Peoria & Beyond

Curated by William Bercu, Ph.D. and the Peoria Historical Society

As communities formed in Southern Arizona, the Railroads were the key to growth and prosperity. The Wickenburg Road, Vulture Road, or what is better known as Grand Avenue paralleled the railroad tracks of the Santa, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad. The tracks led from Phoenix, Alhambra, Glendale, and Peoria and further West. Additional stops included Hesperia, Marinette, Beardsley on up to Wickenburg. A spur enable travelers to continue North to connect with transcontinental lines.

"Old" Waddell Dam (Lake Pleasant, Arizona)

By 1925, a group of local farmers headed up by William Beardsley to build Lake Pleasant Dam. Finding investors, mostly in New York, they raised over three million dollars to build a dam.Their intent was to control the flood of the Agua Fria River…

Castle Hot Springs

Castle Hot Springs has been a site of healing and recreation dating to at least the fifteenth century. Advertisements hailed the waters' curative powers, which drew numerous local and national visitors to the “grand dowager” of Arizona…

Marinette, Arizona

Marinette is a ghost town in Maricopa County Arizona. It was located just northwest of Peoria Arizona, along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The site was promoted in the early 20th century for production of citrus fruit, apricots, olives,…

A Cotton Growing Community

The original pioneers settled in the area around the current city of Peoria in about 1886. Settlers started planting a variety of plants to see what would grow best. Additionally, early farmers raised horses and cattle, sheep, hogs, and grew grains…

Beardsley Arizona

Beardsley originated around a railroad station that honored Will H. Beardsley. Beardsley began developing an irrigation project in the 1880's. For years it served as a sheep shearing point on the Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railroad.…

Riding the Rails in Peoria

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…