Ninth in a Series: The Early Days of Phoenix

CAVALCADE THE EARLY DAYS OF PHOENIX

The intersection of Washington and Center streets was the heart of Phoenix from the time Capt. William A. Hancock surveyed the townsite in the fall of 1870. In those early days, the north-south streets paralleling Center (today's Central Avenue) bore the names of Indian tribes; east-west streets honored American presidents, as the original thoroughfares still do. Even before his survey, Hancock had constructed one of the town's first buildings, which served as store, butcher shop, and justice court.

By 1872 a thousand people were living in the Salt River Valley, a third of them in the fledgling city Englishman Darrel Duppa had named for a bird of Egyptian mythology. After a life of several centuries, the phoenix was consumed by fire, but rose again from its own ashes-surely a suitable symbol for a new city rising under a flaming desert sun upon the ruins of the ancient Hohokam culture.

Phoenix incorporated in 1881, and in July of 1887 its citizens' vision of a railroad connection with commercial centers across the country came to fruition. On July 3 none other than Captain Hancock drove the last spike in a 26mile line connecting Phoenix with the transcontinental Southern Pacific Railroad at Maricopa. Independence Day was marked by the arrival of the first train.

Two years later, recognizing the rapidly growing importance of the burgeoning young city, the Legislature moved the territorial capital from Prescott to Phoenix.

By 1890 the Porter Building housed offices that suggested the vigor of desert development: the Arizona Improvement Co. and the Arizona Canal Co. Across the street, on the southeast corner of Washington and Center, stood the imposing National Bank of Arizona; on its second floor were the law offices of Fitch and Campbell. Along Washington Street, horse-drawn streetcars traversed almost three miles of track, whose branches extended a quarter mile on Yavapai (later renamed Seventh Street), a half mile on Center, and 1½ miles on Grand Avenue. In the 1890 census Phoenix counted 3,152 residents.

Proud Phoenicians saw in their developing community the garden city of the Far West. As if to proclaim that identity, the Garden City Restaurant (which also had facilities for swimming and bathing) opened its doors on the northwest corner of Washington and Center. General merchandise and farm equipment could be purchased at Goldman and Co., across Center from the restaurant. A block east and around the corner was the Phoenix Herald newspaper, formerly the Salt River Valley Herald. The charming buildings once at the heart of old Phoenix have been replaced several times, and the miles of streetcar track have long since been paved over. But some cycles repeat. Today's urban planners, choking on automobile fumes, are proposing a new transit system of light rail cars. This time they are to be elevated above certain city streets, and may well serve a historic intersection: Washington Street and Central Avenue.