South Phoenix

South Phoenix, also known as the South Mountain Village, South Mountain District or SoMo, is a neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona. It has the boundaries of 27th Avenue to the west, 48th Sreet (Phoenix/Tempe Border) to the east, the Rio Salado (Salt River) to the north and South Mountain Park to the south. [ [http://phoenix.gov/PLANNING/vpmapsm.pdf South Mountain Village Map] ] Major arterial east-west streets include Broadway Road, Southern Avenue, and Baseline Road, all of which connect South Phoenix with the suburb of Tempe.

History

The first land purchase recorded in South Phoenix occurred near what is today 15th Avenue and Broadway, where Noah Matthew Broadway, who was Maricopa County Sheriff from 1884-1885, purchased land in 1871 which became the convert|160|acre|km2|sing=on Broadway Ranch. The land was otherwise unpopulated at the time except for a few Mexican grain farmers who lived south of the Salt River between what are now 24th St. and 48th St. [cite paper | author = Ryden, Don W. | title = South Mountain Agricultural Area Historic Resources Survey | date = 1989-08 | publisher = City of Phoenix Planning Department p. 16.]

In May 1873, Prescott merchant Michael Wormser made arrangements to supply the Mexican farmers, and required them to obtain legal title to their land. When they ended up falling into debt, he took possession of their land, acquiring convert|9000|acre|km2 of land in South Phoenix and Tempe. After Wormser's death on April 25, 1898, most of his real estate holdings were purchased on January 9, 1901 by land and cattle magnate Dwight B. Heard, who also ran The Arizona Republican (now The Arizona Republic) newspaper from 1912 until his death in 1929. This land, which includes most of the northeast part of South Phoenix, became the Bartlett-Heard Ranch, which began being subdivided and sold for homesites on March 20, 1910. Most of the land initially sold from the Ranch was between 7th Avenue and 16th Street, and between Broadway Road and Southern Ave., mostly for small farms, in an area that became known as Roosevelt Place when it was developed into residential homes on one- and two-acre lots in the 1920s. [cite paper | author = Ryden, Don W. | title = South Mountain Agricultural Area Historic Resources Survey | date = 1989-08 | publisher = City of Phoenix Planning Department pp. 16, 18, 23-24, 52-53.]

During 1912-1913, the Highline and Western canals were built to supply water from the Salt River to the South Mountain area, which led to further agricultural development. In addition to raising cattle, the land was used for raising alfalfa, cotton, oranges and other citrus trees, canaigre (a plant that produces tannin used for tanning leather), and even Louis Janssens' Belgian-American Ostrich Farm, which operated on convert|230|acre|km2 of Bartlett-Heard subdivided land until WWI. (Two other families, the Petersons and Pickrells, also operated ostrich farms in South Phoenix; all of these ostrich farms were between 16th St. and 40th St., south of Southern Ave.) [cite paper | author = Ryden, Don W. | title = South Mountain Agricultural Area Historic Resources Survey | date = 1989-08 | publisher = City of Phoenix Planning Department pp. 33, 38-39.]

In 1928, Kajuio Kishiyama settled in the South Mountain area to farm vegetables on land which he leased. The Arizona Alien Land Law of 1921 (overturned as unconstitutional by the Arizona Supreme Court in 1935) prohibited "Orientals" from owning land in Arizona. Kishiyama successfully experimented with growing flowers near the Western Canal at 40th St. and Baseline Road, and another Japanese family, the Nakakamas, arrived in the area in the 1930s. These families were relocated to internment camps during WWII, of which there were two in Arizona, the Gila River War Relocation Center and the Poston War Relocation Center. After the war was over, the Kishiyama and Nakakama families returned to the South Mountain area and started over, again successfully raising large fields of flowers, lettuce, and other vegetables along the Baseline corridor. [cite paper | author = Ryden, Don W. | title = South Mountain Agricultural Area Historic Resources Survey | date = 1989-08 | publisher = City of Phoenix Planning Department p. 68.]

In the decades prior to the 1970s, South Phoenix was the only part of the city in which homes were sold to African American residents, due to restrictive covenants in place on housing in other parts of the city. [ [http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/1015whitaker1016.html azcentral.com] ]

There are numerous sites of historic and natural interest within the boundaries of South Phoenix, including Mystery Castle, Heard Scout Pueblo, the San Francisco Chapel, South Mountain Park, The Farm at South Mountain and several historic buildings at the entrance of the park called "Scorpion Gulch." [cite paper | author = Ryden, Don W. | title = South Mountain Agricultural Area Historic Resources Survey | date = 1989-08 | publisher = City of Phoenix Planning Department p. 7.]

Since the late 1990s (and especially since 2002), the area has undergone rapid development, especially along the Baseline corridor, where acres of citrus groves and flower fields have been turned into housing developments and commercial properties.

Business

The headquarters for the Apollo Group, parent company of University of Phoenix and Western International University, is located in the South Mountain Village area.

Media

The South Mountain Village is served by the community newspaper South Mountain District News [ [http://www.somonews.com South Mountain District News] ] , which also covers news from Laveen which is west of South Phoenix. The South Mountain District News is a free monthly publication.

The South Mountain Villager also covers the area with a format that includes only printing positive stories about the area. [ [http://southmountainvillager.somonetwork.com/index.html South Mountain Villager] ]

Crime

South Phoenix has similar crime rates to other areas of Phoenix. Uniform crime rate reports from the Phoenix Police Department show property crime rates at or below those in the more affluent communities in north Phoenix. [ [http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/POLICE/ucr_monthly_property.pdf Uniform Crime Rate Property Crime Map] ] Violent crime rates are also similar with most of the activity concentrated between Southern and Broadway. [ [http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/POLICE/ucr_monthly_violent.pdf Uniform Crime Rate Violent Crime Map] ] .

Other

Zip Codes

The following USPS zip codes cover the area: 85034 (partial), 85040, 85041 (partial), 85042

Reference List

External links

* [http://www.somonews.com South Mountain District News]
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/42/42338.html Yahoo! Finance profile of Apollo Group]