From Small Western Town to Sophisticated Cultural Center: the History of Scottsdale |
Posted: October 31, 2019 |
The desert town of Scottsdale Arizona is known for its rich culture and refined residential communities. The place has a sort of quiet sophisticated elegance that sets it apart from its much larger metropolitan neighbor, Phoenix. But it wasn’t always like this; in the past, this place was a wild western town much akin to those featured in stories about the “Wild West”. Populated by cowboys, settlers and outlaws, Scottsdale was a town out of a storybook. So how did this change occur? How did the Scottsdale of those years change into the Scottsdale we know today? Let’s find out! Scottsdale Through the YearsIn 1888, a retired soldier named Winfield Scott traveled to the Salt River Valley with his wife, Helen Winfield and his brother, George Winfield. With three dollars and fifty cents, he bought several hundred acres, and got to work planting citrus trees. Carefully positioned on the Arizona Canal, the town that was at this time still called Orangedale after Scott’s citrus trees, was excellent for agriculture, and soon began to attract a diverse populace of earnest farmers and cultured intellectuals. Orangedale grew steadily, and soon had a public school, a general store and a post office. Before long, it had several hotels and resorts. These resorts, coupled with the natural beauty of the area and the already firmly established cultural atmosphere of the town, attracted writers and artists from across the country. The town (now named Scottsdale after it’s founder) saw another important milestone with the arrival of a population boom due to the construction of the Granite Reef and Roosevelt dams. The town soon came to supply the needs of those in the agricultural communities in the surrounding area. Scottsdale continued to grow with time. With the outbreak of World War II, the town saw the rapid growth of cotton farms to fulfill government contracts. This was closely followed by the equally rapid decline of cotton as a cash crop when the government contracts were canceled. Soon after World War I, the Great Depression rocked the United States. Stock markets crashed and unemployment skyrocketed. Scottsdale however, actually saw further development to its culture and populace. Hard times drew struggling writers and painters to the small Arizona town by the dozen. This further expanded and deepened the cultured atmosphere of the small town, bringing it closer to being the city we know and love today. With the arrival of WWII, Scottsdale saw even more development. The USAF constructed the Thunderbird II airfield, in which over 5,000 airmen were trained over the course of the war. Scottsdale was also the site of a German prisoner-of-war camp, which housed hundreds of captured soldiers until the end of the war. In 1951, the town was officially given the status of a city. At the time of its incorporation, it had around two thousand residents, but this figure quickly increased as large businesses built plants in the city. Farmers continued to move to the area for the excellent farmland that was at reduced risk of flooding when compared to those with more temperate climates. By 1970, the town had a residency of around seventy thousand people. Since then, the city of Scottsdale has only grown. According to the 2010 census, the city now has a population of around two hundred and twenty thousand people. Tourists come from around the U.S. to spectate the spring training of the major league baseball teams, relax at resorts, and participate in the other attractions the city has to offer. Historical Attraction in ScottsdaleIf you’re planning a trip to Scottsdale, you might want to visit some of the historical attractions that immortalize the history of the town. Scottsdale’s Oldtown is a section of the town that seeks to preserve the town’s history. Here you can see the Cavalliere’s Blacksmith Shop, which dates back to 1920, the original Scott homestead where the town was born and even the home of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
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