Fitting FBCS into Arizona History

Marshall Trimble is a history teacher at Scottsdale Community College. He has for many, many years taught high school and community college Southwest History, but mostly concentrating on Arizona History. After years of hounding by his students, Trimble, in 1989, finally published Arizona, a Cavalcade of History. This is an excellent book on Arizona History up to the date of publication. Marshall Trimble has given us permission to use portions of his book in our presentation of aspects of the history of First Baptist Church of Scottsdale. In the Prologue to Arizona, Trimble puts a sharp focus retaining and spreading information on history.

The population boom (following World War II) has created prosperity but the price has been high. Like most major metropolitan areas, Phoenix has serious transportation and air pollution problems. More subtle, however, is the threat to Arizona's unique history and culture. Since man first walked upon this earth, migrations by larger, more dominant groups have enveloped other cultures. And the danger of that happening in Arizona is real. Much of what was old Arizona has already been "plowed under."

Arizona Republic publisher (in 1988) Pat Murphy pretty well summed it up recently when he noted:

"One of the greatest weaknesses in a state such as Arizona, where the growing population increasingly is made up of people with roots elsewhere, is that it tends to be a gathering place for strangers with not much sense of tradition or historic perspective on their new home.

Without those values, newcomers tend to lack the spirit to preserve, to protect and to perpetuate qualities that attracted them here in the first place." Arizona, Trimble

A duel goal of this portion of the website is to give readers at least a simple, appetite-whetting understanding of part of the history of this grand and beautiful state of Arizona and a good taste of the values and spirit of this community envolved First Baptist Church of Scottsdale.

So, let us start by using Trimble's historical chronology of Arizona with additions here and there showing where FBCS fits into this big picture. Keep a road map of Arizona handy to add a little more flavor to this presentation.