Six

TRANSFORMATION INTO A MODERN METROPOLIS

Approaching the end of its first century in the late 1980s, Glendale had become Arizona’s fourth-largest city, up from fifteenth in the 1920s. With a population nearing 150,000, the need for all manner of new and/or improved infrastructure and services was clear. City facilities and buildings were inadequate to the needs of its citizens. In the process of bringing the city “up to snuff,” the small-town police station of the 1950s first gave way to a larger facility and then in 1991 to a new facility, the Public Safety and City Court Complex. The new quarters were a far cry from the days when “Dad” Rudd was the only law enforcement in town. City hall was also hard pressed to meet the growing needs of the city. Thus, in the early 1980s, construction of a new municipal complex got underway with the demolition of the old buildings on the block adjacent to City Park on the west. At the same time, the historic downtown area was undergoing its own transformation, as it was becoming more tourist-oriented with its various activities in the park and opening of new eateries and antique emporiums.

Other additions to the city are equally noteworthy. The municipal airport was built in 1986, the Brown Street Library opened in 1987, and Sahuaro Ranch, newly acquired by the City of Glendale, was dedicated and opened for tours conducted by the Glendale Arizona Historical Society. Two fire station facilities were built, many new schools were opened (including Arizona State University West), and Murphy Park (formerly City Park) was renovated. Glendale’s pride and joy in 1960, the Northwest Hospital (later Glendale Samaritan Hospital) disappeared and in its stead on Thunderbird Road was erected the nearly 300-bed Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center. A few years later, Arrowhead Community Hospital and Medical Center was added to Glendale’s medical facilities on the north side of town. Industry too came to Glendale. Early and particularly notable was the Sperry Corporation, which through mergers evolved into Honeywell. With the addition of parks, sewage plants, a landfill, and two water-treatment plants, the city was able to serve the needs of its citizens, businesses, and governmental entities.

From its initial one square mile of area, Glendale by the end of its first century in 1992 had grown to some 52 square miles of area. And it had grown from an agricultural town into a diverse metropolis.

In 1977, the City of Glendale purchased the last 80 acres of Sahuaro Ranch from its owners, Richard S. Smith and family. Seventeen acres, containing most of the old ranch buildings, were set aside as a historic park. In the 1980s, an elaborate entrance gate to the park was built and restoration of the buildings started. Often dubbed the “Showplace of the Valley,” Sahuaro Ranch offers guided tours provided by the city and the Glendale Arizona Historical Society.

By the early 1980s, Glendale’s city hall had expanded into three remodeled buildings to the west of City Park on Fifty-eighth Drive. These quarters, however, were overcrowded and inadequate to the needs of the fast-growing city. Thus was born the idea of building the Municipal Office Complex, which was completed in 1984.

A new city complex takes shape (right). The American flag indicates that the steelworkers have “topped-out” the steel framework for the six-story Municipal Office Complex, opened in 1984. Behind that building, a four-story parking garage was erected. Today the complex (below), generally referred to as “city hall,” stands tall in the historic downtown area with other modern buildings and many restored decades-old survivors of Glendale’s earlier days. The complex was designed by Glendale architect Robert Sexton. There was much debate about where to locate the new city hall. Would it be in the fast-growing northern part of the city, or downtown in the historic center of the city? Downtown won the debate.

Six-points intersection is formed by Grand Avenue (left to right), Fifty-ninth Avenue (from bottom to left side), and Glendale Avenue (bottom to right side). The new, six-story (two below ground level) city hall and parking garage appear prominently in the center of the image. The three buildings comprising the old city hall are left (north) of the new building. Old city hall was demolished in order to build the meeting rooms and amphitheater of the new Municipal Office Complex.

The Velma Teague Library, named in honor of Velma Teague who served Glendale as librarian for 30 years, was completed in 1971. It was the third library building located in City Park. The 1917 library was torn down in 1938 to make way for a new and larger library. It was torn down in 1970 and replaced by the larger, modern Velma Teague Library. On the left is the 100-foot steel flagpole that replaced the park’s record-setting 110-foot wooden flagpole in 1964.

Mayor George Renner (left) and two unidentified officials dig the first shovelfuls of dirt on the site of the Bank of America Building in 1986. To have room for the large structure, an entire city business block was leveled. Some businesses relocated, while others simply “retired.” In the background is the Methodist Church, which was completed in 1928.

The businesses and professional offices north of Murphy Park were casualties of urban renewal in 1986 when they were razed to make way for the modern Bank of America Building. It was Glendale’s first Class-A office building. Standing in the heart of downtown, across the street from the 80-year-old Methodist Church and across the park from an entire block of historic old storefronts, this building exemplifies Glendale’s successful mixing of the new with the old.

Until the 1980s, Glendale had only one public library. It was in Murphy Park where it had been for decades. But the needs of a growing population were outstripping the library’s ability to provide services. In response, a new main library, located on what used to be a part of Sahuaro Ranch, was completed in 1987, pictured here. The old library became a branch library. By the 1990s, it was clear that another library was needed. In July 1999, the Foothills Branch Library opened.

A bronze statue of territorial lawman Sam Stout was installed in the courtyard of the Glendale Public Safety and City Court Complex in 1991. Stout worked as a foreman during construction of the Arizona Canal and later homesteaded land in the Glendale area. For a time, he was an Arizona territorial sheriff. Stout claimed that he killed 85 rattlesnakes one night during irrigation of his farm.