PHX Reporter

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego joined Official Phoenix Historian Steve Schumacher, Vice-President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Ricardo Leonard, and other Phoenix leaders at a press conference kicking off Phoenix History Month. 

Phoenix was established as an agricultural community on the Salt and Gila Rivers in 1867, and later became a city in 1881. For over 2,000 years, the Hohokam people lived in the Phoenix area, digging nearly 135 miles of irrigation canals that later informed the making of the Arizona Canal, Central Arizona Project Canal, and Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct. While periods of drought caused populations in the area to ebb and flow, since the Arizona gold rush of the late 1850s, new arrivals to Phoenix have regenerated economic development and growth that has led us to our current moment, where Phoenix history continues to be written every day.    

Mayor Gallego appointed Steve Schumacher to be the City’s Official Historian in October 2022 in order to educate Phoenix residents and visitors and raise awareness about the city’s rich history and culture. 

Original source can be found here.