ARIZONA CHRONOLOGY
Christian Era
Circa 300 B.C.
Hohokam settle in southern Arizona.
Anasazi come to Four Corners area.
John the Baptist begins his ministry.
Jesus is baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist.
500 A.D. Sinagua are farming near San Francisco Peaks.
1064 A.D
. Sunset Crater erupts as the last volcanic eruption in Arizona.
1276-1299 A.D.
Great drought in Arizona.
Circa 1300 A.D.
The mysterious Casa Grande is built near the Gila River. Casa Grande Ruins National Monument is located west of Coolidge just south of State Route 87.
Circa 1400 A.D.
Cultural decline of prehistoric groups in Arizona.
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Spanish Period, 1528-1821
1528-1536
Eight year odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca (literally, Head of Cow) and his shipwrecked companions stirs interest in Glory, God and Gold.
1539
Fray Marcos de Niza searches for golden cities.
1540-1542
Coronado claims for Spain the vast lands that are today the American Southwest.
1582-1583
Antonio de Espejo, a miner, enters New Mexico and Arizona looking forrich minerals.
1598-1607
Juan de Oñate establishes first colonies in New Mexico. Puts Spanish “stamp” on the area.
1610
City of Santa Fe [New Mexico] founded.
1629
Franciscans establish missions in Hopiland.
Hopiland is located in that vast area bounded on the north and east by Utah and New Mexico, on the south by I-40, and on the west by US 89.
This area contains Lake Powell, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, thePainted Desert, the Petrified Forest, and other beautiful and haunting scenery.
1687-1711 Father Kino establishes mission in Pimeria Alta [“Land of the Upper Pima”] along the Rio Santa Cruz and Rio San Pedro.
1736
Great silver discovery at Arisonac.
“In 1736, a great silver strike occurred near an Indian village called Ali-Shonak. Spanish prospectors rushed to the area about 25 miles southwest of today’s Nogales. Sli-Shonak, a Tohono O’odham word for “Place of the Small Springs,” didn’t roll off the Spanish tongue easily so they corrupted it to Arizonac. When the Anglo-Americans arrived more than a century later they changed it to Arizona -- and that’s what it’s been ever since.” Arizona, Trimble, p. xx.
1751
Great Pima Indian Revolt.
1752
Tubac presidio established. First white community in Arizona.
Tubac Presidio State Historic Park is located approx. 36 miles south of Tucson on I-19 toward Nogales. Take Exit 34 which also give access to portions of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Trail, and Tumacacori National Historic Park.
1767
Jesuits expelled from Spanish realm.
1767
Franciscan Father Garcés enters Arizona.
1774
De Anza and Garcés explore route to California.
1775-1776
De Anza and Garces take colonists overland to California. Tucson established.
American Revolution on the East Coast begins and progresses.
Stop at Picacho Peak State Park, Exit 219 off I-10 between Phoenixand Tucson. On the west side of the park there are informational stands telling of the De Anza led Spanish migration from Mexico to California. This location is a part of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Trail. One of their camps on the trek was at Picacho Peak.
1781
Yuma Revolt; Garces murdered.
1785-1821
Spanish troops go on offensive campaigns into Apacheria. Peace treaty with Apaches; mining, ranching and missions prosper in Arizona. Apacheria is a goodly portion of southwestern Arizona roughly from Tucson south to the border with Mexico and east to the border with New Mexico.
1810-1821
Mexican Revolution.
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Mexican Period, 1821-1848
1821
Mexico gains independence from Spain.
1822
Santa Fe -- St. Louis trade opens.
1823
Americans begin to settle in Texas.
1824
American mountain men enter Arizona to trap beaver.
“During the next few years, well-known trappers such as Bill Williams, Ewing Young, Kit Carson [yep, that Kit Carson], Antoine Leroux, Michel Robidoux, Pauline Weaver [male] and Joe Walker ventured into the unexplored valleys and mountains of Arizona.” Arizona, Trimble, p.xxi.
1835-36
Texas Revolution.
1837
Mexico offers bounties for Apache scalps.
1846-1848
Mexican War; Army of the West takes New Mexico and California; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends war; vast Mexican territory ceded to U.S.
During this period, the Mormon Battalion, assigned to the Army of the West under the command of Col. Stephen Watts Kearny built a wagon road from New Mexico to San Diego along a route just to the south of the Gila River. A short restored part of this route can be traveled by a high clearance vehicle just to the east of Gila Bend, north off State Route 238.
West of Gila Bend is Painted Rocks State Park. Take Exit 111 off I-8, and follow Citrus Valley Road and Gila Bend Indian Reservation Route 401. The Painted Rocks have Indian hieroglyphics and Mormon Battalion hieroglyphics. This was also another campground for De Anza, and this route, sometimes called the Gila Trail, was also later used by the famous Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Line.
1848
Gold discovered in California. Gila Trail becomes one of the main routes to the gold fields.
1850
Compromise of 1850 establishes Territory of New Mexico (Arizona included).
1852
Americans begin navigating the Colorado River by steamer. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers begins surveying Arizona.
1853
Gadsden Purchase gives Arizona the land from the Gila River [south] to present boundary [with Mexico].
1854
First American mining (commercial) ventures.
1856
American Dragoons (cavalry) occupy Tucson; Arizonans begin petitioning for separate territorial status.
1857
Beales camels and “Jackass Mail” stagecoach lines cross Arizona; Fort Buchanan established on Sonoita Creek.
The “Jackass Mail” acquired its name because mules were used to pull the coaches and west of Yuma, passengers were required to ride astride the critters through the sand dunes.
1858
Butterfield Overland Stage Line crosses Arizona.
1861
Bascom Affair pits Army against Chiricahua Apaches; Civil War begins and Arizona military posts are abandoned.
1862
Arizona becomes a Confederate territory; Battle at Glorieta Pass, NewMexico, ends Confederate westward thrust; Battle of Picacho Pass [Picacho Peak], near Casa Grande, is called the westernmost battle of Civil War; California Column occupies Arizona for Union; Battle of Apache Pass between Column and Apaches is largest in Arizona history; Fort Bowie is established in the Pass.
The little town ofBowie is 105 miles east of Tucson on I-10. Take Exit 362 off I-10 to get on Apache Pass Road. Follow Apache Pass Road (some of which is dirt) a little over 10 miles (reasonably well marked) to Fort Bowie National Historic Site. Requires a fairly short hike to the ruins of Fort Bowie.
1863
Territory of Arizona is established. [Joe] Walker Party discovers gold in Bradshaw Mountains; Weaver-Peeples party discovers placer gold at Rich Hill; [Henry] Wickenburg finds rich lode at Vulture Mine. The Town of Wickenburg was named after Henry. To get to the famous Vulture Mine, take US 60 west from Wickenburg to Vulture Mine Road (well marked) and turn left and go 10 or 11 miles to the Vulture Mine where they do have tours.
1864
Territorial capital established at Prescott; four counties (Yuma, Yavapai, Pima and Mohave) are created. Navajo take “long walk” to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. Kit Carson, then in the Army, was in command of the troops that rounded up the Navajo on their land in northeast Arizona and pushed them on a forced march in winter to the east side of New Mexico, at Bosque Redondo on the Pecos River.
1861-1886
Apache Wars.
1860s
Period of gold discoveries, Gila River, Colorado River and Bradshaw Mountains.
1869
John Wesley Powell explores Grand Canyon.
1870s-1880s
Age of Silver; open range cattle industry flourishes.
1871
Camp Grant Massacre. This site is now the Fort Grant Adult Prison Facility, about 23 miles north of Willcox on Fort Grant Road and on the south side of Mount Graham which is just south of Safford.
1872-1873
General Crook subdues central Arizona Apaches and Yavapais.
1876
Territorial prison opens at Yuma. This is now Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park located within the city limits of Yuma.
1877
Silver discovered at Tombstone; copper deposits found at Bisbee.
1881
Southern Pacific Railroad crosses southern Arizona.
1882
Winfield Scott begins his career as an Army Chaplain at Fort Canby, Washington Territory.
1883
Atlantic & Pacific (Santa Fe) crosses northern Arizona.
1888
Copper replaces gold and silver in economic importance in Arizona.
1888
Chaplain Winfield Scott made his first visit to Phoenix in February and in July, purchased a section of land which became the genesis of Scottsdale.
1889
Territorial capital moved to Phoenix.
Between 1864 and 1889, the Territorial capital was located in Prescott, then Tucson, then Prescott, and finally and permanently in Phoenix.
1893
Chaplain Winfield Scott, his wife, Helen, and his mule, Old Maud, retire from the Army at Fort Huachuca in southeast Arizona in January.
1895
Phoenix linked by rail to northern and southern railroad lines.
1896
The first schoolhouse is built in Scottsdale, a one 16’x18’ room affair.
1898
Rough Riders fight in Cuba.
1899
Winfield Scott served in the Territorial legislature.
1902
Frank Murphy builds “Impossible Bradshaw Mountain Railroad.”
1903
Salt River Water Users’ Association formed, first of its kind in the nation.
1910
Arizona Enabling Act passed by Congress; Constitutional Convention meets. “On February 26, 1910, Winfield Scott’s seventy-third birthday, the newschoolhouse received its christening.” Winfield Scott, Lynch, p. 175. This building is the “Little Red Schoolhouse” in downtown Scottsdale, less than a hundred yards west of the location of the 1896 schoolhouse. It now houses the Scottsdale Historical Society Museum.
1911
Theodore Roosevelt Dam completed; President Taft vetoes admission of Arizona over recall of judges; Arizona agrees to make the necessary changes in its constitution.
1912
Arizona admitted to the Union [February 12]. First Baptist Church of Scottsdale is organized and meets in The Little Red Schoolhouse, June 12. Arizona adds recall of judges back into constitution.
1914
Women gain right to vote in Arizona.
1917
WWI brings economic boom to Arizona. Labor unrest in Bisbee causes deportation of suspected radical I.W.W. Union members by locals.
1918
Original sanctuary for First Baptist Church of Scottsdale is completed on the southwest corner of Indian School Road and Brown Ave.
1929
Great Depression lasts into late 1930s. Around this time, FBCS baptisms were moved to “the old swimming hole” on the north side of McDowell Road somewhere between Miller and Hayden.
1936
Hoover Dam on the Colorado River is dedicated.
1941-1945
World War II brings economic boom to Arizona; Cotton, copper, cattle, farming and industry flourish.
At the beginning of WWII, sleepy little Scottsdale accounted for some 400 permanent residents.
1946
Arizona right-to-work becomes effective; industrial development and manufacturing takes on new importance. Post WWII brings surge of population to Arizona.
1948
Motorola builds first plant in Phoenix marking the beginning of high tech industry in Arizona.
1950
Election of Governor Howard Pyle gives rise to Republican Party.
1957
The second sanctuary of FBCS is built on East Osborn Road and dedicated September 8.
1960
Arizona population exceeds 1 million. Now, 43 years later, our population is over 5.2 million.
1961
Stewart Udall becomes first Arizonan to serve on Cabinet (Secretary of Interior).
1963
Arizona wins Supreme Court decision in contest with California over share of Colorado River water; hopes are revived for a Central Arizona Project to bring water from the Colorado to central Arizona. A mortgage burning celebration for the second sanctuary is held on September 18.
1964
Senator Barry Goldwater is the Republican Party candidate for President.
1966
Legislative reapportionment (one man, one vote). Legislative districts reapportioned to represent an equal number of people. The Republican Party gains control of the legislature for the first time.
1968
Authorization is given for construction of the Central Arizona Project; Senator Carl Hayden retires after serving Arizona in Congress since 1912. The original Hayden home, built by Senator Hayden’s father is now
Monti’s Casa Vieja Steakhouse on Mill Ave in Tempe at the south end of the bridge over Tempe Town Lake. Carl Hayden served in Congress as a Representative and Senator longer than any other person.
1975
The present FBCS sanctuary is built and dedicated October 26.
1981
Sanda Day O’Connor becomes first woman on U.S.Court. Justice O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas, as her parents lived south of Duncan on the isolated Lazy B Ranch in Arizona on the border with New Mexico.
1984
Population of Arizona exceeds 3 million.
1985
Central Arizona Project brings water to state’s interior.
1988
Impeachment and conviction of Governor Evan Mecham.
1988
Rose Mofford becomes Arizona’s first woman governor. Governor Mofford was born in Globe, was a star softball player in the 1940s, and served as the Secretary of State before succeeding Mecham as governor.
1988 FBCS celebrates its 75th Anniversary, “A Jubilee Moment.”
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