Phoenix's Ahwatukee Foothills grew from open desert to a community of nearly ninety thousand in just a few decades. From the first homesteaders and farmers to the modern visionaries and trailblazers who established homes and businesses, it is a very compelling story. Discover the mystery of the Lost Ranch, the reason for Elliot Road's misspelling, the battle over annexation and the origins of the Easter Parade. Local historian Marty Gibson recounts the challenges, struggles and successes in this collection of tales from the other side of the hill.

South of Phoenixs South Mountain, west of Interstate 10, north of the Gila River Indian Community, and east of Arizona state land lies the picturesque village of Ahwatukee-Foothills, home to some 87,000 people. Its proximity to adjacent cities, cultural centers, shopping, and dining combines with these natural boundaries to give the area its beautiful topography, sense of peaceful isolation, and high desirability as a great place to live, work, and play. But long before there was a freeway, the area was part of the Kyrene farming community, a rural patchwork of hardy pioneer families typifying the countrys agricultural way of life during the first half of the 20th century.

Whether touted for its burgeoning economy, affordable housing, and pleasant living style, or criticized for being less like a city than a sprawling suburb, Phoenix, by all environmental logic, should not exist. Yet despite its extremely hot and dry climate and its remoteness, Phoenix has grown into a massive metropolitan area. This exhaustive study examines the history of how Phoenix came into being and how it has sustained itself, from its origins in the 1860s to its present status as the nation’s fifth largest city. From the beginning, Phoenix sought to grow, and although growth has remained central to the city’s history, its importance, meaning, and value have changed substantially over the years. The initial vision of Phoenix as an American Eden gave way to the Cold War Era vision of a High Tech Suburbia, which in turn gave way to rising concerns in the late twentieth century about the environmental, social, and political costs of growth. To understand how such unusual growth occurred in such an improbable location, Philip VanderMeer explores five major themes: the natural environment, urban infrastructure, economic development, social and cultural values, and public leadership. Through investigating Phoenix’s struggle to become a major American metropolis, his study also offers a unique view of what it means to be a desert city.

South of Phoenix's South Mountain, west of Interstate 10, north of the Gila River Indian Community, and east of Arizona state land lies the picturesque village of Ahwatukee-Foothills, home to some 87,000 people. Its proximity to adjacent cities, cultural centers, shopping, and dining combines with these natural boundaries to give the area its beautiful topography, sense of peaceful isolation, and high desirability as a great place to live, work, and play. But long before there was a freeway, the area was part of the Kyrene farming community, a rural patchwork of hardy pioneer families typifying the country's agricultural way of life during the first half of the 20th century.