The
First Mesa Company, 85 members in all,
left Utah and Idaho in September 1877. The company leaders, many of
whom were polygamous reached Utahville in January of 1878 and were
invited to stay and join the group at what would later be Lehi or
Jonesville. They declined and moved up to the mesa (la mesa means
the tabletop) and immediately began work clearing the original Hohokam
canals. In April 1878, water entered the canals.
A
flood in Lehi in 1891 destroyed Fort Utah and carried away acres of
valuable farmland in low-lying areas. Because Lehi was prone to flooding,
had a more limited land area and fewer irrigation ditches, Mesa outgrew
Lehi. When the railroad was placed in Mesa about 1895, the growth
pattern accelerated. Lehi became part of Mesa in 1970, but it has
maintained its independent, more rural character.
Incorporated
July 5, 1883, Mesa was home to the first evaporative air-cooling
system in Arizona (in 1911) and, in 1917 became one
of the few cities in Arizona to own utilities when it purchased the
local electric power plant.
Falcon
Field Airport and Williams Air Force Base were built
in 1941 to provide training for World War II pilots, Falcon Field
for the British Royal Air Force and Williams for U.S. pilots.
After the war, many military families, including that of John
J Rhodes, later minority leader of the U.S. House of
Representatives, decided to settle in Mesa. Air conditioning came
into more common use and tourism also began as a major force in the
late 1940’s.
The decade of the 1950’s brought more commerce and industry
to Mesa, including early aerospace companies. However, until 1960
more than 50 percent of the residents earned their living directly
or indirectly from farming, mainly citrus and cotton. The 1960’s
through 1990’s saw more high-technology companies, now over
100 firms.
Mesa
AZ History
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