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Phoenix Valley History After the first efforts to create an Arizona Territory from what was then the New Mexico Territory failed, the Civil War and concern for control of potential railroad routes to the riches of California brought approval for an Arizona Territory. Representative James H. Ashley of Ohio introduced the Arizona Organic Act in the House of Representatives in 1862. The act, approved in both houses of Congress, was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The vacant adobe homes had been silent for 400 years. The Valley waited patiently for a person with vision to arrive. In 1867, such a man appeared. In 1867, Jack Swilling of Wickenburg stopped to rest his horse at the foot of the north slopes of the White Tank Mountains. He looked down and across the expansive Salt River Valley and his eyes caught the rich gleam of the brown, dry soil turned up by the horse's hooves. He saw farm land, predominately free of rocks, and in a place beyond the reach of heavy frost or snow. All it needed was water.
Capt. Hancock was also a surveyor, and he made the first survey of the townsite and laid out the lots and the town. This first town of Phoenix was one mile long, a half-mile wide and contained 96 blocks. Washington Street was the main street and, on the early maps, showed to be 100 feet wide. The east and west streets were named after our presidents. Washington Street was placed in the middle and Adams, who was the second president, was given the first street to the north. Our third president, Jefferson, had the first street south of Washington named after him. And the pattern followed - one to the north and one to the south - until recent years. The north-south streets originally carried Indian names, but these were changed in favor of the more easily remembered numbers - with streets being to the east of Central Avenue and avenues to the west. The Prescott Miner carried the following advertisement on Dec. 7, 1870: "GREAT SALE OF LOTS AT The first effort resulted in the sale of 61 lots at an average price of $48 each. The first lot was purchased by Judge William Berry of Prescott. It was the southwest corner of First and Washington streets, and he paid the rather steep price of $116. The first store building to be erected in the new town was Hancock's Store, a general store opened in July 1871, by William Smith. The adobe structure was built on the northwest corner of First and Washington streets and served as the town hall, county offices and general meeting place of early Phoenix. Although various religious organizations had been formed by 1870, the first church building erected in Phoenix was the Central Methodist Church built in 1871 at the corner of Second Avenue and Washington Street. The first Catholic priest came to Phoenix in 1872, but it was not until after 1881 that an adobe church building, the Sacred Heart of St. Louis at Third and Monroe streets, replaced the Otero home as a place for Catholics to worship. Yavapai County was divided on Feb. 12, 1871, when Maricopa County was created by the Legislature. The sixth county in the state, Maricopa, gave up portions in 1875 and 1881 to help form Pinal and Gila counties, respectively. The first county election was held in 1871, when Tom Barnum was elected the first sheriff of Maricopa County. As a matter of historical interest, a shooting between two other candidates for the office, J. A. Chenowth and Jim Favorite, resulted in Favorite's death and Chenowth's withdrawal from the race. Schooling for Phoenix's youth began on September 5, 1872. About 20 children studied under the guidance of Jean Rudolph Derroche in the courtroom of the county building. By October 1873, a small adobe school building was completed on Center Street (now Central Avenue), a short distance north of where the San Carlos Hotel now stands. Miss Nellie Shaver, a newcomer from Wisconsin, was appointed as the first female schoolteacher in Phoenix. Whole Town Worth $550 On April 10, 1874, President Grant issued a patent to Judge Alsap for the present site of Phoenix. The declaratory statement was filed at the Prescott Land Office on Feb. 15, 1872. Official entry was made at the Florence Land Office on Nov. 19, 1873. The total cost of the Phoenix Townsite of 320 acres was $550, including all expenses for services. In 1874, downtown lots were selling for $7 to $11 each. That year also marked the entry into Phoenix of the first telegraph line. Morris Goldwater was the first operator of this station, located in his father's store on the northwest corner of First and Jefferson streets. By 1875, there were 16 saloons, four dance halls, two monte banks and one faro table in Phoenix. The townsite-commissioner form of government, however, was not working well. At a mass meeting held at the courthouse on Oct. 20, 1875, an election was held to select three village trustees and other officials. By the 1880s, the Arizona Territory was bustling with fortune seekers hoping to strike it rich mining gold, copper, and silver. The town of Prescott was founded in 1863 by New Englanders searching for gold. Nearly 7,000 people came to southeastern Arizona in the wake of Ed Schieffelin's 1877 discovery of silver at Tombstone, near Tucson.In those days, none of the great reservoirs north of the Valley had been created to control the flow of water to the Valley. The year 1891 was marked by the greatest flood in the Valley's history, as well as by the advent of the first telephone system in Phoenix. The horse-drawn streetcars were replaced in 1893 by electric cars. The electric cars stayed on the streets until the automobile replaced them on Feb. 17, 1948. On March 12, 1895, the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad ran its first train to Phoenix. It connected Phoenix with the northern part of Arizona and gave travelers another outlet to the east and west via the Santa Fe. The additional railroad speeded the capitol city's rise to economic supremacy in the state. That same year, 1895, the Phoenix Union High School was established, and 90 young people were enrolled. In 1897, an organization of 14 women called the Friday Club, started the public library movement in Phoenix. Their efforts led to formation of the Phoenix Library Association in 1899. The members subscribed at an annual rate of $3 for the maintenance of the small library housed in two upstairs rooms in the Fleming Building at First Avenue and Washington Street. The Phoenix City Council, however, levied a 5-mill tax for its public library a few months after the 1901 Legislature passed a bill allowing a tax to be applied to the support of free libraries. This action satisfied the conditions set by Mr. Andrew Carnegie in his proposal to donate a library building to the city. The Carnegie Free Library was opened on Feb.18, 1908. |
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