South Phoenix

South Phoenix, also known as the South Mountain Village, South Mountain District or SoMo, is a neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona. It has the boundaries of 27th Avenue to the west, 48th Sreet (Phoenix/Tempe Border) to the east, the Salt River to the north and South Mountain Park to the south. Major arterial east-west streets include Broadway Road, Southern Avenue, and Baseline Road, all of which connect South Phoenix with the suburb of Tempe.

History

The first land purchase recorded in South Phoenix occurred near what is today 15th Avenue and Broadway, where Noah Matthew Broadway, who was Maricopa County Sheriff from 1884-1885, purchased land in 1871 which became the 160-acre (0.65 km²) Broadway Ranch. The land was otherwise unpopulated at the time except for a few Mexican grain farmers who lived south of the Salt River between what are now 24th St. and 48th St.

In May 1873, Prescott merchant Michael Wormser made arrangements to supply the Mexican farmers, and required them to obtain legal title to their land. When they ended up falling into debt, he took possession of their land, acquiring 9,000 acres (36 km²) of land in South Phoenix and Tempe. After Wormser's death on April 25, 1898, most of his real estate holdings were purchased on January 9, 1901 by land and cattle magnate Dwight B. Heard, who also ran The Arizona Republican (now The Arizona Republic) newspaper from 1912 until his death in 1929. This land, which includes most of the northeast part of South Phoenix, became the Bartlett-Heard Ranch, which began being subdivided and sold for homesites on March 20, 1910. Most of the land initially sold from the Ranch was between 7th Avenue and 16th Street, and between Broadway Road and Southern Ave., mostly for small farms, in an area that became known as Roosevelt Place when it was developed into residential homes on one- and 2-acre (8,100 m²) lots in the 1920s.

During 1912-1913, the Highline and Western canals were built to supply water from the Salt River to the South Mountain area, which led to further agricultural development. In addition to raising cattle, the land was used for raising alfalfa, cotton, oranges and other citrus trees, canaigre (a plant that produces tannin used for tanning leather), and even Louis Janssens' Belgian-American Ostrich Farm, which operated on 230 acres (0.93 km²) of Bartlett-Heard subdivided land until World War I. (Two other families, the Petersons and Pickrells, also operated ostrich farms in South Phoenix; all of these ostrich farms were between 16th St. and 40th St., south of Southern Ave.)

In 1928, Kajuio Kishiyama settled in the South Mountain area to farm vegetables on land which he leased. The Arizona Alien Land Law of 1921 (overturned as unconstitutional by the Arizona Supreme Court in 1935) prohibited "Orientals" from owning land in Arizona. Kishiyama successfully experimented with growing flowers near the Western Canal at 40th St. and Baseline Road, and another Japanese family, the Nakagawas, arrived in the area in the 1930s. These families were relocated to internment camps during World War II, of which there were two in Arizona, the Gila River War Relocation Center and the Poston War Relocation Center. After the war was over, the Kishiyama and Nakakama families returned to the South Mountain area and started over, again successfully raising large fields of flowers, lettuce, and other vegetables along the Baseline corridor.

In the decades prior to the 1970s, South Phoenix was the only part of the city in which homes were sold to African American and Mexican American residents, due to restrictive covenants in place on housing in other parts of the city.

There are numerous sites of historic and natural interest within the boundaries of South Phoenix, including Mystery Castle, Heard Scout Pueblo, the San Francisco Chapel, The Farm at South Mountain, South Mountain Park, and several historic buildings at the entrance of the park called "Scorpion Gulch."

The south side, always working-class, went into a steep decline following the post-war population boom in the metro area. The neighborhood gained a reputation around the Valley for gang violence, racial tension, and general disrepair and the area became dotted with abandoned housing and urban prairies. Since the late 1990s (and especially since 2002), the area has undergone rapid development, especially along the Baseline corridor, where acres of citrus groves and flower fields have been turned into housing developments and commercial properties.

Though much of the area has become predominantly Latino, the areas closer to downtown and Tempe remain predominantly African-American. Census tract 1160, between Broadway and Baseline, has a population of 4,711 and is 56.3% African-American, the highest percentage in the state. Other traditionally black neighborhoods include Hermoso, South Vistas, Lindo Park and the Park South neighborhood.

Business

The headquarters for the Apollo Group, parent company of University of Phoenix and Western International University and corporate offices for SuperShuttle Int. are located in the South Mountain Village area.

Media

The South Mountain Village is served by the community newspaper South Mountain District News, which also covers news from Laveen which is west of South Phoenix. The South Mountain District News is a free monthly publication.

The South Mountain Villager also covers the area with a format that includes only printing positive stories about the area.

Crime

South Phoenix has similar crime rates to other areas of Phoenix. Uniform crime rate reports from the Phoenix Police Department show property crime rates at or below those in the more affluent communities in north Phoenix. Violent crime rates are also similar with most of the activity concentrated between Southern and Broadway. .

Other

Zip Codes

The following USPS zip codes cover the area: 85034 (partial), 85040, 85041 (partial), 85042

External links

• South Mountain District News
• Yahoo! Finance profile of Apollo Group