Scottsdale Historical Museum

KEY EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF SCOTTSDALE

1883: The Arizona Canal is built through the Scottsdale area.
1888: Chaplain Winfield Scott visits the valley in February. In July he makes a down payment of 50 cents per acre for a section of land extending east from Scottsdale Road and Indian School Road to Hayden Road, north to Chaparral Road, west to Scottsdale Road, then south back to Indian School Road. He deeds that portion of the property north of the canal back to the government because he cannot irrigate it with water from the canal. The total cost of the property is $3.50 per acre.
1889: Chaplain Scott asks his brother, George Washington Scott, to move to the property to start clearing the land for farming. Chaplain Scott asks to be transferred to Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona so he can be closer to his farm.
1893: Chaplain Scott's old Civil War wounds begin to make it difficult for him to continue as Army Chaplain. He retires and settles on his farm.
1894: The section of land just south of the Scott property is bought by Rhode Island banker, Albert G. Utley. He plans to sub-divide the 40 acres on the northwest corner of the property into a town site he plans to name Orangedale. For some unknown reason, the town site is changed to Scottsdale.
1895: The week before Christmas, a tragic house fire destroys all the Scott's belongings. All of Scott's books and papers are destroyed. His wife, Helen Scott, also loses the few reminders she has of her New York home. Fortunately, no one is injured.
Scott plants olive trees around the perimeter of a citrus grove between Scottsdale Road and Civic Center Boulevard and Second Street and Osborn Road. A few of the trees still stand along Civic Center Boulevard near the hospital.
1896: By the summer of this year, with enough students moving into the area, Winfield Scott and some of the first settlers petition the Maricopa County School Board Supervisor to form a school district. School District #48 is formed and named Scotts-Dale. Scott, John Tait and Frank Titus are appointed by the community to the first school board. In September, the men of the community meet and build the one-room schoolhouse east of the present Scottsdale Historical Museum.
1897: J.L. Davis builds a wood frame building on the corner of Brown Avenue and Main Street. It is the first store in Scottsdale.
1898: Winfield Scott is elected to the Territorial House of Representatives.
1902: John Rubenstein "Popcorn John", mail carrier, shoots and kills Peter Johnson and Amos Nigh on Scott's property. Their hay wagons are blocking the place where Rubenstein wants to park his buggy and eat his lunch. These are the first murders in the small community.
1903: Scott is appointed as chancellor of the University.
1909: The student population has outgrown the original one-room schoolhouse. The red brick building that houses the Scottsdale Historical Museum, is built for $4,000.00.
E.O.Brown replaces J.L. Davis's 1896 wood frame store with a cement block building.
1910: Winfield Scott dies in a hospital in Phoenix on October 19 from complications from his old Civil War wounds. Mrs. Scott lives until 1933. They are buried in San Diego.
George Cavalliere builds his blacksmith shop at the corner of Second Street and Brown Avenue. The city fathers say they do not want a "smelly, dirty, and noisy" blacksmith shop on Main Street. He can build it on the "outskirts" of town where it "won't bother anyone".
1912: The Baptist Church is formed in Scottsdale. Prior to this time, the church services are ecumenical.
1917: Cotton farming becomes very important to the community during World War I. Mexican immigrant families are sponsored to help in the cotton fields. The Tomas Corral family is one of the first Mexican families to arrive in Scottsdale. Mr. Corral opens an adobe brickyard near where the Center for the Arts now stands. During the Depression, Mrs. Corral sells tamales door to door. Today, the Corral family owns Los Olivos Patio Restaurant on the corner of Second Street and Wells Fargo. It is named for the olive trees that were on Second Street.
1918: The Pima Indians tie up their wagons on First Avenue. When businesses are first built on First Avenue, the street is called Pima Plaza for them.
1920: Two buildings are built south and east of the Red Brick School House. There are six teachers and 410 students in the school. E.O. Brown adds a much appreciated ice house to the back of his store. The town continues to grow. Brown's Scottsdale Ginning Company begins operating on Second Street south of Brown Avenue. Mort Kimsey incorporates Scottsdale Light and Power Company and buys power from Arizona Falls generating plant. The number of businesses increases from three to nine. Joining E.O. Brown's General Store are Johnny Rose's Pool Hall, McComb Brothers, Farmer's State Bank, A.F. Mahoney Mercantile, Sterling Drug, Herron and Walker Barbershop, Eckley's Soft Drink Emporium and Stage Office and Kubelsky's Clothing Store (originally the Boston Store).
1922: The first newspaper, Scottsdale Bulletin, is published by Roy George.
L.O. Duross is appointed first superintendent of the Scottsdale School District.
1923: Scottsdale High School is built on Indian School Road. There are three students in the first graduating class.
Johnny Rose razes his store and builds a new two-story, white-glazed, brick building on the site at the corner of Brown Avenue and Main Street.
1924: The Scottsdale Methodist Church is established.
1928: Scottsdale Grammar School--later known as Loloma School--is built on the corner of Second Street and Marshall Way. Garland White is the first principal.
The red brick schoolhouse on Main Street becomes known as Coronado School. It is a community center and school for the first three grades. Grace Thomas Crews teaches at the school from 1929 to 1957 The first post office is built on Brown Avenue. It is now the site of Porter's Western Shop.
1929: J. Chew Song buys Johnny Rose's store. It later becomes Mexican Imports run by the Song family.
1933: The Farmer's State Bank closes March 2 for a "bank holiday" called by Governor B.B. Moeur. It never reopens.
The Catholic Church is built at the corner of First Street and Brown Avenue from adobe made by the Corrals.
1937: Frank Lloyd Wright sets up a rustic outdoor camp at the base of the McDowell Mountain. It later becomes known as Taliesin West.
Four inches of snow fall in Scottsdale January 20.
1941: Malcolm White buys a service station at the southeast corner of Main Street and Scottsdale Road. He turns it into Whitey's Cafe and Bar. He later builds a movie theater on Main Street. The building has a false front, a wooden sidewalk and hitching rails. They are still there.
1944: Christmas Eve several German prisoners of war escape from the Prisoner of War Camp on 64th Street South of Thomas Road through a tunnel they had dug.
1947: With the help of Tom Darlington and K.T. Palmer, Mathilde Schaefer, Lew Davis, Philip Sanderson, Lloyd Kiva New, Wes Segner and Leonard Yuschik establishes Arizona Craft Center in the E.O. Brown building.
The Village Patio, Scottsdale's first shopping center, opens on the north side of Main Street with three stores.
The Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce is incorporated.
1948: Lou Witzman starts Rural Metro Fire Department, a private company that served Scottsdale through the years.
James H. Boyd first publishes the Scottsdale Progress as a weekly newspaper.
The Arizona Craft Center is destroyed by fire. With the help of Mrs. Fowler McCormick of farm implement fame, Lloyd Kiva New and Wes Segner begin building on two acres west of Scottsdale Road. It is known as Craftman's Court.
1951: The town of Scottsdale is incorporated. The town council appointed on July 2 includes Malcolm White, Jack Sweeney, Bill Miller, E.G. Scott (no relation to the Chaplain) and Mort Kimsey. Malcolm White is appointed as mayor by the town council. Hurley Pruitt is the first town marshal. The town signs its first contract with Rural Metro Fire Department for $4,260 per year.
1953: The Scottsdale Jaycees take over the Sunshine Festival and rename it Parada del Sol.
The old bank is bought and is turned into the Rusty Spur Saloon. The bank vault is used to store the liquor.
1955: The first Scottsdale Stadium is built on the corner of Civic Center Boulevard and Osborn Road. The Baltimore Orioles is the first Major League baseball team to play there.
1957: Motorola opens on McDowell Road.
1959: Paul Messinger opens Messinger's Mortuary, Scottsdale's first, on the corner of Miller Road and Indian School Road.
1962: An ordinance is passed by the city council prohibiting the erection of new billboards. This is the forerunner to a 1969 ordinance that regulates the size and placement of signs.
The City of Scottsdale Hospital is built on the corner of Osborn Road and Civic Center Boulevard. It later be comes Scottsdale Memorial Hospital
1967: Eldorado Park, Scottsdale's first major park, is built. McCormick Ranch is annexed.
Scottsdale Airpark opens on the site of World War II's Thunderbird Field on north Scottsdale Road.
Indian Bend Wash floods. With no bridges, traffic is kept from crossing the Wash. Schools are closed.
Bennie Gonzales is hired to design the civic center. It would include the city hall, the library and the arts center with a walking mall.
1969: The Scottsdale Historical Society is formed. The city wants to tear down the red brick schoolhouse for the expansion of the mall area. The building becomes known as the "Little Red Schoolhouse". Money is raised to preserve the building by selling slates with the "Little Red Schoolhouse" logo on them.
The Chamber of Commerce offers to help raise money to save and preserve the "Little Red Schoolhouse".
1970: The Scottsdale Community College is opened on the Salt River Indian Community to the east of Scottsdale.
1972: The Chamber of Commerce signs a 25 year lease with the city for the "Little Red Schoolhouse" for $1.00 a year.
1973: The Indian Bend Wash Green Belt project begins.
City social services are set up at Vista del Camino.
The Scottsdale Senior Center is built at the corner of Second Street and Wells Fargo.
1974: The Scottsdale Symphony is formed with Irving Fleming as director.
1980: Molly the Trolly system comes to Scottsdale. Visitors and residents are transported to the shopping areas and hotels around the town.
1985: United Cable Television comes to Scottsdale. Loloma School is bought for their headquarters. The Scottsdale Historical Society is given space for an office and displays.
1989: The Scottsdale Historical Society opens a small historical museum in the Scottsdale Financial Center on the site of Chaplain Scott's farm.
1991: The Chamber of Commerce moves to larger quarters on the Scottsdale Mall. The Scottsdale Historical Society opens the Scottsdale Historical Museum in the "Little Red Schoolhouse."