Honk if You Love Higley!

Welcome to the the Make Higley Historic! blogspot! Your definitive source of Higley happenings - past, present and future.

Anyone who knows Higley is aware that its boundaries and residents have been quite elusive the last 100 years. This page has been created to bring together fellow Higleans, Gilbillies, San Tan-ites, travelers and friends who all have something to say about the history of this unique place.

Higley needs your voice! If you are interested in authoring posts for this community blog, we'd love to hear from you and the site administrator will get you set up.


Please feel free to email any photos you would like to share to makehigleyhistoric@gmail.com and we will add them to the page. And if you know of any older folks who may not be technologically savvy or speak only Spanish, let us know and we can arrange an interview so their stories are recorded as well.

We look forward to hearing from many and hope you all check in weekly for updates and new posts about our history and our efforts for recognition. Thank you kindly for all of your support in making Higley's historic value known!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Home, Home on the Germann Homestead


Much of the land that we are familiar with in and around Higley was claimed and farmed by pioneers who took advantage of the federal government’s homesteading program during the 1800-1900s. One such pioneering family was the Germanns.
On January 2, 1913 Anna Mathilde H. Germann applied to the U.S. Department of the Interior for a 311-acre tract of desert land in Higley. Her intentions were to convert this harsh and untamed land into a working farm. That she did, and soon after, her husband , John, and sons Paul, Edmund and Walter would follow her example and  increase the Germann farmland holdings to over 1,700 acres.     
I invite you to my website, www.germannhomesteaders.org to learn more about the homesteading process, the original Germann homestead and what was to follow.