City of Glendale - News

Happy Birthday Glendale

Celebrating a history of achievement

On February 27, the city of Glendale will celebrate 114 years as a community. It’s hard to imagine the vibrant, thriving Glendale of today as it was 114 years ago – a barren desert. But all it took was some water, an important roadway and a very special man named W.J. Murphy to turn that desert into gold.

W.J. Murphy

Murphy was hired in 1883 to oversee a 44-mile canal project that would bring much needed water to the Glendale area. The ambitious Murphy signed a contract that stated if he did not complete the project on schedule he wouldn’t receive compensation for his work.

The canal was finished by 1885, which meant water and new settlements for the West Valley. But Murphy’s work was far from done. Three years later, a group of men that included Murphy constructed a diagonal road that connected Phoenix to Peoria – it was called Grand Avenue and would become one of the main thoroughfares in Glendale. But it took four more years before Glendale’s first residential area was surveyed and platted. It was called Hadsell’s Addition after the man who settled it, and along with being a temperance colony it would mark the birth of Glendale.

Farming Days and Beyond

At first, this new farming community limped along, struggling to attract and keep residents. That is until the Santa Fe Railroad was completed in 1895, which brought an immediate boost to Glendale’s development and economy. In the next few years, this commerce brought the community its first public library, public park and telephones.

But it wasn’t until after the turn of the century in 1910 that Glendale was incorporated and the city’s first mayor was elected. One year later, the Glendale Union High School District was formed and the city’s first schools, Glendale Union High School and Glendale Grammar School, were erected in 1913.
By 1930, the City of Glendale was really coming into its own when it became known as one of the nation’s top produce shippers. And nearly 20 years later, Luke Air Force Base was reactivated, making Glendale a very important Arizona city.

But by no means does the city’s history end there. With Jobing.com Arena, the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. , Fiesta Bowls and a Super Bowl in 2008, the history books remain open on Glendale.