Riding the Rails in Peoria

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William J. Murphy, whose Arizona Improvement Co. had been instrumental in creating Grand Avenue in 1887, used his influence to get a spur line of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad to pass through Peoria.

Providing the railroad a right-of-way along Grand Avenue ensured a route beneficial to the community Murphy helped create. The line included new stations at Phoenix, Alhambra, Glendale, Glendale, Peoria, Marinette and Beardsley to Wickenburg.

Construction on the line began in 1891 and concluded in March 1895. It connected Phoenix to Prescott and to the east-west transcontinental line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's main line in Ashfork.