The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the subsequent Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, set in motion a long process of transformation as it ceded much of the land that would become the United States' American Southwest. Many “aspiring landowners” knew of the fresh land and acts such as the Gadsden Purchase further pushing such development. Among the groups who staked a claim in the territory were Mexican settlers (who migrated both before and after the war) making the Southwest, and Arizona, their own.

In the years following the Mexican-American War, and oddly enough just before the end of the Mexican-American War, there were very little to no Hispanic peoples recorded in Arizona. Within just 10 years, however, the number jumped from almost nothing to nearly 7,500 people. The Hispanic portion of Arizona grew to nearly 60 percent of the entire population. Not surprisingly then, the earliest settlers of what would become Tempe were Hispanic and inhabited what would become known as the San Pablo neighborhood, located at the base of what has become known as Hayden Butte.

Originally founded by Yaqui and other Native American Tribes (as well as the emerging Hispanic population), San Pablo soon became a large center for Hispanic influence and culture in Tempe. The people that moved into Tempe not only helped to bring the city its new culture and history, but they were also able to help build it up from its roots. Some helped to build the railroad system as well as other features of the local infrastructure, such as the canals and road system.

It was in this context that one of the town’s early leaders, Cresencio "Chris" Sigala, arrived in Tempe and left his mark not only on the city but also on the state. Born in Sonora Mexico, Sigala made his way to the Tempe area in 1874 and settled in the San Pablo region, although precisely where he lived is hard to nail down; most likely he lived on the fringes of the settlement.

Roughly two decades after migrating, Sigala joined the Arizona National Guard, serving from 1893 to 1896 as part of the C Company infantry regiment. After Sigala’s enlistment terminated, he left the guard until being recalled in 1903 because of a mine strike in Clifton-Morenci mines in Southern Arizona. The advent of the 8-hour day in the United States was a boon for workers, but the Longfellow Mining Company had reduced the workday from 10 to 8 hours but only paid the equivalent of 9 hours of work, meaning the mostly-Mexican labor force faced a ten percent pay cut. In the chaos that followed (including a torrential monsoon that led to significant flooding) the National Guard, as well as federal troops, were brought in to keep order.

The fact that Sigala commanded the C Company in which he had served all those years before (in a strike that was directed primarily against Mexican workers) reveals the complex position of Hispanics in the region. Mexican workers had gone on strike at Clifton-Morenci in an (ultimately failed) effort to obtain greater wages but were not supported in their protest by Anglo workers, revealing the underlying labor dynamics in the state. Even so, Hispanics maintained significant roles in many communities, as Sigala’s career emphasizes. Nonetheless, the role of Hispanics was becoming increasingly marginalized in an economy and society dominated by Anglos and discrimination.

Sigala was soon inaugurated as Tempe’s constable in 1904. Constables were local police officers who helped keep order although their role was less formal than modern-day police officers. Sigala’s duties included chasing down criminals, assisting the higher-ups, and performing various odd jobs in maintaining order. During his time as constable Sigala worked alongside other local notables, such as Carl Hayden whose father is often credited with forming the community and who later served as United States Senator for over 50 years. Although he was busy during these early years with being the Constable of Tempe, commitments like that did not impede his continued involvement with the National Guard. During 1910 Sigala continued to serve on the guard and even accompanied his men into a shooting competition in Ohio of that same year.

In the 1910s, Sigala helped to create the Liga Protectora Latina which was meant to protect the interests of Hispanics in the Southwest. Like other mutual aid societies of the period, the group itself was a protection and assistance agency that operated all over the greater southwest United States. It also protested segregation/discrimination in schools and in work places, a function necessitated by the growing discrimination against Hispanics as more and more white Americans migrated to Arizona.

Sigala died in 1937 after serving Tempe and the Southwest for much of his life. Unfortunately, Sigala’s contribution to that history gradually disappeared along with the Hispanic barrios where he had lived, which were lost to the expansion of Arizona State University in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as urban redevelopment of the 1970s. Even so, the roots of the effort to recover the stories of Hispanic Tempe and Sigala’s life were being laid in two important developments: the emergence of the Chicano Movement of the 1970s and the creation and professionalization of the Tempe History Museum in the 1980s. Curators at the Tempe History Museum have been at the forefront of recovering the story of Hispanic Tempe, featuring Sigala’s contributions prominently in exhibitions and collecting photographs and papers about his life. And, indeed, we see now how vital the Hispanic community (and leaders like Sigala) were to the development of Tempe and the state.

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The area in Tempe between College Avenue and Veterans Way, on the north side of University Drive, is currently home to several Arizona State University (ASU) buildings such as the Fulton Center, Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, as well as several popular restaurants. The triangular shaped area has also housed university students since the late 1950s. Residence halls, including Manzanita Hall, Palo Verde East and West, San Pablo, and most recently, Tooker House, are where ASU students currently call home. However, long ago a different group of people also called this area home. They were the descendants of Mexican pioneers who played an important role in establishing and developing Tempe. This area was their home for over seventy years called San Pablo.

By the mid-19th century, Hispanic settlers migrated north into central Arizona from Sonora and Tucson for economic opportunities. Political turmoil in Sonora and constant Apache raids on settlements in southern Arizona drove migrants North. At the same time, the influx of Anglo settlers created land disputes, as many long-time Hispanic landowners could not provide proof of land ownership and lost their lands. The lax system of property rights in Mexico was not suitable to the strict American legal system. As migrants made their way into the Salt River Valley, many of the Hispanic pioneers would settle south of the river, in the region that would become Tempe. Natives to the southwestern region, Mexican settlers brought with them extensive knowledge of adobe building techniques, canal building, and irrigation farming; they became essential to the growth of the Salt River Valley.

The names William H. Kirkland, Winchester Miller, and Charles Trumbull Hayden are now famously associated with Tempe’s early history. However, many Hispanic families also played an important role in the founding and development of Tempe, though that story has not been well told. The Sotelo, Soza, and Gonzales families provided the knowledge and labor that created the community. Hispanic workers helped to build canals in Tempe, such as the Kirkland-McKinney Ditch and the San Francisco Canal. They also built Hayden’s flour mill and ferry. Hispanic families owned large acres of land west and east of the mill and became influential leaders in the region. The Sotelo family provided financial assistance to help start the Tempe Normal School, which would become Arizona State University. In 1872, Hispanic laborers joined together in an effort to form a new settlement. With the help of William H. Kirkland, who donated 80 acres of his land, Mexican families had a place they could call home, named San Pablo. The Arizona Citizen reported:

The Tempe people, not satisfied with Hayden’s Ferry, have laid out a new town just alongside named San Pablo, and the proceeds of the sale of the town lots is to be devoted to the building of a Catholic church.

The Catholic church was dedicated on March 10, 1881 to Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Our Lady of Mount Carmel). The small adobe structure stood at the base of the butte overseeing San Pablo with a cemetery located nearby. The church was relocated in 1903 to the northwest corner of 8th Street and Willow Avenue (University Drive & College Avenue) to accommodate the growing population. Today, it is known as the All Saints Catholic Newman Center.

The character of San Pablo reflected the expertise of the Mexican community in building adobe structures. Using local materials--including the clay found on a lot--laborers formed adobe blocks, dried them in the sun, and used them to build homes and other buildings. Thick walls of adobe homes offered cooling in summer and provided insulation in the winter. As historian Scott Soliday has noted about the community: “Homes in San Pablo reflected the architecture of the Sonoran frontier–flat-roofed adobes with plain facades set right up to the street, with large enclosed yards in [the] back…In the summertime, ollas [pots] filled with cool drinking water were hung from porches, and residents bought wood for cooking from Indian peddlers that came to town.” The community also had an active economic life. Some of the businesses in the neighborhood included a general merchandise store owned by Jesus Alvarez, La Reforma Saloon owned by E. Barrogan, and the Soto and Salia’s grocery store. Other establishments were Old Jim Murphy’s general store and a saloon, owned by Jesus Perez, that served “Tanglefoot” whiskey and Mexican food. Likewise, the children of San Pablo and Anglo children attended classes together in Tempe’s first schoolhouse, an adobe building located on 8th Street (University) & Mill Avenue. Even so, the roots of segregation were being laid, San Pablo became known as “East Tempe” or “Mexican Town” to the Anglo community.

After more than three decades of cooperation with the region’s Hispanic communities, Tempe’s Anglo community began to implement segregation measures in the 1910s. This coincided with an increase in the Mexican population in Tempe following the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Racial discrimination and segregation in Tempe became pervasive. The old Eighth Street School, Tempe Beach Pool, movie theaters, and other public buildings became segregated facilities. Even the Tempe Fire Department was segregated, with only Company No. 1 handling fires in “Mexican Town.” San Pablo, along with other Hispanic neighborhoods grew isolated from the neighboring communities, becoming segregated “barrios.” During this period of rising segregation, San Pablo steadily grew in size and population as immigrants moved into the town. Also, many original landowning Hispanic families lost their lands as the result of structured racism and segregation. According to Jessica Bridges Robinson, “Many of the early Mexican homesteaders had their land claims stripped away or invalidated within years of moving to the area…they were often unable to defend their land and water rights, as very few San Pablo residents had access to the Anglo-run legal and political systems.” As these families were pushed out of their lands, they also moved to San Pablo. Hispanic leaders began to emerge to fight for their rights and against injustices. Groups such as Liga Protectora Latina and Alianza Hispano-Americana worked to protect the rights of the Mexican-American population.

Unfortunately, the first official Hispanic settlement in Tempe, San Pablo, disappeared due to the expansion of Arizona State University. In the post-war period, student enrollment increased and ASU expanded rapidly, crossing University Avenue. The university made plans to acquire property to build new student dormitories, as well as a new football stadium. Using the tools of urban renewal, ASU first devalued the properties in San Pablo by legally labeling them as condemned lands. Then ASU paid low prices to the residents of San Pablo to acquire their homes and land through eminent domain. After the first few properties were sold, ASU immediately began tearing down the homes. Mexican-Americans were pushed out from their homes and forced to move. Many San Pablo residents relocated to the La Victoria neighborhood. Even so, the loss was felt palpably by the community. Upon returning from military service and seeing the wreckage of his community for the first time, San Pablo resident, Joe Soto, said “[it] looked like a bomb had fallen and just wiped everything out...They say a lot of people were crying, a lot of people thought that they were getting cheated.” Another resident said, “it left us with a lost empty feeling in our hearts for our barrio was the land of our birth, our freedom and identity” The loss of San Pablo at the vibrant heart of Tempe also obscured the contributions that Mexican Americans had made to the region. Historians associated with the Chicano movement of the 1970s began to resuscitate that history and recently the Tempe History Museum has featured the story of San Pablo prominently in its exhibitions.

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The Victory Acres neighborhood of Tempe highlights the unique story of Mexican-American suburbanization. La Victoria, a tight-knit, predominantly Mexican American, community, emerged during the post-War growth of Tempe and the surrounding region. La Victoria is the story of the perseverance of Mexican Americans in the face of discrimination. The community also survived a highway being built next to it and its partial destruction. The families in this neighborhood played a vital role as the area underwent a change from “rural farmland to urban landscape.”

In 1945, following World War II, local farmers George and Mary Tishbraney decided to partition their eighty acres of farmland into individual plots and sell them to others. They named it “Victory” Acres because the term had become popular in the war effort. Over time, the neighborhood grew to become a mostly Mexican American neighborhood, or barrio. Many of the first families that moved to Victory Acres came after their homes in the old San Pablo neighborhood were destroyed so that the university could expand. But despite their challenges, the people are close and lifelong members of the community remember feeling safe and at home among their neighbors and friends. “Many long-time residents and their families continue to reside here. They are proud of their community and are surrounded by strong ties of memory and friendship.”

Victory Acres was the home of many World War II veterans and their families. The legacy of service to their country continued, and many who lived in Victory Acres went on to serve in the Vietnam War before returning back home to their neighborhood in Tempe. Many veterans, like Carlos Labastida who served in Vietnam, described how their memories of Victory Acres helped them get through the difficulties of the war. He said, “My memories would always come back to the Acres. I swore that if I ever came back alive that I would always walk the streets again. I would remember the Acres so fondly.” David Johnson, the owner of Watson’s Flower Shop in Victory Acres remembered Memorial Day as being one of the busiest days of the year for his family’s business. He described, “On Memorial Day here at the flower shop it would get very busy. Everybody from Victory Acres would come over and buy flowers for their departed relatives or for deceased fathers who had previously served in the military. We would spend all morning selling flowers.” This common characteristic of many of these families having military ties contributed to the deeper community connection.

Places such as Bill’s Market, formerly known as Kalil’s Market, are remembered by many as significant community gathering places. Bill’s Market is especially remembered for the kindness of its owner Mary Tishbraney. This store “provided more than a place to buy groceries,” because “the market owners gave poor residents credit, delivered groceries, sponsored local youth sports teams, and even lent money to people in need.” Other prominent places like St. Margarita’s Church, Tempe Beach, and other sites provided gathering places for the children and community as well. These and many other places served to help establish the very close and interconnected community that Victory Acres is known to be.

Over the years, Tempe became more and more developed. Victory Acres remained where it was while other small neighborhoods were lost in the modernization and redevelopment. The freeway was built right next to Victory Acres, destroying several of the houses, yet the community remained. More recently, the light rail was extended and now passes by Victory Acres as well, but again, the neighborhood stayed where it was. Victory Acres does not have the typical modern development story like the rest of Tempe. It was largely ignored for decades. Not until the mid-1980s did this neighborhood first receive street lighting and paved roads. Because the freeway somewhat isolated Victory Acres from the rest of Tempe, and also because it was a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood, it was not given priority in redevelopment projects and was often the last to receive improvements. Some residents, though they love Victory Acres and have no plans of leaving, expressed some anxieties for their children. They worry about the heavy traffic of the freeway and Price Road being so close, and about a lack of city and recreational facilities for their children’s use. So, although it has come a long way, Victory Acres is still waiting for further city development in certain areas of need.

Although it was not given priority for redevelopments, and much needed improvements took a long time to come to Victory Acres, residents are still grateful that the neighborhood has remained through it all. One man, Elias Esquer, who grew up and still resides in Victory Acres discussed the vitality of the community. “It’s a good model on how to develop a community without destroying it-without having to go in and buy everybody out and sell it to developers which is happening in a lot of cities, it destroys the culture of the neighborhood. La Victoria remains a very stable Hispanic community.” Victory Acres is unique in its resilience to last through the redevelopment of Tempe.

Victory Acres sprang up at the end of World War II and really developed into the neighborhood it is today during the post-war years. Following World War II, the housing economy was booming and there are many trends that are common to see in neighborhoods built in this time. Big companies came in and built houses quickly and so they were very similar in their architecture. Victory Acres houses share some similarities, such as a majority of them being single story and single family homes built by the individuals and families who bought the land. However, there is one significant way in which the Victory Acres neighborhood fit in with the general trend of the post-war suburbs, and that was in its “economic and racial homogeneity.” Many Mexican American families were relocated to Victory Acres when the San Pablo neighborhood was demolished to build up the university in Tempe. Although Victory Acres didn’t start out as a segregated neighborhood, it quickly became predominantly Mexican American and has largely remained that way throughout the years.

Victory Acres is an example of a neighborhood that became a close community and one that tells a unique story of redevelopment in Tempe. Whether through military service or through associations at local gathering places, through struggles and redevelopment, Victory Acres has grown over the years and remains a tight-knit community today.

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Many of the oldest remaining buildings constructed in the City of Scottsdale reside within the downtown area known to locals as “Old Town.” With a population of just over 2,000 residents, the city itself was incorporated in 1951. While several of the oldest structures remain and are represented within the 5 square miles which constituted this city at its inception, much of the development is far newer. Many of the newer constructions appear much older than they are, as they were designed with an Old Western aesthetic to match the city’s slogan: “[The] West’s Most Western Town”. The development within the area known as the Civic Center Mall is a prime example of this.

Adopting the slogan “West’s Most Western Town” reflected its roots and efforts to attract tourism, though the self-designated moniker has some historical basis. The earliest residents, arriving in 1888, were cattle ranchers. The community gradually grew and developed around a market constructed to aid with local agriculture and cattle drives. As with much of the American West, Scottsdale had a diverse population that included Mexican American migrants and settlers (some of whose presence may have predated the city's origins) and Native Americans (Yaqui Indians). Indeed, Mexican-American laborers performed much of that agricultural labor in Scottsdale and nearby towns, and Yaqui Indians served as water masters along the canals. The neighborhood stretched from Brown Avenue to the West to 75th Street to the East, and from Indian School to the North and 2nd Street to the South. The barrio was among the city's oldest neighborhoods.

As late as the 1960s, the city's Mexican-American barrio stood where the Civic Center Mall was constructed; it boasted a rich commercial and cultural life. All that remains to indicate those origins are the Little Red Schoolhouse (Scottsdale Historical Society), Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Los Olivos restaurant. However, the city razed the neighborhood using eminent domain federal urban renewal funds. The rationale was, of course, to create a city center and to replace a blighted neighborhood. However, the city also was engaged in relocating Mexican-American residents from the center of the town in much the same way that urban renewal efforts across Maricopa County, Arizona, and the United States used urban renewal to remake downtowns and disperse non-whites from those areas.

While some of this area remains untouched, much more changed. Major changes and construction began here in 1973. As part of a $5.2 million Neighborhood Redevelopment Program, the city acquired 18 acres of land, including the barrio, for the new construction. The new developments of the 1970’s were primarily commercial and oriented around building a public space at the heart of Scottsdale.

The City of Scottsdale originally budgeted only $400,000 for the construction, but a $7 million hotel, a $3 million performing arts center, 3 restaurants, and 55,000 square feet of retail shopping space known colloquially as a “mercado” replaced existing structures and homes. One of the architects spoke to the “critical need for [a] cultural meeting place” designed to represent the Old West but with a contemporary flair. Additionally, national Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds were used to develop modern residences in the immediately adjacent communities, now a white majority, in what would become one of the wealthiest cities in the state.

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Los Olivos Mexican Patio located in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale not only offers excellent and authentic Mexican food, it is also a classic American success story. Since its establishment the restaurant has always been family owned and operated. Los Olivos is a remnant of a mostly forgotten, but nonetheless significant, period of Scottsdale’s history. The restaurant is the only surviving business during the 1970’s redevelopment of the Scottsdale “barrio”. The Aztec figure atop the structure serves as a reminder of the local cultural roots. Some argue that the traditional home-style Mexican fare is not in keeping with the contemporary and trendy local competition, but the restaurants popularity and staying power suggests otherwise.

Los Olivos has existed in its current form since 1953, but its history predates the 1950’s. The Corral family, who owns and operates the establishment, moved to Scottsdale from Sonora, Mexico in 1919 to work as farm hands. After nearly a decade of hard work and savings the family was able to purchase two plots of land where the restaurant now resides. In 1928 they constructed something of a communal center for other nearby immigrant families. By 1946 it had evolved into a facility for dancing, meetings, and sharing a meal. Around this time, the three-room restaurant now known as Los Olivos Mexican Patio was added.

The family’s success with this first location led to additional locations throughout the valley. Over the years locations were added in Tempe, Phoenix, and North Scottsdale. These additions did not experience the same success as the original, and none lasted for any significant period of time. This might speak to a somewhat intangible quality possessed only by the original location that cannot be recreated. The original Los Olivos Mexican Patio is filled with a rich history built with the sweat and tears of a hardworking immigrant family. This is not something that can be merely reconstructed.

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Scottsdale, Arizona—and much of the American Southwest—would not be the same without its Mexican-Spanish heritage and culture. From its earliest days, Scottsdale enveloped a mélange of peoples and cultures, with Anglos coexisting alongside Pima and Apache peoples, Mexicans, and other adventurers who stumbled into the growing town. The cultural contours of Scottsdale owe a great debt to its Mexican settlers who added to the distinctive Southwestern flavor of the region. Indicative of their lasting imprint is Scottsdale’s first Catholic mission church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Built in 1933 on the corner of First Street and Brown Avenue, this old adobe mission was the culmination of years of Mexican community-building in the Scottsdale area. Years of political and social unrest in Mexico, particularly the years surrounding the Mexican Revolution of 1910, brought thousands of Mexicans across the border, seeking new opportunities and a better life. Halfway across the globe, the advent of World War I and the high demand for Arizona’s fine but strong, long-staple Pima cotton created a steady stream of cotton work. After 1916, newspapers like the Arizona Republican reported that Scottsdale’s cotton fields were attracting wagonloads of Mexican workers each day. Many workers eventually sent for their families and set down roots, bringing their language, culture, and customs along with them.

Mexicans were builders, and within a short time, a barrio of bright, colorful pink- and blue-hued homes shot up in the area between Main and Second Streets, east of Brown Avenue. Following the church-building impulse already started by congregants of a Baptist Church in 1918 and a Methodist Church in 1929, Scottsdale’s Catholic parishioners sought a permanent home in the late 1920s. Hispanic leaders wanted a church to bind their community together through shared Catholic beliefs and traditions. Key church organizers included the Corral family who followed the trail of cotton work from Sonora to Scottsdale over a decade earlier. Emilio Corral, with his English-speaking brother Jesus, supervised the construction of the adobe-brick edifice.

Today, this adobe church is a lasting symbol of Scottsdale’s early Mexican-American’s sense of cultural pride and identity. Our Lady of Perpetual Help embraced with open arms Scottsdale’s Mexican families, children, elders, workers, leaders, and friends to the Catholic faith. Its builders and early congregants may have left their homeland, but they held on to their culture and traditions, crafting their own niche in the American frontier town of Scottsdale.

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If you visit Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Miller Road, seek out the small chapel in the northwestern corner of the parish property. Within its walls rests Our Lady of Guadalupe, a statue of the Virgin Mary with deep connections to the church’s past, present, and future. Given to the church in 1945, the statue remained with the parish through its many growth spurts, travelling from the Old Adobe Mission to various places of honor on the Miller Road grounds, eventually settling in the small chapel.

The statue of Our Lady symbolizes many aspects of the Catholic faith: hope, devotion, and thanksgiving. Donated by local Scottsdale resident Guadalupe Dominguez at the end of World War II, the statue of the Virgin was born out of a mother’s hope for her son-in-law’s during the war and her gratitude when he returned home safely. Years later in 1953, church parishioners began a 13-year tradition of honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe with processions and an annual December pageant at Scottsdale High School. Behind the scenes, women worked on banners, costumes, props, and stage sets with Catholic pride and duty; young women performed in the pageant, one with the ultimate honor of representing Our Lady.

The gift of a mother, the statue also underlines the faith and work of women parishioners in Scottsdale’s Catholic community. Inspired by the values extolled by the Virgin Mary, women hold prominent places in Catholic culture as nuns, caregivers, teachers, and volunteers. The ladies of Our Lady of Perpetual Help are no exception: they played important roles in the leadership and fellowship activities of the parish since it began in 1933. After moving to Miller Road in the 1950s, the church operated a convent, established a women’s mission group, the Sodality of Our Lady, and founded a school with the help of the Sisters of Charity from Seton Hill, Pennsylvania.

Since February 1987, the statue in Our Lady’s chapel continues to be honored around the clock, each day of the year. From a mother’s prayer to pageants to perpetual adoration in her chapel, the statue of Our Lady is a constant reminder of women’s dedication and achievements within their Catholic faith community.

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