Mesa is a city just east of Phoenix, in Arizona. Mesa Grande Cultural Park is home to a giant, centuries-old ceremonial mound, and artifacts of the ancient Hohokam people. The Arizona Museum of Natural History exhibits dinosaur skeletons and archaeological finds. The nearby i.d.e.a. Museum offers hands-on artistic and scientific exhibits for kids. Mesa Arts Center presents theater, musicals and contemporary art.
Mesa (/ˈmeɪsə/ MAY-sə) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is the third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix and Tucson, the 36th-most populous city in the U.S., and the most populous city that is not a county seat. The city is home to 504,258 people as of 2020.[4] It is the most populous city in the East Valley of the Phoenix metropolitan area.[5] It is bordered by Tempe on the west, the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community on the north, Chandler and Gilbert on the south along with Queen Creek, and Apache Junction on the east.
At least ten colleges and universities are located in Mesa. The city is home to the largest relief airport in the Phoenix area, Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport, located in the southeastern corner of the city. In separate studies in 2014 and 2017, researchers determined Mesa to be "America's most conservative city".[6][7]
The history of Mesa dates back at least 2,000 years to the arrival of the Hohokam people. The Hohokam, whose name means "All Used Up" or "The Departed Ones", built the original canal system. The canals were the largest and most sophisticated in the prehistoric New World. Some were up to 90 feet (27 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep at their head gates, extending for as far as 16 miles (26 km) across the desert. By AD 1100 water could be delivered to an area over 110,000 acres (450 km2), transforming the Sonoran Desert into an agricultural oasis. By 1450, the Hohokam had constructed hundreds of miles of canals, many of which are still in use.[8]
After the disappearance of the Hohokam and before the arrival of the early settlers, little is known; explorers did not venture into this area. By the late 19th century near present-day Mesa, U.S. Army troops relocated the Apache, opening the way for settlement.[9]
In March 1877, Mormon pioneer Daniel Webster Jones and Henry Clay Rogers left St. George, Utah. Jones had been asked by Mormon officials to direct a party of people in establishing a settlement in Arizona. They traveled south and settled on the north side of the present Mesa area. This settlement was initially known as Fort Utah and later as Jonesville. It was located near Lehi Road. In 1883 it was named Lehi at the suggestion of Brigham Young, Jr.[10]
About this same time, another group dubbed the First Mesa Company arrived from Utah and Idaho. Their leaders were Francis Martin Pomeroy, Charles Crismon, George Warren Sirrine and Charles I. Robson. Rather than accepting an invitation to settle at Jones's Lehi settlement, they moved up onto the mesa that serves as the city's namesake. They dug irrigation canals and used some of the original Hohokam canals. By April 1878, water was flowing through them.[11] The Second Mesa Company arrived in 1879 and settled to the west of the First Mesa Company because of more available farmland. This settlement was originally called Alma and later Stringtown. It was located near where Alma School Road.[12]
On July 17, 1878, Mesa City was registered as a 1-square-mile (2.6 km2) townsite. The first school was built in 1879. In 1883, Mesa City was incorporated with a population of 300 people. Dr. A. J. Chandler, who would later go on to found the city of Chandler, worked on widening the Mesa Canal in 1895 to allow for enough flow to build a power plant. In 1917, the city of Mesa purchased this utility company. The revenues from the company provided enough for capital expenditures until the 1960s. During the Great Depression, WPA funds provided paved streets, a new hospital, a new town hall and a library
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