The history of the 59th Avenue Residential Historic District is key in understanding Arizona's own history.
The rise of Arizona and the 59th Avenue Residential Historic District in Glendale run within the same train station but on different tracks. The rise and stumbles of both state and street can be better looked at through a timeline rather than a picture. The homes built within the soil of the state hold with them the highs of a new state and the struggles of becoming a new state. The homes did not only hold a place for families and communities to grow but also the history of what the state went through to become what it is today.
The beginning of the 59th Avenue Residential Historic District was marked by Isaac Eyer planting the famous row of palm trees on his North Central Avenue property in 1895. However, the ground broke for 59th Avenue earlier in 1887, which was before Arizona was a state, when W.J. Murphy and other local pioneers knew they had something special. These men created the Arizona Improvement Company to provide water and land to settlers in Glendale, allowing for the area to become more livable. This development for settlement in Arizona, however, was only possible with the establishment of canals, like the Arizona Canal, and much like 59th Avenue, Arizona had help in its infancy to allow people to settle here. The Hohokam people used a vast number of complex water canals that birthed life into the Valley. This would be the ground work that was needed to allow people to settle within the desert. Just as the canals were important to Arizona’s future, they also played an integral part of 59th Avenue's history. Without the water south side of the Valley, it would have been a tremendously difficult time getting a reliable source of water.
The water that breathed life into the future of the state allowed for a rich soil to be used by cotton famers who first occupied the land that would become 59th Avenue. It was through the homes they built that gave way to the timeline of the state's history. From the first Bungalow style home built in 1923 to the last Ranch style home built in the 1950s, the homes told a story that reflected what Arizona went through to become what it is today. The early years of the state relied on cotton and cattle farming, so much so that at one point Arizona was home to the largest cattle purchase the West Coast had seen to drive most of the economic demand (The Copper Era. Page 1 Volume 9).
This was the aspect that, from the onset, enticed the farmers who settled on Lot 16 which later became 59th Avenue. This influx in settlement was short lived, however, as the Great Depression hit once settlers started to build homes; thus, the growth in population slid off during the late '20s and early '30s. This marked the rise of the Bungalow style home within these properties that, in a way, represent the lives of the residents. Bungalow style homes hit their peak in the late 1910s and went out of style by 1919. The odd part is how many were built within Arizona in the 1920s. Bungalow style homes were clean and simple, which was a turn away from the gaudy Victorian style in the late 1890s that reflected the people and the young state. Life in Arizona for cotton and cattle farmers at the time was simple until the Depression. The other style at the time was the Period Revival Homes that popped up during the mid-1920s. This reflected a scar that was left by WWI and the influences that Europe brought over.
Once the dust settled, the next boom in both state population and 59th Avenue population was in the 1950s. At this point, two major army bases had been placed within ten miles of the residents' homes. The Ranch style home would represent the start of a decline in home individuality, and with that, the individuality of Arizona went with it. Ranch style homes were the first step in what would lead to the cookie cutter homes, and it represented a time when Arizona jumped into the major city ranks. The layouts of the surrounding neighborhoods changed from there on out. The times reflected periods in Arizona that shaped both community and state.
The 59th Avenue Residential Historic District is notable for Eyer's line of palm trees that extended along the street for about one-third of the district's length. In a way, the palm trees resemble the entity of Arizona as they were present before the people, cars, and homes. With all the change that happened around the trees, they still hold roots in what 59th Avenue and Arizona were in the beginning, but they are still the defining factor in the face of the future.
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