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City of Mesa history
City of Mesa company history timeline
The leaders of the Mesa Company reached Utahville, as Lehi or Jonesville was then called, in January of 1878; the rest of the company came in February.
On July 17 1878, Theodore Sirrine went to Florence to register Section 22, now called the Town Center: the square mile from Mesa Drive to Country Club and University to Broadway.
Shareholders in the Mesa Canal Company were paid $1.50 per day to work on the project, which was completed in October 1878.
The Mesa colonists, who organized a school district soon after their arrival in 1878, first educated their children in a series of temporary buildings, one of which was a brush shed.
Zulu Pomeroy taught the first classes there in 1879.
In 1879, President Rutherford Hayes established a new reservation for them that covered much of the Salt River Valley, closing large tracts of land to settlement.
Because the best land had been taken, the 1880 pioneers established Stringtown, along what is now Alma School Road.
In 1880 the Second Mesa Company settled to the west of the First Mesa Company.
The first Post Office name was Hayden’s Ferry (not to be confused with Tempe), operated by Fannie Macdonald in 1881.
1882: Little Adobe School The first permanent school in Mesa was an adobe building erected in 1882 at Center and 2nd Avenue.
Five years after the founding, in 1883, the 300 residents incorporated Mesa City and chose Alexander F. Macdonald as the first mayor.
In 1886, the Post Office name was changed to Zenos.
In 1889, the Post Office Department finally allowed the name Mesa City.
Hispanics were in the area at least by the early 1890’s; the Aros, Candelaria, Castro, Garcia, Rivera and Mendoza (Police officers and Chief) families were residents.
A flood in Lehi in 1891 destroyed Fort Utah and carried away acres of valuable farmland in low-lying areas.
1892: First Newspaper Mesa's earliest newspaper, the Mesa Free Press, was first published in September 1892.
The Mesa Free Press newspaper began in 1892; it has run continuously since then under various names, currently The East Valley Tribune.
By 1893, Methodists had a sanctuary on 1st Avenue near Center, and Baptists had a building at 1st Avenue and Macdonald.
1895: Arrival of the Railroad Rail service came to Mesa in December 1895, when the Maricopa & Phoenix & Salt River Valley Railroad began running trains between Mesa and Tempe.
When the railroad was placed in Mesa about 1895, the growth pattern accelerated.
Doctor A.J. Chandler, who later started the city bearing his name south of Mesa, enlarged the Mesa Canal with heavy machinery in 1895.
Sirrine House, built in 1895, at 160 North Center
The first Mormon tabernacle was constructed in 1896, at 1st Avenue and Morris.
1898: Turning On The Lights Mesa acquired electricity in 1898, when a hydroelectric power plant was built on the new Crosscut Canal.
Vance Auditorium, built in 1904, at 250 West Main Street
The first African-American family, the McPhersons, arrived in 1905.
Opened in 1906 as a free reading room, the library at first was run by volunteers and housed in a series of downtown commercial buildings.
1908: Vance Auditorium The Vance Auditorium opened on Valentine's Day in 1908.
1909: Mesa High School Mesa Union High School opened its first building at 2nd Avenue and Center in 1909, after holding classes in temporary facilities for ten years.
1911: Roosevelt Dam On March 18, 1911, former President Theodore Roosevelt pushed a button to release water from the reservoir behind Roosevelt Dam.
1912: Cotton Farming One of Mesa's earliest cotton gins was built by the Egyptian Cotton Company in 1912.
1912: CarsCome To Town In 1912, the first year of Arizona statehood, there were 109 automobiles and trucks in Mesa, one for every 15 residents.
Located on Macdonald Street, the station was part of a civic center that also included a city hall constructed in 1912.
Planning and fund raising for the project had started in 1912.
Lehi School, built in 1913, Lehi and Horne
1916: Escobedo Neighborhood In 1916, the Verde Vista subdivision was created, offering Mexican Americans their first real opportunity to buy homes in the Mesa area.
The City of Mesa purchased the utility company in 1917, becoming one of the few cities in Arizona to own utilities.
1917: Women's Club The Woman's Club of Mesa was founded in 1917 to sponsor civic, cultural and philanthropic activities.
In 1919, the building was purchased by the LDS Maricopa Stake, which later renamed it the Mezona"”a contraction of Mesa and Arizona.
Mesa celebrated this new industry in 1919 with the King Kotton Karnival and a meeting of the Arizona Cotton Congress.
1920: New City Buildings In 1920, Mesa built its first modern fire station.
1920: Southside Hospital Mesa's first community hospital was established in 1920, when a group of citizens purchased a home at Main Street and Hibbert and converted it into a hospital.
The population doubled every decade except during the 1920’s, and the city soon far outgrew its original one-square-mile boundary.
However, it was not the first school in Mesa. It was replaced by the first Lincoln School, which was torn down in 1920.
In 1923, it was incorporated as Southside District Hospital.
1927: Arizona Mormon Temple On October 23, 1927, Salt River Valley Mormons dedicated the Arizona Temple, whose design was inspired by Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.
Along with El Portal Hotel, which opened in 1928, the Apache Trail started Mesa's tourism industry.
1930: Expanding City Limits During its first fifty years, Mesa's incorporated area remained within the original one-mile-square townsite.
In 1931, the Salt River Valley Citrus Fair was started in Mesa.
The 1937 city hall is now part of the Arizona Museum of Natural History.
1937: Public Library Mesa's library found its first permanent home in 1937, when it moved into the new Mesa city hall at 1st Street and Macdonald.
1938: Rendezvous Park In May 1938, Mesa residents dedicated their first city park, Rendezvous Park.
The Easter service held on the temple grounds began in 1938.
Air conditioning came into more common use and tourism also began as a major force in the late 1940’s.
While the world was at war in 1941, Falcon Field Airport and Williams Air Force Base were being constructed in the city of Mesa, during a time when the Allies were in desperate need of trained pilots.
1942: A Divided Town In February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered Japanese Americans living in parts of the West to leave their homes.
1947: First Television Mesa's first radio station, KARV, went on the air in January 1947.
1951: Integrated Schools In 1951, Arizona began integrating its schools three years before the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional.
By 1952, tourism was the city's second-largest industry.
1954: Shopping Centers Mesa's first shopping center opened in 1954 at the northeast corner of 4th Avenue (now Broadway) and Mesa Drive.
Six years later, in 1956, Arizona's first automobile show was held in Mesa.
It was later combined with the Maricopa County Fair, which was held at the Mesa Civic Center until 1959.
In 1966, Motorola opened a plant at Broadway and Dobson. It was joined in 1960 by Talley Defense Systems, which became Talley Industries, Mesa's first homegrown Fortune 500 company.
1963: Mesa Community College Mesa Community College opened in 1963 as a branch of Phoenix College.
The Cubs played at Rendezvous Park through 1965, later moving to Scottsdale.
Mesa voters approved the city's first charter in 1967.
In 1968, Mesa residents elected their mayor for the first time.
Lehi became part of Mesa in 1970, but it has maintained its independent, more rural character.
1977: Superstition Freeway The first freeway to reach Mesa's city limits opened in July 1977, when the Superstition was completed to Dobson Road.
The Society's first project was the Park of the Canals, which became a city park in 1977.
The next was Fiesta Mall, which opened in 1979.
1980: Arts In Mesa Mesa Arts Center, the first community arts center, opened in 1980.
In 1982, Hughes Helicopter opened its Apache helicopter factory, which later became part of McDonnell Douglas and then Boeing.
In 1984, the Society acquired the old Lehi School, which eventually became the Mesa Historical Museum.
The city eventually acquired the ruin in 1987.
The property stood undeveloped until the late 1990"s when a Wal-Mart Shopping Center and the East Valley Institute of Technology were built on the site.
Mid 1990’s figures show Mesa employment percentages as retail – 31.2%, office – 25.7%, public – 16.1%, industrial – 14%, other – 11.6%, residential – 1.4%.
In 1990, the census showed Mesa to have the highest growth rate of any city over 100,000 in the United States.
The cemetery celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1991 with the publication of a historic walking tour map, documenting the graves of individuals who played a key role in Mesa's history.
In 1997, the original Hohokam Stadium was torn down and replaced by a new stadium.
In 2007 commercial air service began at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (previously known as the Williams Gateway Airport)—on the site of the former Williams Air Force Base—providing the Phoenix area with its second commercial airport.
On December 27, 2008 the beginning of the line station at Sycamore/Main hosted the region's largest celebration with more than 35,000 residents enjoying festivities and free light rail rides.
2008: Excellence in Aerospace Mesa boasts two airports: Phoenix-Mesa Gateway and Falcon Field.
In 2011, eight Founding Resident Companies worked at the facility and were instrumental in making the vision for the MAC a reality.
Rate how well City of Mesa lives up to its initial vision.
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City of Mesa competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Chandler, Arizona | 1912 | $400.0M | 1,650 | 20 |
| City of Tucson | 1991 | $13.0M | 1,015 | 14 |
| City of Scottsdale | 1888 | $51.0M | 50 | 17 |
| Municipal Court-Criminal Div | - | $5.5B | 5,250 | 49 |
| City of Tempe Government | 1871 | $670,000 | 25 | 18 |
| City of San Antonio | - | $5.5B | 4,500 | 75 |
| City of Fort Collins | 1913 | $106.8M | 1,310 | 11 |
| City of Salinas | - | $3.0M | 228 | 45 |
| South St. Paul | - | $284.9K | 5 | - |
| City of Carlsbad | 1952 | $23.0M | 50 | 30 |
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