A brief history of
Ahwatukee Foothills By Martin Gibson
A
s you make your way around Ahwatukee — either driving through the busy streets running errands, walking through a lovely park, picking up groceries at one of the many local supermarkets, or sampling some tasty takeout from one of dozens of restaurants, it may be difficult for residents to visualize this bustling area as a stretch of empty desert. Actually, old-timers were convinced that the land close to South Mountain would never amount to much. William Ames, a prominent Midwestern dentist, purchased 8,000 acres of state land just south of the mountain. He and his wife moved into their 12,000-square-foot winter residence, just off today’s Warner Road, on Thanksgiving Day 1921. The Ames’ luxurious, 17-room ranch house stood for over 50 years, and Mrs. Ames’ land donation helped to make South Mountain Park the country’s largest municipal park. Byron Slawson, the ranch’s caretaker, rose at 4 a.m. to light the house’s water heaters and cart 300-pound blocks of ice from Chandler. Except for early homesteader Arthur Hunter, Slawson lived longer in the future village than anyone has before or since. Today it’s called Mountain Park Ranch, but in 1929 Dr. Alexander Chandler foresaw it as San Marcos in the Desert. Chandler commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a resort hotel on 600 acres just north of today’s Desert Vista High School. Chandler’s spectacular resort awaited a fall groundbreaking but was never built due to that October’s stock market crash. Near Mountain Park Ranch’s eastern border, New Yorker William Belden planned his own winter retreat. Three outbuildings were constructed 8
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS NEWCOMERS’ GUIDE
William Ames’ 12,000-square-foot residence built in the 1920s is believed to be Ahwatukee’s first home.
in preparation for Belden’s grand house, but his 1930 death resulted in abandonment of the plans. His family maintained the pristine desert beauty of their eventual 2,670 acres for much of the 20th century. Helen Brinton of Dixon, Illinois, purchased the Ames residence in 1935, and her effort to translate the Ames’ “Casa de Sueños” (Spanish for House of Dreams) into the Crow Indian language resulted in the house and its surrounding acreage being christened “Ahwatukee.” Brinton spent 25 winters at the Ahwatukee ranch before her death in 1960. Bill Collier transformed a square mile of desert into rich, irrigated farmland beginning in 1939. Farming the Collier-Evans Ranch for 45 years, the land epitomized the quaint agricultural charm of the village’s predevelopment. Today, two signature lakes on the land distinguish it as the master-planned community of Lakewood. About 4,140 acres to the west — combining stunning topography with battle-scarred terrain — market International Harvester’s proving grounds. Its steep, winding dirt roads carved high up into the hillsides
were perfect for trucks and heavy equipment testing. Today, Chandler Boulevard’s million white lights, which traditionally begin in late November, provide a gateway to The Foothills and Club West, offering one-of-a-kind vistas. It took the early 1970s vision of Bakersfield, California, homebuilder Randall Presley to transform Ahwatukee from a single ranch house into a thriving community. Before him, the land west of Interstate 10 and south of the mountain was considered remote and unpromising. But Presley’s development of the first master-planned community south of South Mountain stands today as a visionary achievement. In recognition of its prominent place within the city of Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Mountain Park Ranch, Lakewood, The Foothills and Club West were officially designated the Village of Ahwatukee Foothills in 1991. Martin Gibson is an Ahwatukee resident and author of “Phoenix’s Ahwatukee Foothills and Historic Tales from Ahwatukee Foothills.” Both are available on amazon.com.
