History of the Coronado Neighborhood

The Coronado Neighborhood has been an integral part of midtown Phoenix since the 1920s, and still boasts over 4,000 residences today.

The Coronado Neighborhood is in midtown Phoenix and covers 1-3/4 square miles or just under 1200 acres. The neighborhood contains a variety of architectural styles, including Craftsman bungalows, Period Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Art Moderne, and Ranch homes. It originated in the 1920s and was Phoenix's first planned and mass-produced subdivision.

Residential development began in the Coronado area during the 1920s. The City of Phoenix began building schools and other amenities to encourage families to move into the area. A trolley line was built along 10th Street, and in 1921, Emerson Elementary School was built. The City started to pave roads and sidewalks, which, due to tax increases, was initially met with resistance. However, residents quickly realized that the paved roads helped keep the dirt and dust out of their homes and embraced the changes.

Unfortunately, the road updates stopped during the Depression. Still, the WPA helped solve this problem when they finished the project from 1938-1942. After World War II, the construction of homes in this area significantly increased. Developers constructed forty percent of the neighborhood by 1940 and another 56 percent between 1940 and 1959. Both white- and blue-collar workers began moving into the Coronado area.

However, the neighborhood began to decline due to the age and deterioration of the homes in this area and the suburbanization of Phoenix during the 1950s and 60s. Coronado shrank from 16th Street to 14th Street. The construction of businesses and schools along 16th Street led to multiple houses being torn down to make room. Also, during the 1970s and 80s, the Coronado Neighborhood's resident population declined by fifteen percent due to the removal of homes to build a parking lot for a medical office.

In 1981, residents of Coronado neighborhood submitted a Special Conservation District plan to the City of Phoenix. This plan outlined steps the residents wanted to take in order to preserve the feeling of the neighborhood while allowing for growth and revitalization. Today, the Coronado Neighborhood has around four thousand homes, many of which fall within the Phoenix Historic Preservation Zoning Guidelines. The neighborhood has a strong community association that sponsors a historic home tour each year that highlights the rich history of the neighborhood.

Location

Metadata