Desert Visions and the Making of Phoenix, 1860-2009 Book

Tables xi

Figures xii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

Part I The First Desert Vision: An American Eden 9

1 Civilizing the Desert: The Initial Phase 11

Physical Realities and Early Settlement 11

The Town That Agriculture Built 16

Building a Town 20

Establishing the Public City 27

Building a Hydraulic System: Controlling and Using Water 29

Climate and Health 33

2 Building the Modern City: Physical Form and Function 37

Phoenix in an Urban Context, 1890-1920 38

The Changing Urban Form 42

The Changing Urban Form I: Downtown 42

The Changing Urban Form II: From Streetcar Suburbs to Automobile Suburbs 48

Remaking or Saving the Desert 52

3 Shaping the Modern American City: Social Construction 57

Making a Moral City 57

Making a Cultured City 61

A Lively City 65

Social Structures and Diverse Peoples 68

Governing the City 71

Selling the City 76

Crisis and Completion: The 1930s 79

Controlling the Climate 83

The Phoenix Economic Elite 85

Phoenix in 1940 88