Tempe History FAQ

 The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted to incorporate Tempe on 26 November 1894 (source: Minutes of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors).

The commonly accepted date for the establishment of Tempe is 1871.  This is when Charles Hayden built the first building on his homestead (which he filed a claim for in 1870).  In October, 1871, "Mr. Hayden erected a small pole shanty about 14x16 feet upon the spot now occupied by the old Hayden House [La Casa Vieja].  This shanty was used as a store and was the only structure in this locality for some time, with the exception of an old adobe building on section 17" (source: Arizona Republican, 25 December 1901, 10:1). 

Tempe Butte . . . has an elevation of slightly less than 1500 feet; it stands about 300 feet above the level of the river (source: Larry and Chris Loendorf, With Zig-Zag Lines I'm Painted: Hohokam Petroglyphs on Tempe Butte, Arizona, 1995). 

 When was the first high school established in Tempe?

The first high school was held in 1908 over Curry Hardware.

 When did the old high school on 8th Street and Mill open?

The old high school building opened in 1909.

 When was the high school moved to its present location at Broadway and Mill?

The new high school opened in 1952. They continued to use the field at the old high school for band practice and gym classes.

The area was known as Kyrene, but it is not known with certainty why the name had been given to the region. It is theorized that Darrell Duppa, who became known as "Lord" Darrell Duppa, may have been responsible for the name. Duppa had a classical education, and from his studies he renamed Pumpkinville as Phoenix, for the mythical bird which rose from its own ashes. This idea came from the fact that the Phoenix area had once been a thriving civilization – the Hohokam civilization – and now a new civilization was beginning. Duppa’s education would have made him familiar with the history and geography along the Mediterranean Sea.

There are two places along the Mediterranean Sea which bear resemblance to the current spelling of Kyrene. Cyraen/Cyrene was a city in what is now the country of Libya. In the New Testament it is recorded that Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross. There was also a seaport on the island of Cyprus near Turkey named Kyrenia. The name, Kyrene, very likely was derived from one of these cities. What relevance Duppa may have seen between the area south of Tempe and a seaport on the Mediterranean is hard to understand, but then he named Tempe for a valley in Greece adjacent to Mount Olympus. It can be said in Duppa’s defense that even though Cyprus and Libya border a great sea and there is no sea near our area, the climate and the land along the Mediterranean are similar to that of Kyrene. (source: Ben Furlong, The Story of Kyrene, Kyrene School District, circa 1994).

In 2005 the city’s population was 165,796.

No.  They both covered the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Bell Butte

39.5 square miles

1991 (source: Bill Davis, "Ash Avenue bridge starts to fall today," Tempe Daily News Tribune, 11 January 1991, B1-B6) 

January 8, 1993. It was under construction at the time. (source: Bill Davis, "Threat to bridge recedes with flooding," Tempe Daily News Tribune, 10 January 1993, A1-A5; Jeffrey Crane, "New Mill Avenue bridge delayed nearly a year," Tempe Daily News Tribune, 2 April 1993, B1-B6; Jeffrey Crane, "2nd Mill Avenue Bridge arises from storm rubble," Tempe Daily News Tribune, 11 November 1993, B1).

Broadmor school opened in 1955.

East 13th Street was renamed Apache Boulevard in 1950, and designated as a key link in several major routes through the state, including U.S. Highways 60, 70, 80, and 89, and State Route 93.

June 13, 1984 (source: Susan Welker, "Hayden Bridge opens with ceremony," Tempe Daily News, 14 June 1984, 8).