If you own some real estate in Phoenix, you have driven around town and have probably always wondered about the layout of the streets, which is quite different than what you will find in most other large metropolitan areas.
Photo from arizona-mapsite.com
Designed as a simple grid, the early layout of Phoenix was intended to be easy to remember, hence the original focus on the names of U.S. presidents. In fact, the first major east-west streets were named after the father of our country, George Washington, as well as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Van Buren and numerous other presidents. Washington Street was in the middle of the grid, with Adams the first street north, Jefferson the first south, etc.
Native American names were also used, including Cocopah, Yuma, Papago and Tonto, among others. But as the city grew and real estate became much more valuable, it all became a bit complicated and the names of several presidents were not used at all or they became monikers for small side streets instead of main thoroughfares.
Once you get the hang of it, getting around Phoenix is really pretty simple, especially when combined with another idea that makes navigation easy-as-proverbial pie. To wit: With very rare exceptions, in Phoenix, the numbered “avenues” are located west of Central Avenue, while numbered “streets” are east of Central. Voila – need to find 44th Street? It’s on the east-side; 44th Avenue is in the west valley.
Some street names in Phoenix were taken from landmarks, including “Bethany Home Road” which was named after a tuberculosis sanitarium; the valley’s warm, dry climate was considered beneficial for sufferers of this deadly lung disease. “Indian School Road” was named after a boarding school for Native Americans that was operated by the federal government in an attempt to mainstream Indians into the “White” culture. Steele Indian School Park is on the site of this now-closed school.
Tags: phoenix street layout, real estate in Phoenix, what should I know about living in arizona