Higley as Home

In pursuit of documenting history, Your Friendly Higley Historians have closely observed the reasons why people have come to the home they know as Higley. Varying personal differences aside, it is clear that all found opportunity and peace of mind in Higley, discovering that if you worked hard enough with the resources available, what was seen as an unforgiving desert would open up with everything needed to sustain generations to come. The damage of floods, fires, droughts, and dust over the years did not make the citizens of the area falter, instead added to the resilience of their character.

As the years have passed, the residents of Higley have strengthened their ability to deal with the elements but witnessed their environment and common goals shift drastically under the weight of growth. While Higley faces obsoleteness, residents ponder daily on what Higley as home means to them, what they'll do to fight for it and the implications of leaving it all behind. In the upcoming months we will share the stories of residents instrumental in asking and answering these questions.

Below are links to the East Valley Tribune's articles regarding the litigation between Leni Cazden and the Town of Gilbert. Cazden owns a home adjacent to Higley Road that TOG has slated for widening. The caveat is that Cazden's property is located on a county island in what was known as the unincorporated town of Higley. What land belongs to who has been mediated, decided in Cazden's favor and appealed by the Town repeatedly in court. Parties attribute the conflict to aesthetics, safety, greed and necessity.

For a little bit of history, county islands were created decades ago when towns all over the valley strip annexed small, thin strips of land beyond their limits creating "planning area" boundaries. The act of strip annexation kept competing towns outside the lines, and allowed incorporated towns to claim land away from city center as available for annexation, permitting that utilities/services were able to be provided in the best interest of government. As the incorporated towns and cities grew, official annexations were done on an as-needed basis, leaving a map of random town holdings and non-contiguous county islands inside the "planning area."

Whether you are studying the lives of those who made Higley home in the past or those trying to keep it as that in the present, we ask you to delve further and think about what home in your town means to you. Historical topics for research specific to Higley and Gilbert can include annexation, incorporation, property rights, sustainable growth and impact of public involvement in local decision making. If you seek information about what home means to other county island residents throughout the state, and nation for that matter, a library card, access to newspaper archives, or internet search will hopefully answer your questions. Spend an afternoon researching everything you can and report your findings here as One of Many Friendly Historians.

Homeowner, Gilbert in dispute over road proposal Beth Lucas - 11/3/2007

Court rejects Gilbert's eminent domain claim Beth Lucas- 1/24/2008

Gilbert votes to continue fight for land Blake Herzog - 6/5/2009

Opinion - Gilbert shouldn't throw away money on losing case Le Templar - 6/6/2009

Higley's Teachers of the Year

On May 13th, 2009, Your Friendly Higley Historians were honored to be in attendance of a very special "first" in Higley schools. The evening launched Higley Unified School District's "Teacher of the Year" award ceremony, giving accolades to one exemplary teacher from each of the nine schools.

For a small back story, Higley School District was founded in 1909 with one K-8 school. The Rittenhouse School in Queen Creek (current home to the San Tan Historical Society) was originally in the school district when it opened its doors in 1922 and remained until Queen Creek started their own district in 1947. The little Higley School braved many years by itself until 2000 to 2009 when the district added nine new schools, including the opening of Centennial Elementary this fall.

During the past 100 years, the faculty, staff and volunteers, many one in the same, have been integral to the district's survival and more importantly, to the students' success. Now we may all have our opinions and know our facts as to what makes a good teacher and a bad one, but it is undisputed that the teachers who make learning fun and memorable (*sometimes this isn't always fun), are worth their weight in gold. In Higley, there have been many who have risen to the occasion and remained tirelessly committed in finding ways to engage their students in education.

Carol Johnson, science teacher between 1974 and 2004, thrilled her students arranging a "magic show" of the year's science lessons which were demonstrated to the extremely impressed younger students. Ann Udall, librarian, orchestrated the "Book Brigade" in 1989 when the new library was built. She lined the students from the new building to the old and, in a lesson of teamwork, they passed the books along to each other until the new shelves were filled. As noted in MHH!'s post "Higley Elementary Cornerstone Contents Revealed," Sue Sossaman instructed and made her students marvel in the way of being fearless, especially when it came to snakes!

Wednesday evening's ceremony was 100 years in the making. It would have been impossible to name all of the teachers from Higley whose commitment to education has left a lasting impression; but let it be known, on the evening of May 20th, 2009, before the eyes of students, colleagues and the business community that depends on our best and brightest, we clapped for each and every one of them and the difference they made in the life of a child.

Thank you kindly Higley Teachers of the Year, Yesteryears, and Future - YOU make US proud. We are eternally grateful for your support in the past and excited to see your efforts in the years to come.

Higley Unified honors nine teachers of the year, Emily Gersema, azcentral.com - 5/15/09

The Cartography of Higley

As with all cities, the publication of maps is a defining attribute in recording it's actual existence. However, "elusive" is not an understatement for Higley and those who seek a map of the place have endured a different experience. The visual aid of Higley's boundaries has depended entirely on who you ask. If you were to do an Internet search today for a Higley map, the marker would probably be on the spot where the post office stands, since that is technically the only place you can be from Higley now. Some utility maps today still have Higley marked with a southern boundary of Hunt Highway on the Pinal County line.

When founded, Higley served as a postal district, school district and commercial center for the entire San Tan farming community, what we now know as Queen Creek, Combs, Chandler Heights, south Mesa and Gilbert. Additionally, census records ran through Higley until the respective communities carved their own way. As small of a place that it started out to be, Higley truly was a "gateway" between the cities of the southeast valley and Pinal County's capital in Florence.

Your Friendly Higley Historians ask anyone who has a map of Higley to let us know, we would greatly appreciate a copy for posterity. Please email makehigleyhistoric@cox.net with any research leads, we can look on your behalf as well.

In the meantime, Make Higley Historic! is pleased to announce Higley's revival on a very special map. With the help of Andrew Phelps' internationally acclaimed work, Higley has made it on to the Future Arts Research at ASU's "101 Things We Love About Arizona" interactive map. FAR @ ASU is an initiative of the university president's office to expand the role of arts in Phoenix and greater Arizona through action research, public programs and new commissions. To see all of their "hot spots" and find out more about their sponsored events, go to http://futureartsresearch.asu.edu/hot-spots .

Your Friendly Higley Historians all concur that it's a breath of fresh air to be put on a map - we had grown quite accustomed to the opposite! Thank you kindly FAR @ ASU for your hard work and making both Higley's historic value and continued presence known.

Higley by Andrew Phelps

Higley's gone international!

While your Friendly Higley Historians were digging into the past in ASU's library catalog, we were were pleasantly surprised in coming upon a relic of the present, Higley (Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg, 2007), a photographic documentary on, you guessed it, Higley, AZ.

Raised in Mesa and Austrian resident since the early 90's, photographer Andrew Phelps returned to the Higley of his past and spent the years 2005-2007 documenting Higley as it stood. Contributor Tamarra Kaida writes "Photography may be the most important medium to express the loss that time and change foist upon us." Now, we try at MHH! to refrain from opinions, but we agree whole-heartedly with her sentiments on this one.

And...... have Higley, will travel! Andrew Phelps' Higley has been seen in gallery showings in Austria, Germany, and New York - the photo above is Higley in Hamburg! Higley was also shortlisted in 2008 for both the German Photo Book award and Arles book list.

Art is truly a personal experience and in light of such a fact, below is the description of the project in his own words. A copy of the book, inclusive of the essay, Losing Ground, scribed by Tamarra Kaida will be available at the San Tan Historical Society by 4/24. Selected photos, along with additional work, can be seen at Phelps' website -http://www.andrew-phelps.com/ and copies are available for purchase through the distributor - http://www.photoeye.com/.

Thank you very kindly, Andrew, for making Higley's present historic value known, and more importantly, speaking with your voice loud enough for the world to hear. We are very pleased that it carried far enough to make it back home.

http://www.andrew-phelps.com/projects/higley/index.html


Andrew Phelps
ALWAYS EAST
Higley

The Higley of my childhood was a farming expanse of cotton, alfalfa, citrus, and otherwise empty desert pierced by two-lane, rough-paved roads with names like Pecos and Ray. Higley was always east. We drove west to go to parties, to the university, to the city, and, if you drove long enough, to the Pacific Ocean. West was where the action was.Higley always seemed east of everything.

Higley was a farming town, but there are few farmers in my blood. My grandfather was a dairy man, but he left Phoenix early in search of a spiritual higher ground. My other grandfather came to service airplanes during WW2 and, drawn by the legend of the “Lost Dutchman Goldmine,” stayed after the war to become the local postman, conveniently leaving his afternoons free to plan assaults on the supposedly gold-ridden flanks of the Superstition Mountains.

I moved to Europe in the early 1990’s. At that time, my last visit to Higley had most likely been in 1987 to try my luck on a skateboard half-pipe called the “Hillbilly” ramp. When my sister called me a few years ago to tell me that she bought a house in Higley, I had visions of her tending alfalfa fields; romantic, in a sense, but not exciting. I simply had no memories and no recollections of a Higley that could possibly appease my sister’ suburban standards.

What I didn’t know is that the turn of the century had changed Higley from a community of farms to a community of bedrooms. The sudden need for affordable housing in an ever expanding Phoenix had basically arisen from two factors: first, there was the eastward wandering of tech companies that preferred the low-cost of Phoenix to the high cost density of “Silicon Valley,” and second, there was the financially stable, sun-seeking consumer group known as the “senior citizen.” Uninteresting to the true Yuppie who preferred to buy in the north, Higley supplied what progress demanded: great expanses of flatland and no historical infrastructure to stand in the way of the giant strip malls, fast food chains, and freeway turnpikes that would become the brightly-lit circulatory system of this new, affordable Higley.

What has happened to Higley is nothing new. Driven by the fleeting historical anomaly of readily available fossil fuels, cheap transport, and the commercial opportunism of affordable real estate, Higley is happening at the fringe of almost every urban space on the planet. “Globalization” is the catchphrase, but globalization is just too monumental to take on in a photographic series. Higley is thus my microcosm; I can get my hands around it, and when I want, Higley remains the kind of place I can walk across in an afternoon.

Neither the Higley of twenty years ago, nor the Higley of the future, are of interest to me. It’s this moment, where one place, with a definitive history, is rapidly losing ground to an undifferentiated sense of progress. These images from Higley and the surrounding townships of Queen Creek and Gilbert will hopefully bear witness to this brief three year period, a period when the American dream either collapses or blooms; it’s not my place to judge.

More than once, in the last three years, have I found myself at five a.m. in a borrowed car, missing my family, with a box of unexposed film haunting me from the passenger seat, unsure that anything in this now foreign place would ever open itself to me again. Though it is thinning, I still have family in Higley, and when I lose my way and don’t know where to set up the camera, I can always go back and find pieces of myself in this landscape, these fields, this light.

Andrew Phelps, Summer 2007

Higley Elementary Cornerstone Contents Revealed!

During a recent interview with our Friendly Higley Historians at Higley Elementary, Vicki Simer and Michelle Young, the contents of a cornerstone placed in 1954 were uncovered! The building that held the cornerstone was constructed in 1954 and removed nearly 50 years later when Higley Elementary underwent major reconstruction. Below illustrates the occurrences on dedication day along with a poem read aloud. A list of the parents and patrons attending and all of the students in their respective classes will be available at the San Tan Historical Society for viewing. Come take a look and see if any of your relatives or friends were there. If you have memories of this day, building, or events surrounding the time, please share! All items of Higley historical significance are greatly appreciated at Make Higley Historic!

Program

Dedication of New Building

May 7, 1954

1. Flag Salute led by Clyde Fincher
2. The American's Creed - 5th and 6th Grade Pupils led by Larry Power
3. Invocation - Reverend Alford
4. Address - Mr. Germann
5. Placing of Cornerstone - Mr. Claude Connell
6. Dedication of Building - Mr. Wilbur Power
7. Presentation of Building - Mr. Tom Harris
8. Acceptance of Building - Margaret Burrows

To The Future Inhabitants Of Higley

by Claude Connell

This is a year we won't forget, the year of fifty-four,
So many things have happened, we hardly know the score,
We've built brand new building, as all of us can see;
But probably when you read this note, it will all be debris.

We have a crew of teachers that is very hard to beat,
We don't know where we'd find some of them to fill their seat.
Their teaching methods are good, their moral standards are high.
The goals they set to reach are almost to the sky.

The children of the school are as happy as can be,
And at recess, they laugh and play and are so full of glee.
Most are well adjusted, and like to go to school,
They learn their lessons well; not one we'd call a fool.

There are five first class teachers in this little five room school,
Away out in the country where they use the horse and mule.
They try to teach the children the way they should act,
But at times they get together and form a pact.

At times it is discouraging trying to figure what to do,
When Mary comes complaining that her hair is full of glue.
If we are going by the rules, put blame where blame is due;
But how's a teacher going to prove just who poured the glue.

We have got a wonderful teacher, that can even charm a snake;
Her name is Mrs. Sue Sossaman, Oh gee, she takes the cake.
She reachers down behind the head and holds it by the neck,
Lifts it up over the fence, and sets it down, by heck.

There are so many other things that happen around here too,
We won't mention them, don't want to start a stew.
Most of us have been here for many, many years,
So we're all so very careful of what we say, my dears.

We hope that this new building will prove its weight in gold.
That it will help the teacher, the little children mold.
So they have happy memories, of the time that we all gave,
To help them on their journey, and help their road to pave.

This will all have happened, so many years ago,
I doubt if you will believe, if any of it is so.
You have torn down the building, that we so proudly gave;
But we will not worry, because we'll be in our grave.

The Higley Post Office

For those skeptics who argue that Higley never was, here is a reminder that Higley is and always will be 85236 - our famous and beloved zip code. As an unincorporated town, annexation into neighboring communities has removed Higley street addresses, but its existence carries on through the Higley Post Office.

Records show that in 1910, Higley's post office was established with Laurence Holland Sorey (also seen with other spelling variations) as the postmaster. The post office was situated in the the building shown at the top of the Make Higley Historic website. This building is currently the Higley Stop & Shop/Taco Loco on the southwest corner of Higley and Williams Field. L.H. Sorey established a general store and the post office (not Stephen Higley), accommodating homesteaders, rail workers, and farm hands in the area . According to a written history by Elsie Owens Germann, he and his family lived on the second level up a flight of very steep stairs. His children were Jim and Matilda. Matilda delivered the mail via horseback to the rural patrons in the area commencing in 1915. The grandson of LH, Jack, says that it wouldn't matter if she would fall asleep on the route because the horse knew where to stop.

Considering lack of government in Higley, postmasters served as an unofficial mayors, if you will, openly facilitating commerce, community and communication. In Mr. Sorey's case, as a member of the Higley Chamber of Commerce, he was instrumental in lobbying for a road connecting Florence to Chandler (see 11/26/08 MHH! blogspot post). Some other early Higley postmasters include AJ Walker, Mary Owens and Mrs. English.

Post offices were eventually established in Chandler Heights (1938) and Queen Creek (1947) , but Higley continued to serve its own community along with Williams Air Force Base and neighboring towns of Mesa and Gilbert. After almost 80 years of operation in the same building, Higley's post office was built anew in 1989, 1/4 mile from the northeast corner of Higley and Ray. Unofficial records have shown Higley serving anywhere from 1000 patrons up to 4000 at its peak before Gilbert absorbed the last of the street delivery in 2007. The PO Box patrons at the Higley Post Office are the only remaining addressees of the historic community Higley, AZ 85236.

Despite the lack of street delivery, the Higley Post Office continues to be an institution most revered by the locals. Predating phone, fax, email, and annexation, the Higley Post Office remains as the original "gateway" to communication for the residents in the southeast Valley and coming up on 100 years of public service to boot! Many pine for the days when waiting lines were non-existent, but remain endlessly grateful of the role it has played in the area's progress and that it continues to stand as a testament to Higley's heritage.

If you have memories and/or inquiries regarding the history of the Higley Post Office we'd love to hear them, investigate on your behalf or point you in the right direction for more research. As with all posts on the Make Higley Historic! blogspot, please feel free to concur with or out-right question any of the information above. We want to hear from you!

Higley Elementary 8th Grade Class 1956

Thank you Larry Power for this great photo of Higley's 8th grade graduating class from Higley Elementary in 1956. All but one person is accounted for but maybe another friendly historian can help fill in the blank...........

Have a great day and thanks again for your interest in making Higley historic!

What's Your Higley Story?

As mentioned in Gilbert's 1/10/09 East Valley Tribune - without government, Higley has moved along for the last 100 years as a "people's place." Commerce, education, communication and most importantly community has made Higley what it is and Higley wants your story! Your Friendly Higley Historians invite anyone who wants to share a glimmer of the past, present and future of Higley to comment to this post. Since we're chugging along with the past, here are some historical topics of interest that we're digging up, and feel free to add to the list. And don't be shy, we invite all to help us out with the present and future!

Prehistoric Higley
Homesteaders in Higley
Higley School District
Civic Duties in Higley (clubs and business associations)
Higley Gets Electrified (in 1917!)
Higley in Wartime
Agricultural Life
Aviation in Higley - Williams Air Force Base/Gateway
Religion in Higley
Higley's African-American Community
Higley Recreation
Military Life in Higley
Mid-Westerners Attack!
Higley’s Hispanic Community
Higley Commerce

Share as little or as much information as you like; dates, sources and just random memories are all appreciated too. And remember, EVERYONE will be reading this so we ask authors to be mindful/respectful of the wide audience the Internet affords us. We thank you all again kindly for your interest in making Higley's historic value known and look forward to some great stories!

Higley Strives to Hold on to Heritage

Check out Blake Herzog's article in today's Gilbert East Valley Tribune. You may have caught the paper version with the big lovely pictures but be sure to read the online version for the full text. Have a lovely day and thanks again for your help in making Higley historic!

Driving Chandler's Streets

Happy New Year!!!

Attached is a link to a website offering histories on the roads that run through the southeast valley as assembled by the staff and students of Chandler Gilbert Community College. This collection was sponsored by the City of Chandler who has partnered with CGCC in Community History Projects, which focuses on oral histories and community based research in an effort to preserve the past.

Higley isn't a featured road on the page, but ours is a history that is shared with southerly horizontal streets, so this site was definitely worth sharing with you all!

Driving Chandler's Streets: The History of Chandler's Streets as told by CGCC Students

Chandler History Community History Projects

Merry Christmas!!

Hello Friends-

Your Friendly Higley Historians would like to wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons and thank you kindly for your interest and support in making Higley's historic value known.

This year has been quite eventful, and not just for Higley. Your Friendly Higley Historians are on break to gear up for the next year's Higley Histories. We encourage anyone to share any photos, stories and input on the following topics:

Prehistoric Higley

Homesteaders in Higley
Higley School District
Civic Duties in Higley (clubs and business associations)
Higley Gets Electrified (in 1917!)
Higley in Wartime
Agricultural Life
Aviation in Higley - Williams Air Force Base/Gateway
Religion in Higley

Higley's African-American Community
Higley Recreation
Military Life in Higley
Mid-Westerners Attack!
Higley’s Hispanic Community
Higley Commerce

We hope that everyone enjoys the next week with their friends and family. No matter what we celebrate at the end of the year, being grateful for our loved ones, near and far, here and gone, is truly what it's all about.

Be safe and kind and Merry Merry Christmas!!!!!

San Tan Indian Arts

The East Valley Tribune recently published this story about Higley's San Tan Arts Store and the changes the they will be undergoing due to the road widening.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/article_41db8cf2-9c57-521c-a505-e200ace63c4c.html

Someone Blogged About Our Blog - Awesome!

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/CindyHernandez/40486

RWCD

The acronym above is one that may not be familiar to most who see it, but the townsfolk of Higley are quite aware – Roosevelt Water Conservation District, one of Higley’s oldest enterprises. RWCD occupies the northwest corner of the Higley and Williams Field intersection and they have remained there, mostly unchanged, since 1924.

Many newcomers may not be familiar to the history of the area yet, but there is consensus that desert living – past present, and future - would be next to impossible with out the advent of air conditioning and water supply. Although many had to do without the air conditioning for quite some time (very unfortunate!), water had been a managed resource long before any Western civilization had come into play. The prehistoric Hohokam culture is to be credited with the creation of many of the water ways used by the Salt River Project today, but here in the east valley, we can thank the folks at Roosevelt Water Conservation District for making this our viable economic and residential center.

One of Your Friendly Higley Historians landed an exclusive meeting with fourth generation employee, Shane Leonard, and he provided an extensively researched historical report that was commissioned by SRP and written by Scott W. Solliday, Historian, and Shelley C. Dudley, SRP Research Archives, to better help in sharing how RWCD came to be.

In 1920, Howard S. Reed and Frank H. Parker made a proposition to the Chandler and Mesa Chambers of Commerce to create an irrigation district that would be sustained by the excess water shed of the Salt and Verde Rivers in addition to water extracted from the water table below by means of electric wells. The area east of the Salt River Project had been deemed not profitable by the Salt River Valley Water Users Association. The citizens in the eastern area (now Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Queen Creek) already profiting greatly from the irrigation produced by gasoline powered wells, took it upon themselves to form the Auxilary Eastern Canal Land Owner’s Association, which would be in charge of the infrastructure needed to sustain a viable water source for the farmers in the Auxiliary Eastern Canal District.

Their Association and District was approved at the federal, state and local level, but an early reliance on groundwater with no determination of water levels and a poor economy shied away investors and temporarily slowed the organization’s efforts. In 1923, the District saw the potential of using concrete to line the waterways, which increased profitability by allowing easier cleaning and prevented losses by evaporation and seepage. In a move of ingenuity to secure more surface water, the District made a proposal to the members of SRP’s Association that would have the District pay for the concrete lining of portions of SRP’s South Canal, Consolidated Canal and all of the Eastern Canal and its extension, in exchange for an allocation of the amount of water conserved (this was later clarified as 5.6% of the total diversion of water at Granite Reef Dam). With a new agreement in place outlining the District’s water delivery, energy investment, and allocated water, they reorganized in 1924 under the new name Roosevelt Water Conservation District, named after the President who set the pace for Salt River Valley with the construction of the Roosevelt Dam. (fun fact – maps indicate that Apache Trail also went by Roosevelt Road at the time – Teddy was quite a guy!)

RWCD began construction of their infrastructure in 1925 and completed in 1928. During that time, they built their Main Pumping Plant (this moves the allocated water from SRP’s canals to RWCD) located in north Mesa, the RWCD Main Canal, groundwater wells, and a network of electricity to power the operation. With an additional amount invested into SRP’s Association, RWCD secured electricity at reduced rates, allowing more income to be generated by selling the excess electricity to the farms. At the end of construction, RWCD was irrigating 38,500 acres of the original 41,500 placed in the district which spanned about 22 miles from north Mesa to the Pinal County line and ranged from 2-5 miles wide. When you take into account the 16 bridges over the Main Canal, 106 miles of laterals connecting the fields to the supply, and 2.8 million square feet of concrete to make it all happen.... well, it's quite safe to say that it was a "Modern Marvel" of its time.

Over the years, the RWCD has changed and adapted along with the community it serves. RWCD continued to grow it’s water portfolio and currently uses a mix of Salt and Verde River water, Colorado River water (CAP), groundwater and a limited amount of effluent. They no longer deliver power to the residents and (if you can believe it) they have a lot fewer fields to tend to. But they are still very much hard at work delivering the water needed to sustain life in the desert. Anyone who has had to partake in the 2 am valve turning for your irrigated lot knows that water management is quite an orchestrated event!

So if you ever get a chance to meet someone who works at the RWCD, make sure to give them a big Higley handshake and/or hug. We thank them kindly for their hard work, foresight in the community and most importantly, for making their palm tree-lined presence Higley history.

http://rwcd.net/library/facilitiesmap.pdf

Preserving Higley

This article by Lindsey Walker & EJ Anderson about preserving Higley was actually published on 11/29/08 in the Gilbert AZ Republic Weekend Edition (paper print).

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2008/12/02/20081202gr-walkercol1129.html

Much Ado About A Road

For anyone who wasn't aware - the intersection at Higley and Williams Field will be undergoing some changes that will make it a bit easier to let us all pass through - hello six lane road! However, it may be of interest that this isn't the first time that Higley has been at the center of transportation progress.

Sue Sossaman writes in her essay about Higley that The Higley Chamber of Commerce in 1912 was instrumental in lobbying the Board of Supervisors of Pinal County for a road connecting Florence to the Pinal County line. Higley citizens agreed to take it to Higley and the Chandler citizens to Chandler. Hunt Highway became a state highway in 1915. It was built with prison labor and named after the Governor, George WP Hunt.

Sossaman also writes that the ladies of Higley joined together to form the Linger Longer Civic Club and with the help of the Chandler Civic Club, arranged the men, tools, and mules (fed them too!)to bridge the eight miles between Chandler and Higley.

I wonder how wide that street was that they carved out in comparison to the six lanes that will be....hmmm....

If you know of any relatives who participated in this undertaking, we'd be much obliged to hear their stories passed on.

Our Namesake, Stephen Weaver Higley

In addition to wondering where Higley actually is, some may ask, how did Higley come to be? There are some details that are unclear but we do know that our community was named after Stephen Weaver Higley, railroad pioneer, publishing magnate, rancher and business man extraordinaire.

But before I start on S.W.’s history, I’d like to tell you about one of Higley’s first Friendly Historians, an Iowan named Parker Higley who traveled through the area in 1971. While driving on the I-10, Parker was directed to the town that shared his name by following an exit to “Chandler-Higley.” Considering the name Higley was quite uncommon (he even notes that he looks at the phone books when he travels, and Alaska had the most Higley’s) he was compelled to find out everything there was to know about the man who founded this town.

Well lucky for us! In my research about Higley, Parker Higley’s analysis was the most extensive about our founder’s life and genealogy (about 20 pages of extensive). A very kind thank you goes to Parker Higley for following his curiosity! A copy of his 1972 letter to the Higley postmaster can be found at San Tan Historical Society.

S.W. Higley (1857-1935) was an industrious man whose story exemplifies the allure of the wild west at the turn of the century, the hard work it took to sustain a life here and the benefits reaped by doing so. A native of Ohio, he ran away from his father’s ranch while living in Missouri and was hired by the stagecoach company as a shotgun guard on stages that ran out west. When he was around 15 or 16, the Santa Fe Rail Co. hired him to work in Kansas City as a laborer. His large stature (6’7 and 270lbs!) made him a great candidate for such jobs. According to S.W.’s obituary, his work as a Santa Fe Rail superintendant had taken him to Prescott, AZ where the rail company was headquartered. While there, he is credited with building the short line between Arizona and California which ran through Parker, the Phoenix/Hayden, AZ line and the Crown King road. After working on the line for 35 years, he resigned in 1909 and turned his endeavors to procuring land in the Salt River Valley for ranching mainly sheep. His land holdings were 8300 acres in Higley; 4600 acres in Avondale area; and 640 acres south of Tempe. His personal residences were listed in downtown Phoenix and Paradise Valley where he had a 160+ acre ranch.

S.W.’s life was blessed with family, but appears to have had just as many hardships as joys. His first wife, Sarah Henson, who bore his first two children Claude and Thomas Henson, died when she was 23 and he 28. Their eldest son Claude died in 1893, four years after her death. He was seven years old. S.W. married again and had two children, Jessie and James, with wife Jessie Howe. Both of his sons served in WWI and, sadly, his son James perished in the battle. After divorcing Jessie at an unknown date, he married Olga Johnson in Los Angeles in 1920, and had another daughter, Cynthia, who would have been 14 when he died in 1935.

In the years leading up to Arizona’s statehood in 1912, S.W. Higley had just resigned from the railroad and was a very busy man! In 1909 at 52, he and a friend, Sims Ely purchased the Arizona Republican (the Republic’s predecessor). He served as the president while Mr. Ely was the General Manager. In 1911, S.W. purchased Mr. Ely’s interest in the paper and then sold the publication to Dwight B. Heard in 1912.

After the sale of the newspaper, he continued to pursue his ranching interests and then moved to Oklahoma in 1925. He continued to ranch sheep until he died on 7/26/1935 in Woodward, Oklahoma.

So... back to how the area known as Higley came to be. S.W. held about 8300 acres of land here, and according to the book of Arizona Name Places (Byrd Granger, U of A Press, 1960), he “was concerned with construction of the Phoenix and Eastern Railroad” in this area. What the latter means, I’m not quite sure, considering he had just stopped working with the railroad. In 1910, the post office in Higley, AZ was established for the community with Lawrence H. Sarey as the postmaster. And the rest is Higley history…..

Please feel free to add to, repudiate, or contribute pictures to this story about the founder of our town, ahemm, okay, really, our historic postal community, Stephen Weaver Higley.

Some questions I would like answered are this:

Did he name it after himself or was someone honoring him? I ask this because the town came into place at the same time he purchased the Republican.

Did he fund the construction of the Higley store and what was his interest if so? The farming community didn’t really pick up momentum until the years after the founding of Higley. Was he predicting growth or did he want to fill the need for a specific community? What was his tie to this area outside of the land he owned?

Did he make any attempt to establish a governing board in this community; did he have any interest in an executive position?

It is rumored that he built the building next to the store (the blue one that San Tan Arts currently occupies) for his daughter. There was no kitchen in it because she couldn’t cook. Can anyone verify that information?

Any idea when he released his land holdings in Higley? Any Higley’s still in Higley?

An editorial in the Republican was released on 8/31/1909 announcing the new owners and their commitment to publish without bias, prejudice, or distortion (“inaccurate information is always a nuisance” it states). Parker Higley’s notes say that S.W.’s sole purpose for buying the paper was to use it as a tool to promote the Republican Party, which was in the minority at the time. I am guessing that everyone had input about the direction we would/wouldn’t take as a state. I would love to know more about the political power struggle at that time.

James Macchiaroli Fruit Co.

Here's a postcard that I picked up on ebay showing the James Macchiaroli Fruit Co. - "Modern Fruit Packing Plant and Cocktail Grove" and a "Focal Point for Winter Visitors." The postmark is from Chandler and appears to be in 1962.

This building is currently being used as Sharon Fillman's State Farm office. She recently told me that people who pass through remember this place as a bar. She took it on after a furniture shop used it.

She also said that this building was attached to a refrigerated box car with space where ice blocks could be dropped in. After the annexation, the town and owner deemed it necessary to remove the rail cart. The process was arduous since the whole back wall of the property was nailed to this box car and roof of the permanent edifice was constructed over it. She assumes that the rail cart came first!

If you have any information about this building, who built it, owned it, used it - do share!

Honk If You Love Higley, AZ!

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. Please feel free to email any photos you would like to share to makehigleyhistoric@cox.net 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!