Desert Visions and the Making of Phoenix, 1860-2009

by Philip VanderMeer

Overview

Whether touted for its burgeoning economy, affordable housing, and pleasant living style, or criticized for being less like a city than a sprawling suburb, Phoenix, by all environmental logic, should not exist. Yet despite its extremely hot and dry climate and its remoteness, Phoenix has grown into a massive metropolitan area. This exhaustive study examines the history of how Phoenix came into being and how it has sustained itself, from its origins in the 1860s to its present status as the nation’s fifth largest city.

From the beginning, Phoenix sought to grow, and although growth has remained central to the city’s history, its importance, meaning, and value have changed substantially over the years. The initial vision of Phoenix as an American Eden gave way to the Cold War Era vision of a High Tech Suburbia, which in turn gave way to rising concerns in the late twentieth century about the environmental, social, and political costs of growth. To understand how such unusual growth occurred in such an improbable location, Philip VanderMeer explores five major themes: the natural environment, urban infrastructure, economic development, social and cultural values, and public leadership. Through investigating Phoenix’s struggle to become a major American metropolis, his study also offers a unique view of what it means to be a desert city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826348937
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	12/16/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Philip VanderMeer is associate professor of history at Arizona State University. He is also the author of Phoenix Rising: The Making of a Desert Metropolis.

Table of Contents

Tables xi

Figures xii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

Part I The First Desert Vision: An American Eden 9

1 Civilizing the Desert: The Initial Phase 11

Physical Realities and Early Settlement 11

The Town That Agriculture Built 16

Building a Town 20

Establishing the Public City 27

Building a Hydraulic System: Controlling and Using Water 29

Climate and Health 33

2 Building the Modern City: Physical Form and Function 37

Phoenix in an Urban Context, 1890-1920 38

The Changing Urban Form 42

The Changing Urban Form I: Downtown 42

The Changing Urban Form II: From Streetcar Suburbs to Automobile Suburbs 48

Remaking or Saving the Desert 52

3 Shaping the Modern American City: Social Construction 57

Making a Moral City 57

Making a Cultured City 61

A Lively City 65

Social Structures and Diverse Peoples 68

Governing the City 71

Selling the City 76

Crisis and Completion: The 1930s 79

Controlling the Climate 83

The Phoenix Economic Elite 85

Phoenix in 1940 88