Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that archaic people lived on our land as hunters circa 6000 B.C. From approximately 300 B.C. to 1450 A.D., the Hohokam people lived throughout what is now Scottsdale, The River Hohokam farmed the southern part of the city where they diverted Sale River water through hand–dug canals to their crops, and the Upland Hohokam built villages a t the north end of the McDowell Mountains, relying on mountain springs for water.

Scottsdale’s land was relatively unpopulated between 1400 and the late–1800s. In 1888 however, U.S. Army Chaplain Winfield Scott staked his 640–acre claim at what is now the northeast corner of Scottsdale and Indian School Roads. His vision was to create a community where educated, cultured, religious settlers could farm and land and raise their families.

By 1900, Scott’s settlement had a name (Scotts–Dale), a general store/post office, prospering farms and about 75 residents. The town grew slowly over the next two decades. Most people came to farm. Others came for their health or to open businesses to support the agricultural economy.

Residents and businesses were content to run their own town, seeing no need to incorporate as their neighbors, Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, had done. But they weren’t without governing. During the earliest years, residents turned to founder Winfield Scott, as well as other ministers and the school board, for leadership. In the early 1900s, the Salt River Valley Water Users Association (now SRP) and the Farm Bureau joined church, business and school leaders and the town’s "movers and shakers."

Maricopa County created a Scottsdale voting precinct and justice court in 1922, and Justice of the Peace William Kimsey and Constable Al Frederick also became influential leaders. Merchants formed the first Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce in 1921 and pushed for road improvements until it disbanded in 1933. The chamber reformed in 1947 and provided municipal–style services until incorporation in 1951.

Farming was Scottsdale’s economic engine, but tourism, health care and the arts also began to increase in importance. Marjorie Thomas opened the town’s fir art studio in 1909. Artists gravitated to George Ellis’s adobe and redwood enclave, later named Cattle Track, in the 1930s. And, by the end of World War II, dozens of artists and craftspeople had opened up studios in the downtown area or the nearby desert.

Longtime Scottsdale residents remember a hometown where everybody knew everybody. There were picnics in the desert near Pinnacle Peak, horseback rides to Hole–in–the–Rocks, events at Scottsdale High School, church socials, the garden club, and father–son bonding during Brown’s Ranch roundups or hunting in the "slough" (Indian Bend Wash).

Despite the simple, family–like atmosphere, Scottsdale had its unpleasantries. The unpaved streets created constant dust, the slough flooded homes and farms every year and buildings burned to the ground for lack of a fire department. By 1949, residents and businesses began holding public hearings at Scottsdale High School to investigate incorporating. On June 25, 1951, the 2.032 residents living on less than a square mile entered a new area as the incorporated municipality of Scottsdale.

Honor the Past, Imagine the Future was prepared to commemorate Scottsdale’s 50th anniversary. It covers Scottsdale’s history from its beginnings to today. You may obtain a copy of the 16–page book at any Scottsdale public library