Early growth of Phoenix (Scottsdale, Buckeye: home builders, job market, school)

[New Horizons]

Phoenix, Arizona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The above link shows the population growth of Phoenix by decade. You can see that in the 50's the city experienced tremendous growth, 311%. These early pioneers that moved there in the 50's, I wonder why they chose Phoenix instead of southern CA? CA was much more affordable back then, and LA had a strong economy with it's manufacturing and aerospace. Many middle class families grew up in the San Fernando Valley.

Thoughts?

[azdr0710]

I presume both areas experienced big growth back then....but much of that 311% growth was simply thru annexation by Phx of areas already inhabited, but which had been outside city limits, so not quite as impressive as it looks....Phx also did have some new manufacturing in the 50s - Motorola comes to mind....

[phxgreenfire]

I once read that during/immediately after WWII, there was a move to push defense contractors away from coastal cities, which helped to promote early growth in Phoenix. That was also the Levittown era, which Phoenix was quick to adopt (e.g. compare it to the cityscapes of more established cities like Boston, New York or New Orleans) and it was also about the same time home air conditioning became widely available.

But in general, I agree with azdr: most of that was annexation. Actually, you can read the book La Maravilla by Alfredo Véa, Jr. It's a somewhat autobiographical account of his childhood in a squatter community outside of Phoenix in the 1960s... and this particular community was somewhere off Buckeye Road.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by desert_scene

Phoenix, Arizona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The above link shows the population growth of Phoenix by decade. You can see that in the 50's the city experienced tremendous growth, 311%. These early pioneers that moved there in the 50's, I wonder why they chose Phoenix instead of southern CA? CA was much more affordable back then, and LA had a strong economy with it's manufacturing and aerospace. Many middle class families grew up in the San Fernando Valley.

Thoughts?

Odd question. Why do people move to Portland instead of Seattle? Why do people move to Philadelphia instead of New York?

Maybe because jobs were easy to come by here? Drier climate? Hotter summers? Slower pace? Fewer people? Just prefer to live in Arizona? I don't understand why some think people move to Phoenix only because they can't afford to live in LA.

The LA area had more people in 1950 that the Valley has now. LA had traffic issues and severe pollution problems back on top of that. I think that would be enough for many people to avoid LA even in 1950.

[locolobo13]

Remember the old line, "California or Bust". In the 50s travelling across the country by car wasn't as easy. No freeways, no AC in the car, people coming off the depression driving junkers which needed repairs they couldn't afford. For many such travel wasn't a trip it was an adventure.

One story I heard a few times from old timers as a kid back in the 70s was this. They were heading towards California and the car broke down in or near Phoenix. Stop, get a job until you can fix the car, then decided to stay.

My Mom's family did it backwards. After WWII my Grandfather decided to leave LA and head back east. They didn't stop in Phoenix but did stop in Arizona. They settled there to stay.

[AZgarden]

I was truly heartbroken when my best friiend in my 2nd grade class told me her family was moving to Scottsdale. She had asthma really bad and her father was a contractor/builder. This was sometime in the 50s and she never came back to Illinois, ever. Maybe she still lives here, don't know.

[AZDesertBrat]

Originally Posted by locolobo13

Remember the old line, "California or Bust". In the 50s travelling across the country by car wasn't as easy. No freeways, no AC in the car, people coming off the depression driving junkers which needed repairs they couldn't afford. For many such travel wasn't a trip it was an adventure.

One story I heard a few times from old timers as a kid back in the 70s was this. They were heading towards California and the car broke down in or near Phoenix. Stop, get a job until you can fix the car, then decided to stay.

My Mom's family did it backwards. After WWII my Grandfather decided to leave LA and head back east. They didn't stop in Phoenix but did stop in Arizona. They settled there to stay.

My paternal grandparents and family ended up in Phoenix sorta like that. In 1925 they were living in CO and grandad decided to move to OR where they had family. However, it was Nov., snowy cold and icky in the Rockies so they did a 'detour' to Phoenix, "for the winter". Well, they obviously never made it to OR and 87 years later we are still here! My maternal family moved here from Chicago in 1929 but my great grandad had been here earlier in the 1880s. He owned a farm where Sky Harbor is now but he 'couldn't take the heat' and went back to Chicago. One of my uncle's family was from OK and decided to go to CA during the depression, made a stop in Phoenix and are still here as well. Luckily they all had skills as farmers, home builders and plumbers so they made it just fine. Both sides of the family lived in Laveen when they first arrived and I remember my dad talking about picking cotton, which is what made him get an education so none of us would ever have to.

[locolobo13]

Originally Posted by AZDesertBrat

My paternal grandparents and family ended up in Phoenix sorta like that. In 1925 they were living in CO and grandad decided to move to OR where they had family. However, it was Nov., snowy cold and icky in the Rockies so they did a 'detour' to Phoenix, "for the winter". Well, they obviously never made it to OR and 87 years later we are still here! My maternal family moved here from Chicago in 1929 but my great grandad had been here earlier in the 1880s. He owned a farm where Sky Harbor is now but he 'couldn't take the heat' and went back to Chicago. One of my uncle's family was from OK and decided to go to CA during the depression, made a stop in Phoenix and are still here as well. Luckily they all had skills as farmers, home builders and plumbers so they made it just fine. Both sides of the family lived in Laveen when they first arrived and I remember my dad talking about picking cotton, which is what made him get an education so none of us would ever have to.

My Mom mentioned picking cotton too. I guess in the late 40s early 50s at least some did it by hand. Anybody could go to the field at harvest time, they would give them a gunny sack and paid by the pound. Grandpa would take the whole family on his day off.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

I presume both areas experienced big growth back then....but much of that 311% growth was simply thru annexation by Phx of areas already inhabited, but which had been outside city limits, so not quite as impressive as it looks....Phx also did have some new manufacturing in the 50s - Motorola comes to mind....

I think you are absolutely correct. The huge spurt of growth Phoenix experienced in the 1950s was a combination of new arrivals AND annexation. A 1956 map of Phoenix showed the northern boundary of the city limits was Indian School Road, the Grand Canal, and Campbell Avenue. Alhambra, South Phoenix, and Sunnyslope were separate communities that had not been annexed yet, but I believe they had been annexed by the time of the 1960 census.

Street map of Phoenix, Arizona (1956) - the BIG Map Blog

Also, the 1950s saw a lot of post WWII growth the same as L.A. area did. High tech manufacturing (for the time) was becoming part of Phoenix's job market. You correctly mentioned Motorola. In fact, my parents moved here in the '50s primarily for jobs. My dad became employed at Motorola and he was there for quite a few years.

[AZDesertBrat]

Originally Posted by locolobo13

My Mom mentioned picking cotton too. I guess in the late 40s early 50s at least some did it by hand. Anybody could go to the field at harvest time, they would give them a gunny sack and paid by the pound. Grandpa would take the whole family on his day off.

Yeah, the whole family was out there picking cotton. My dad was only five years old when they moved to Phoenix but he was out there too. Fortunately they didn't have to do it very long. Both sides of the family ended up in So. Phoenix...one on Broadway and one on So. Central. My maternal grandma told me the story of going to the cupboard to get dishes for dinner and finding a rattlesnake coiled up in there! That would cause ME a heart attack! That happened when they still lived in Laveen.