Each street in metro Phoenix has a story to tell. Some of these roads even hold a small history lesson in their names that most drivers don’t know about.
Downtown Phoenix honors former presidents with its street name and large swaths of the Valley are numbered avenues or streets. But many other major streets from the East to West valleys tell of Arizona’s military history, pioneers, farming days, landmarks or notable figures.
From Warner Road to Bethany Home Road, here’s what Arizona natives and newcomers alike should know about how metro Phoenix streets and roads got their names.
Alma School Road
Alma School Road is named after a schoolhouse from the late 1800s, according to Chandler. The children in the area, who were primarily Mormon settlers, named the school after Alma, a prophet from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Book of Mormon.
Baseline Road
Not that long ago, Baseline Road was known as the road of Japanese flower gardens, with colorful flower farms stretching from 32nd to 48th streets. However, the story of Baseline Road begins before the gardens.
Baseline Road is, in fact, the baseline of the Gila and Salt River Meridian Survey, which began in 1867 with a crew under William H. Pierce and was completed by Wilfred and George Ingalls in July 1868. The survey connected the territory of Arizona to the national grid system and enabled early settlers to establish land claims under the Homestead Act, essentially resulting in the first population boom in Arizona after the Civil War.
Bell Road
The road was named after Harvey Bell, a farmer who helped organize the Paradise Verde Irrigation District in 1916. The district was responsible for the Horseshoe Reservoir on the Verde River.
Bethany Home Road
This road led to the Bethany Home, which was a tuberculosis sanitarium operated by a church in the early 1900s.
Broadway Road
Broadway Road was named for Noah M. Broadway, a Maricopa County sheriff from 1885-86. He had a farm between 7th and 23rd Avenues on the south side of what is now Broadway Road.
Cactus Road
The road was named after the little town of Cactus, which was just northeast of Sunnyslope.
Camelback Road
Camelback Road Gets its name from Camelback Mountain, named so because it looks like a camel lying down.
Central Avenue
The street was called Centre, then Center and finally Central. When Phoenix changed the original north-south tribal names to a numbering system, Central turned into a dividing line: Numbered streets begin east of Central, and numbered avenues begin west of Central.
Cooper Road
James “Jim” Cooper and his wife, Mildred Post Cooper, turned one cow received as a wedding present into a 400-cow dairy farm near Southern Avenue and Stapley Drive. Jim Cooper, who was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1968, helped found the and was active in dairymen’s associations. Together, the Coopers had six children, 33 grandchildren and 57 great-grandchildren.
Country Club Drive
Country Club Drive’s name originates from the Mesa Country Club, which opened in 1948. The street changed names several times before settling on the moniker that stuck.
Crismon Road
The Crismon family were among the historic “Mesa Party,” a group of four Mormon families who moved from Idaho and Utah in the 1800s, according to the East Valley Tribune. The family’s farming operations grew until the 1960s, when the family stopped growing crops and raising cattle.
Del Webb Boulevard
Del E. Webb was a Valley developer who founded the original Sun City in 1960 and made the concept of retirement communities famous around the world.
Dobson Road
Cliff Dobson co-owned Baseline Cattle Company and Sheep Springs Sheep Company in the early 1900s. Back in those days the five C’s — that’s cattle, copper, cotton, citrus and climate for the uninitiated — ruled Arizona’s economy.
Dunlap Avenue
Named after John T. Dunlap, who served as Phoenix mayor from 1904-05. He owned land east of Seventh Street and south of Alice Avenue, which was later subdivided. Dunlap becomes Olive Avenue at 43rd Avenue.
Dysart Road
Rancher Nathaniel Martin Dysart donated land to build the Dysart School in what was then a rural, isolated area near Surprise. It opened as a one-room schoolhouse, complete with a pot-bellied stove, in 1920. He sat on the Dysart School Board until he died in 1955.
Ellsworth Road
Ellsworth Road is named after Leo Ellsworth, a Queen Creek businessman. Ellsworth took over a failing farm and grocery, later opening a packing shed to ship farmers’ vegetables, according to the San Tan Historical Society. Ellsworth also built many of the city’s roads in the 1920s and ’30s.
Germann Road
John and Mathilda Germann purchased 480 acres of land in the Queen Creek and Higley areas in the early 1910s. After setting up a home, well and pumping plant, John Germann and his sons began studying southwestern agriculture. Mathilda Germann produced food for her family and Phoenix hotels as well. As of 1924, the Germanns’ son, Walter, had 100 acres in cultivation — 50 for cotton, and 50 divided between alfalfa and fruit. No one seems to know what happened to the Germanns after 1941.
As for the confusing pronunciation: The road’s name is widely pronounced “Jur-maine” today, but some say it was originally pronounced “Har-mahn” or “Grr-mun.”
Grand Avenue
Named by Fresno, California, developers who were inspired to create a quick, easy route cutting diagonally from downtown to west Phoenix to attract settlers to the west side in 1887.
Granite Reef Road
Just off Bush Highway north of Mesa, Granite Reef Dam diverts the Salt River into several canals that bring water to the Valley. Granite Reef Road, at its nearest, is 25 miles away. The dam was built in the early 1900s. The road may have been part of the route to the construction site.
Gilbert Road
Yes, this road is named after Gilbert, the East Valley town. However, the town derives its name from William “Bobby” Gilbert. Gilbert sold a right-of-way access on his land to the Eastern Railroad Company in 1902, according to the Gilbert Historical Museum. A rail siding was built on Gilbert’s property, and several other buildings followed. The town that sprang up on that land was named after him.
Glendale Avenue
The origins of the name “Glendale” are murky, even to city historians.
Founder William J. Murphy, an early developer in the Valley, needed to sell land to pay off debts he acquired while building the Arizona Canal. City records show that he used the name Glendale in marketing materials as far back as 1885. No records exist explaining why he chose the name, however.
The road stretches across west Phoenix to 22nd Street, where the name changes to Lincoln Drive.
Greenway Road
Arizona pioneer John Greenway was an engineer who developed the copper mine at Ajo and helped build the reputation for one of the five “C’s” that make the state famous — citrus, copper, climate, cotton and cattle. He was one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. His wife, Isabella, was Arizona’s first female representative in the U.S. Congress.
Hayden Road
Most things named Hayden in the Phoenix area are named for the Hayden family led by Charles Trumbull Hayden, a territorial pioneer who helped found Tempe and Arizona State University. His most famous offspring was Sen. Carl Hayden, one of the longest-serving members of Congress.
But Hayden Road in Scottsdale? Not named for the famous Haydens. Instead, it was named for a city pioneer, Wilfred Hayden, who farmed in the area in the late 1890s and may have graded the byway that later became Hayden Road. Family members may still live in the Phoenix area.
Higley Road
Higley Road is named after Stephen Weaver Higley, a railroad pioneer and early Valley settler. In 1905, he purchased 8,000 acres of what is now Gilbert. Higley also purchased the Arizona Republican newspaper in 1909. The paper’s name was later changed to The Arizona Republic.
Indian Bend Road
The major wash that starts near 32nd Street and Thunderbird Road in northeast Phoenix, runs to the southeast for several miles before making a hard turn to the south between McCormick Parkway and Lincoln Drive, provided the name. Indian Bend Road runs through the center of the bend.
JoAnne Handley told The Arizona Republic that the wash through Scottsdale was known as “the slough,” a generic word referring to wetlands, when she was a child in the 1930s and ’40s. She says she remembers the name “Indian Bend” being applied around the time the Army Corps of Engineers became involved in flood control in the area in the 1960s.
Indian School Road
Named for the Phoenix Indian School, which opened in 1891. The school’s first permanent structure, the girl’s building, was built in 1892. The school closed in 1990. It was bought by commercial real-estate group Collier Company of Florida, and a portion became a Phoenix park.
Jackrabbit Trail
This road was named after the large bands of big-eared hares that roamed much of the West Valley before development predominated. The Sonoran Desert’s antelope jackrabbit is one of the largest hares in North America and can weigh up to 10 pounds.
Litchfield Road
Litchfield Road takes its name from Paul W. Litchfield, a Goodyear Co. executive. In the early 1900s, he acquired West Valley land to grow the cotton that would strengthen the company’s rubber tires. He later founded Litchfield Park.
MacDonald
Macdonald is named after Alexander Findlay Macdonald, who served as Mesa’s inaugural mayor from 1883 to 1888. Born in Scotland, Macdonald came to North America after meeting Mormon missionaries in 1846. He acted as the Maricopa Stake of Zion’s first president and Mesa’s first leader from before moving to Mexico to settle a Mormon colony in Colonia Juarez.
Marshall Way
A relatively minor street in downtown Scottsdale’s Arts District, it was named for Thomas R. Marshall, a governor of Indiana and vice president under Woodrow Wilson. He is thought to have coined the phrase, “What this country needs is a really good 5-cent cigar” while presiding over the Senate and listening to a list of national needs. He and his wife visited Scottsdale, and she moved here after he died in 1925.
McClintock Road
James H. McClintock wrote for several Arizona newspapers before organizing and serving with the state’s Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. He wrote several books about Arizona history and was the state’s historian from 1919 to 1922.
McDowell Road
This road led, in a roundabout way, to Fort McDowell, a cavalry outpost near the confluence of the Verde and Salt rivers.
The fort, the road, the McDowell Mountains and the development of McDowell Mountain Ranch all get their name from a man who never set foot inArizona: Civil War Gen. Irvin McDowell (1818-85), a graduate of West Point, commanded Union troops when they were routed at the Battle of Bull Run. His career survived, and he was twice appointed to command the Army Department of the Pacific.
The fort was open from 1865 to about 1895; the name now is used for the Yavapai Indian Community that resides there.
Mesa Drive
This one is a bit obvious — Mesa Drive is named after the city. The city was built on a plateau, or mesa, above the Valley. The town was called Mesa City or Mesaville by early residents.
Mill Avenue
Mill Avenue is named after the Hayden Flour Mill, located on Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway. The historic flour mill still stands on the popular downtown street, which is a popular place for Arizona State University students.
Pinnacle Peak Road
Pinnacle Peak Road was named after Pinnacle Peak, a granite summit, east of Pima Road in Scottsdale.
Power Road
James and Sarah Power, early settlers in metro Phoenix, raised crops and cattle in the early 1900s. The family employed up to 500 people to work on the 2,000-acre ranch, which grew cotton, vegetables and more. The ranch is now home to the Power Ranch development in Mesa.
Price Road
Price Road is named after Chandler’s first city attorney, Arthur Ernest Price, in the 1920s. A historical marker located in Chandler Park indicates that Price, a farmer and land developer, filed the city’s incorporation papers and drafted the city’s constitution and bylaws.
Robson
Pioneers Charles and Francelle Robson — and their six children — were part of the Mesa Company, a group of about 80 people from Utah and Idaho sent by the Mormon Church in 1878 to establish a town near the Salt River. After moving to Mesa, Charles Robson co-founded the Zenos Cooperative Mercantile and Manufacturing Institution.
The Robsons occupied a home at the corner of Second Avenue and the street that was named in their honor in 1884. In 1920, the question of whether to pave the simple dirt road sparked controversy, with the City Council ultimately deciding to move forward despite petitions against the effort.
Homes and businesses on Robson illustrate the architectural styles common in Arizona during the early to mid-20th Century.
Rural Road
Rural Road was named after the Rural School, which was established in 1883 on Southern Avenue and Rural Road. The school was an adobe building, later upgraded to a wood-framed school, that served the children of farmers in the area and from as far as Guadalupe. The Rural School taught first through eighth grade, and was partially taught by students from the Normal School, now Arizona State University, according to the Tempe History Museum.
Sossaman Road
The Sossaman family moved to Arizona in 1914 after their Texas pig farm was destroyed by a hurricane, according to the Arizona Farm Bureau. The family secured two homesteads in Queen Creek; the farm expanded to cover 1,000 acres growing cotton, watermelon, potatoes, Durham wheat, castor beans, corn and sugar beets.
Stapley Drive
O.S. Stapley, a businessman and community leader, settled in Mesa in 1882. Stapley opened his Mesa hardware store, which provided many construction materials for the Theodore Roosevelt Dam site. He also acquired the International Harvester franchise for Maricopa and Pinal counties. He later moved his businesses’ operations to Grand Avenue in downtown Phoenix and opened more locations in metro Phoenix.
Thomas Road
Named after William E. Thomas, who was the Arizona territorial deputy county recorder at the turn of the century. Thomas owned a ranch 1½ miles north of the city limits, then called Van Buren.
Thunderbird Road
Thunderbird Road was named after a U.S. Army Corps training field during World War II.
Val Vista Drive
Val Vista Drive was renamed after Val Vista Citrus Groves in 1959. At that time, metro Phoenix had large groves growing oranges, lemons and other fruits. Before that it was called “Reebes,” ADOT said.
Warner Road
Warner Road began as a short “road of convenience.” When the Kyrene School District was founded in 1888, area leaders decided to extend a road from the first school to the second school, naming it after the prominent Warner family.
Samuel Warner, an Indiana native, served on the Kyrene Governing Board from 1916 to 1919. Lydia Schoch Warner homesteaded 160 acres of land on the southeastern corner of what is now the intersection of Warner Road and Priest Drive. Their daughter, Edith Warner Owens, attended the original Kyrene School as a child.
Williams Field Road
In early 1941, the United States Army Air Corps drafted plans to construct a training facility east of Chandler. Williams Field was completed in October of that year, and Cleveland Road was renamed Williams Field Road when inaugurated. The road, which was extended to reach the airfield, became a major point of travel between Gilbert and Chandler.
With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States found itself embroiled in war and Williams Field Road became increasingly important. Due to the location of the airbase, the road was a recipient of government funding for improvements that included road signs, widening in some areas and new paving.
Reporting by Shelby Slade, Arizona Republic
