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Glendale History, Arizona

In 1880, there was nothing except an empty desert in the location where now Glendale lies. However, in 1882, four builders in Arizona joined together, which include William J. Murphy, Clark Churchill, M.W. Kales, and William A. Hancock. William J. Murphy joined the group to be the leader of the project of the Arizona Canal Co., which was to bring water into the land of the desert. With help from whatever machinery they could get and 225 mules, the team finished the canal in 1885. A few years later numerous homesteaders started to settle near the canal. In 1886, William H. Bartlett completed a fruit farm of 640 acres, having a main house, as well as 13 other buildings, which became known as Sahuaro Ranch.

The shape of the city started with the first residential location, and the town site of Glendale started to take shape shortly after that. The Glendale Grammar School, which was the first, was constructed in 1895, and the opening of the school brought in people from many places across the Valley. The city became a location for the Santa Fe Railroad in the middle of the 1890s, linking Prescott and the northern part of Arizona with the Valley. This railroad made it possible for the residents to transport their goods north and receive materials for buildings easily. The first library of the town was founded in 1895 by Victor E. Messinger, who was one of the first to graduate from the Stanford University, and it had 400 books, which were Messinger's own.

After the century turned, more families started to settle here, and then in 1909, they opened the Glendale State Bank. The water system of the city was sold to the government of the town in 1915. Over the course of many years, Glendale continued to grow, becoming one of the more culturally diverse cities across the Valley. Much of the city's heritage is owed to the early Hispanics who settled here, as well as the Russians and Japanese who moved here from California.

A new energy surge was brought to Glendale with World War I, where cotton prices reached 2 dollars per pound and the demand for food was high, keeping farmers busy. Soon, more houses were needed, and the Catlin Court was built between 1915 and 1930. Most of the homes that were built still stand today and have been put on the Historic Places National Register.