"The Purtiest Water Hole This Side of Texas." When Jack McRae, then president of the Arizona City Development Corporation decided to develop 2 1/2 acres of land in Arizona City in January of 1959, the driving force behind it was the water. Located in Santa Cruz Valley, south of Casa Grande, and equidistant between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona City boasts one of the purest water sources in the state. Surveys had shown that in certain areas in the Santa Cruz Valley, close to the Sawtooth Mountains, southwest of Arizona City, there existed an abundance of deep water. Its source is the Santa Cruz river, which flows north from Mexico, one of the few in North America that do. Runoff from the local Sawtooth Mountains also help contribute to the pure tasting water. An interview with a local Arizona City resident in 1963 by the Arizona City Daily Star said this about the water: "Our water is unusually pure and soft. It has very few minerals, just enough to give it a good taste. You'd be surprise at the number of people who remark about the quality of our water as soon as they stop for a drink. Compared with other municipal wells in the area, we are considered to have very sweet water, tasty and pure. Each 14 days we send samples to the state Health Department and their analysis reports come back consistently reading 100 percent pure." (AZ City Daily Star July 1963) Ownership of the town has changed place several times from the Arizona City Development Corporation, to Fuqua Industries, 1972-1978, to Michael Tennenbaum in 1978. Development in the city has created a 48 acre man made lake with a programmed fountain. The first Post Office was established on April 1, 1962 with J. David Knudson as first Postmaster General. Arizona City was first listed on an Arizona State Highway map in 1963 by Rand McNally. (On a side note, there was an Arizona City in Yavapai County near a mining town in the late 19th century. Unsure as to why Arizona City was chosen as the name.)
Websites
Arizona Department of Commerce Community
Profile- Arizona City
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/commasst/comm/azcity.pdf
Arizona.com-Arizona City
http://www.arizonan.com/ArizonaCity/
Arizona City Community Library
13254 S. Sunland Gin Road P.O. Box 118 Arizona City, Arizona 85223-0118
(520) 466-5565
http://co.pinal.az.us/Library/azcity/
Arizona City Independant
http://www.trivalleycentral.com/
Santa Cruz Valley
EPD
1.2:C 55 S 15/974
Ground water supplies of the Santa Cruz Valley of southern Arizona between Rillito station and the International Boundary / by H. C. Schwalen and R. J. Shaw.
AES 1.3:B 85/288
Arizona City, Arizona: a New Way
of Life
CE EPH DTO-ARIZONA.1
Arizona City, Arizona: Newsclippings
CE EPH DTO-ARIZONA.2
CE EPH DTO-ARIZONA.3
Last Updated: July 5, 2002
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