Mesa Arizona
Mesa Arizona History
The Prehistoric History
The first people known to live in what is now Mesa Arizona, were the Hohokam Indians. These earliest inhabitants lived in the valley for over 1,500 years. These gentle people lived in larger groups and farmed the land. The Hohokam are best known for their remarkable creation of a large network of irrigation canals. Their early canals were massive works of labor and engineering. because they were hand dug and irrigated over 110,000 acres. These were far and away the largest canal systems in the known ancient world.
The Hohokam’s ability to irrigate allowed them to grow abundant crops for their use and for trade. As a result of excess crops, they traded cotton cloth for things they wanted from other commercial oriented groups. Some of these groups were as far away Yucatan. While no one knows for certain why, the Hohokam left the area around the year 1450 with no trace of them beyond that time. No other permanent settlement existed until the mid 1800’s. Finally, in 1865 the US Army established Fort McDowell and made the area desirable for settlers.
Early Pioneers
The Mormon leader Brigham Young commissioned the earliest pioneers to Mesa in 1877. The “Utah Company” was intended to establish “stations” that would support expansion into Mexico. A second group of Mormon settlers arrived in 1878. They were known as the “Mesa Company”. They repaired some of the ancient canals and diverted some water to the top of the mesa. Early in the 1880’s, there were around 300 people settled in the Mesa area around the main town center.
Agriculture remained the foundation of the Mesa economy until after World War II. Ranchers raising stock and dairy farmers grew in number soon after the war. Surprisingly, agriculture was the main attraction to settlers and tourists coming to Mesa until the 20th century. The Roosevelt Dam was also an attraction along with the ruins including of the Hohokam ceremonial site (Mesa Grande).
Modern Day Mesa Arizona
Mesa Arizona has doubled it’s population every decade except during the 1920’s. Today the city of Mesa Arizona is a growing sun-belt city surrounded by smaller neighboring towns. Only Phoenix is larger than Mesa in central Arizona. It is in the nation’s top 40 for size with a population of over 500,000.
Mesa also has two baseball teams and two stadiums, a first for any valley community. In addition, Mesa has added companies like Boeing and GM. The original Williams Air Force Base is now a full-scale regional and commercial airport. Mesa Community College is now the largest in the nation. Many educational institutions from other areas of the country have opened college facilities in Mesa. Without a doubt, Mesa will continue to grow and create an identity of its own in the Salt River Valley for years to come.
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