Phoenix overhead

When the Wright brothers made their first flight in 1903, Phoenix had a population of 5,544, finally larger than Prescott but still smaller than Tucson. Construction of Theodore Roosevelt Dam began the same year.

"Aeroplanes" — and even before that balloons — give us a great vantage point to track the city's growth. Most of these photos are collected by Brad Hall. Click for a larger image:

A balloon view over Second Street and Adams in 1911.

The same year an airplane captured this shot at Washington and Second Street. Block 23 is in the near lower right. A few blocks west is another block of shade trees — that's the county courthouse. The multi-story structure with raised awnings in the mid-upper-right is the Fleming Building.

The State Fairgrounds seen from a balloon in 1912, when Arizona was admitted to the union.

Here's the town in 1915, with a view looking south. Central Avenue is the street that goes all the way across the Salt River.

Another 1915 view, perhaps from the same flight.

New Brophy College Prep amid the fields of 'American Eden' in 1928. Today it's part of Phoenix's Central Corridor.

Looking north on Central from Madison Street in 1927. The Luhrs Building is completed but no Luhrs Tower. The Luhrs Hotel is diagonal across Central. Farther north is the Heard Building and Hotel Adams.

A view of Tempe in the 1920s looking northeast. Nothing but farms south of the town.

The Heard estate at Central and Monte Vista, looking northeast, in the 1930s.

It's 1936 and the Hotel Westward Ho is the tallest building in Phoenix. To the lower left is the new Post Office. The imposing building to the upper right of the hotel is Central Methodist Church. Note the shady neighborhoods northwest of the Ho.

This distant shot shows Phoenix in 1936. You're looking northwest. Click and zoom in and you can see the new Luhrs Tower, as well as the natural gas storage tanks and Union Station.

The plane is over the first Phoenix Municipal Stadium at Central and Mohave, about two miles south of downtown and just north of today's Maricopa Freeway. It was built is 1937 with federal Works Progress Administration funding and hosted several minor-league teams (Phoenix Senators, Phoenix Stars, Phoenix Giants), as well as Spring Training.

Here's a rare shot of the Southern Pacific Railroad yards in 1942. They lie (and still do) between Seventh and Sixteenth streets. This photo shows a 14-stall roundhouse for steam locomotives. On the upper right, tracks diverge to serve warehouses along Jackson Street.

Speaking of railroads, here's Union Station circa 1930. It looks as if a steam switch engine has spotted some passenger cars and is heading back to the SP yard. The angled track at the bottom was the bypass for freight trains. The top of the photo, looking north, shows the Warehouse District.

The Warehouse District in 1956, looking east from around Third Avenue and Grant. The Fox Theater and Penney's are visible in the upper right.

Here's the larger image of the 1956 image above, showing Phoenix growing toward the orchards of Arcadia and Camelback Mountain.

The trickle of roadway is 48th Street. We're looking northeast in the 1950s, with the Papago Buttes, Camelback, citrus groves, desert, and the McDowells in the distance. The air strip is part of the National Guard base.

This postcard from 1959 shows the downtown skyline, then the view southwest toward the Estrellas.

It's 1965 and sprawl is apparent in this view to the northeast. The new Municipal Building and county complex are finished downtown.

The Japanese flower gardens. Running along the bottom is two-lane Baseline Road (Brad Hall collection).

The same era as above, but this postcard shows Union Station in the lower right when it was still a busy depot, including express cars to be attached to a train, Railway Express and U.S. Mail trucks, and the Southern Pacific freight bypass. Lower left is the Santa Fe freight station with boxcars to be unloaded.

An overhead of Midtown in the late 1950s. Visible are the Guaranty Bank building, Park Central Shopping Center, and the shorter of the two Mayer towers. Many more skyscrapers were on the way.

Compact Mesa in 1966 looking east, surrounded by citrus groves (Dan Lawler photo). The population was about 40,000. In 2020 it was more than 504,000 and sprawl had obliterated the groves.

In 1968, the Thunderbird School sat in splendid isolation surrounded by farms. Now it's all subdivisions and pavement.

An arresting clear-day view of Phoenix looking west toward downtown and the White Tank Mountains in the 1970s. The city is still graced with shade trees and surrounded by citrus groves.

In 1970, Valley Center is under construction downtown but south Phoenix remains mostly agricultural.

A satellite photo of Phoenix in 1971.

Downtown Phoenix looking northeast in 1977.

A wider view. All the 1970s skyscrapers are in place, along with the Civic Plaza, right.

Downtown Phoenix a few years ago on a clear day. Union Station is still standing but most of the tracks are gone. So are the magical citrus groves.

Looking from downtown to Midtown, Uptown and North Mountain in 2017. The ballpark roof is open.

Looking northeast from the Phoenix Country Club and, below, southeast over downtown in 2018 (Carol Highsmith photos/Library of Congress).

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.