Establishing the DC Ranch Archives: A Call to the Community

by Nicole Richard | Resident contributor

Late last year a small group of residents volunteered to form the DC Ranch Historic Committee. The group members boast a wide range of skills and backgrounds but ultimately, it is a shared love of history and storytelling that brought us together. We all agree that DC Ranch is a special place and its history is valuable.

DC Ranch was founded 25 years ago, but its history stretches much farther back. The Anglo-American settlement of the area began in 1885 when Dr. W.B. Crosby purchased land and registered the “DC” brand. Edwin Orpheus Brown purchased the land in 1919 and used it to raise cattle. At its height, the ranch grew to include over forty thousand acres and supported 4,000 heads of cattle. In addition to the Brown family, the early days of DC Ranch include other characters such as Kemper Marley, the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, DMB Development, Vernon Swaback and the City of Scottsdale, just to name a few.

The committee aims to capture these stories and many others and keep them for future generations. Therefore, an archive is being established for DC Ranch, led by a professional archivist. The mission is to promote knowledge and understanding of DC Ranch and the surrounding area by collecting, preserving, contextualizing, and making publicly accessible a rich array of resources that document the histories of DC Ranch.

We must act quickly—with each passing year these stories and many others are in jeopardy. We need your help to save this information. Are you an original homeowner? Do you own preserved historical documents (photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, etc.) or knowledge concerning the founding or early days of DC Ranch? Consider donating items, submitting copies of those items or providing an interview that can be added to the archives.

Please visit DCRanch.com or contact history@dcranchinc.com for information on how you can make contributions.