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Welcome to Scottsdale, AZ!
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Scottsdale's History
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In 800-1400 A.D., the Hohokams farmed the land we now call Scottsdale and built over 200 miles of canals to support their agrarian lifestyle.
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Army Chaplain Winfield Scott, the founding father of Scottsdale, arrived in town in 1888 and purchased land that he farmed with his brother, growing citrus, sweet potatos and peanuts.
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The first one-room schoolhouse opened 1896, creating School District #48. That school was just east of the current “Little Red Schoolhouse,” which was built in 1909, and is now home to the Scottsdale Historical Society.
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J.L. Davis opened a general store and post office at the corner of Brown Avenue and Main Street in 1897, bringing retail to Scottsdale.
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Ingleside Inn (Indian School and 60th Street), one of the area’s first winter resorts, was completed in 1909. Other early resorts --some started as health camps-- were the Jokake Inn at the foot of Camelback Mountain (still standing at the entrance of The Phoenician), the Casa Blanca Inn (Chaparral and 68th Street), Graves Guest Ranch (NW corner of Scottsdale and Indian School Roads), Paradise Inn (Camelback Road west of Scottsdale Road), and Royal Palms Inn (Camelback Road).
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Cavalliere’s Blacksmith Shop at Second Street and Brown Avenue opened in 1910; it was the site for boxing and wrestling matches, too.
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A cotton gin opened at Second Street and Brown Avenue in 1920 to process Scottsdale-grown Pima cotton, which was in great demand during World War I.
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In 1937, Architect Frank Lloyd Wright set up his “winter camp” at the foot of the McDowell Mountains, creating what is now known as Taliesin West.
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Scottsdale’s Thunderbird 11 Primary Training Facility began training pilots for World War II in 1942. By 1945, over 5,000 had trained at what is now Scottsdale Airport (which opened in 1967).
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Scottsdale was incorporated on June 25, 1951, with the Charter being adopted on November 16, 1961. Malcolm White was elected mayor. He is credited with giving the city its slogan, “The West’s Most Western Town.” At this time, the city was a 2,000-person farming cluster.
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Baseball spring training came to Scottsdale in 1955 when the Baltimore Orioles played ball at Scottsdale’s new stadium.
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In 1967, Eldorado became Scottsdale’s first city park; McCormick Ranch was annexed.
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Scottsdale Community College opened in 1970.
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Scottsdale annexed an additional 36 square miles to the north in 1984, increasing in size by 25 percent.
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The Phoenix Open moved to Scottsdale’s Tournament Players Club in 1987 and became the most-attended golf tournament in the world.
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Scottsdale citizens, in 1989, passed the largest bond election ($287.2 million) in the city’s history by a 3 to 1 margin to build a new stadium, expand the historic Civic Center Library and make numerous road and park improvements.
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The City of Scottsdale was awarded the Most Livable City Award by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1993.
Interested in more history about the “West’s Most Western Town”? Here are some additional sources:
Arizona Historical Society: (480) 929-0292Scottsdale Historical Society: (480) 945-4499Geneology
(State Library Archives and Public Records Department): (602) 542-3942
