium was built in the center of campus for both the students and the community. Phoenix Union High School's improvement fits into a large movement that swept the United States between 1910 and 1940 known as the 'high school movement.' Secondary education rose and was open to all to provide life skills and not just skills for college. The increase in secondary education also led to the rise in women in the labor force and, eventually, more rights.

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The Orpheum Theatre opened in 1927 when the movie industry took the nation by storm. It was built as a large, expensive, and ornate theater to showcase productions and provide high culture to the valley. The theater was built to house a variety of entertainment, such as, plays, movies, and vaudeville.

Vaudeville was a popular theatrical genre during the Gilded Age in the US (roughly 1865-1918). It was a conglomerate of different themed entertainments, similar to carnival or circus shows and sideshows. Typical performances included comedians, magicians, acrobats, jugglers, musicians, animal trainers, freak shows, dancers, and many more.

Harry Nace, who also owned Phoenix Municipal Stadium, owned the theater until the 1940s when it was purchased by Paramount Pictures and renamed “The Paramount.” They owned it for roughly 20 years and it was then bought in the 1960s and renamed “Palace West.” It became a stop on the Broadway circuit for 10 years until it was leased to the Coronas, who transformed the theater into a Hispanic cultural center with events and movies. The City of Phoenix purchased the theater in 1984 and nominated it to the National Register of Historic Places.

The theater has been through extensive restoration and was successfully re-opened in January of 1997 after being closed for 12 years when the city bought the property.

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The railroad changed the West and the world in many different ways. In the mid 19th Century, the US expanded its rail lines west. The railroad made it much faster to travel across the American West.

Phoenix grew from railroad expansion. The city became the trade hub of Arizona, and the state capitol moved from Prescott to Phoenix.

The population and business growth demanded more hotels for visitors. A.D. Walsh built a hotel on the corner of 6th Avenue in Adams Street in downtown Phoenix to accommodate government officials and tourists visiting the valley. The hotel changed its name in 1925 and added a third story. It has since gone through a renovation in the 1950s and is no longer a hotel but a home for older adults.

The Hotel Windsor is one of several historic hotels in downtown Phoenix.

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The Hotel San Carlos was built in 1928 in the Renaissance Revival style. Renaissance Revival is also known as Neo-Renaissance and was popularized during the 19th century in Europe. During the early 20th century the style leaped across the pond to North America where it spread across the country. However, Neo-Renaissance style is seldom found in the desert.

Phoenix's economy boomed in the early 20th century. The growing agriculture industry that resulted from the Roosevelt Dam (built in 1911) gave rise to cotton, lettuce, and citrus farms that sold produce and goods all over the country. The popularity of the automobile allowed for easy travel and it expanded the tourism industry. San Carlos Hotel was financed by both the Dwight B. heard Company and Charles Harris. Dwight Heard played a major role in the development of Phoenix as a city through development programs and recruitment programs centered in Chicago.

San Carlos Hotel offered air conditioning before any other hotel in Phoenix. It also had steam heat in all rooms, ice water taps in every room, and a hand-operated elevator. The luxury hotel had many famous guests stay in its rooms. Some of the superstars included Mae West, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Marilyn Monroe and Gene Autry.

The hotel offered dining, dancing, and card rooms; all which added to the social draw of downtown Phoenix. Rumor has it that ghosts roam the halls of the hotel that offer a more chilling history of past guests.

Continuously operated as a hotel since its opening in 1928, the San Carlos has undergone periods of restoration and new management. Added as an Arizona State Historic Landmark in 1977 and listed in the National Register for Historic places in 1983, the San Carlos continues to pamper visitors to downtown Phoenix.

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Located in downtown Phoenix, the Arizona State Capitol draws on several architectural styles, including federal and classical elements. Its symmetry, windows, roofline, and center entrance call forth architecture from the so-called Federal era of the 1780s through the 1930s. The dome and column reflect classical stylings of ancient Greece and Rome. The materials for the building are largely indigenous to the region, including locally-sourced copper and granite.

Completed in 1901, the State Capitol served as the center for territorial government before statehood. In 1912, the building then became the main hub of state government for many years until the State Legislature moved to an adjacent building in 1960 and the Governor's Office relocated in 1974. In 1978, the Capitol was opened as a museum with the inauguration of Governor Bruce Babbitt.

Lack of funding shaped the development of the Capitol building. The original plans called for making the it a replica of the US Capitol building in Washington DC. The territory planned for an elaborate dome and a larger footprint. The cost of constructing an extensive dome exceed the budget of the territory, so the territorial government commissioned a smaller copper dome instead. The plans changed several times before the building was finally completed.

Curiously, the Arizona State Capitol is the only state capitol that lacks a cornerstone. Cornerstones are usually the first stone set in construction of a building's foundation. The cornerstone is typically a symbolic masonry stone that stands out from the rest of the building. This ceremonial stone is largely a Judeo-Christian tradition that traces its roots back to the Old Testament.

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Construction of the hotel was announced in spring 1927 under the originally planned name, Roosevelt Hotel. The project was financed by Sutherlin-Barry & Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, for owner G. L. Johnson of Chicago, Illinois. The architectural team that designed the hotel was Fisher, Lake, and Traver, who had also designed the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California a few years before. The hotel was to be operated by Johnson's Pacific Hotel Company.

Work came to a halt in early 1928 with only 6-stories completed. In April, J. B. McNeil Company of Los Angeles, California, was awarded a contract to complete the hotel. In September 1928, Charles V. Bob of New York City purchased all issued and outstanding shares of the Pacific Hotel Company from G. L. Johnson, complete financing of the hotel was transferred to Bob, including construction, furnishings, and equipment. August Heckscher loaned $275,000 to Bob prior to the purchase, in return for the loan, Bob pledged 10,000 shares of Pacific Hotel Company to Heckscher. Following the transfer of ownership, the hotel's future name was changed from Roosevelt to Westward Ho.

On September 20, 1928, Southwestern Supply Company of Phoenix was awarded a $100,000 contract for the heating and air-conditioning of Western Ho. The hotel officially opened its doors on December 15, 1928. The 240 ft (73 m) steel tower and 40 ft (12 m) antenna on top of the building were erected in 1949 to broadcast Phoenix's first television station, KPHO-TV. In 1960, KPHO moved to its new transmitter on South Mountain, the antenna on Westward Ho now functions as a cell tower. In 1982, the National Register of Historic Places recognized the Westward Ho as a historic building. In 2003, the building was acquired by the Phoenix Preservation Partnership, a Rhode Island-based group of investors.

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