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Ahwatukee Foothills (also Ahwatukee) is an
urban village In urban planning and design, an urban village is an urban development typically characterized by medium-density housing, mixed use zoning, good public transit and an emphasis on pedestrianization and public space. Contemporary urban village i ...
of
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
. Ahwatukee forms the southernmost portion of Phoenix, and is considered part of the East Valley region of the
Phoenix metropolitan area The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city ...
. In 2022, ''Niche'' rated Ahwatukee "#1 in Best Neighborhoods to Live in Phoenix."


History

Prior to the area's development into the community it is known today, the name "Ahwatukee" referred, at times, to a since-demolished house that sat in an area near Sequoia Trails and Appaloosa Drive, west of the Warner-Elliot Loop.


Beginnings

At least two major thoroughfares in today's Ahwatukee are named after people who claimed lands in the area, in the decades following the signing of the
Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of t ...
in 1862. Warner Road was named after Samuel Warner of Kansas, while Elliot Road was named after Reginald Elliott of California. Both claimed lands in an area now known as Tempe. A third man, Arthur Hunter, claimed land within an area now known as Ahwatukee. The street known today as 48th Street was, for a time, named ''Hunter Drive'', after Arthur Hunter. Hunter is rumored to have, in the 1940s, disassembled and buried in the Ahwatukee desert a
Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...
auto purportedly owned by
Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
.


Ahwatukee ranch

One of the first houses in the area was built by Dr. William Van Bergen Ames, who co-founded
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...
's now-closed Dental School. The house was built on a piece of land measuring over , which was purchased for $4 an acre. At the time, the '' Chandler Arizonan'' newspaper called the house, built in the foothills of the South Mountain, "unmatched in scope and size". The house was noted to be a winter residence, designed by prominent Phoenix architect Lester Mahoney, with construction starting in 1921. The house was given the name "The Mystic House" by the ''Chandler Arizonan'', due to its cost, size, and isolated location. The Ames, however, called it ''Casa de Sueños''. They moved into the house on
Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden a ...
of 1921, but Dr. Ames died suddenly in February 1922. Ames' wife continued to spend her winters at the house until her death in 1933. Following Ames' wife's death, the Ames' property in Ahwatukee was willed to St. Luke's Hospital. The property was bought by Helen Brinton in 1935, who gave the house (and eventually the area) the name it is known by today (as explained below). Brinton died in 1960, and the house was demolished in 1979.


Proving grounds

In 1946, the
International Harvester Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...
rented land from a
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
tank testing facility located west of today's Lakewood community, for use as truck and heavy equipment proving grounds. The proving grounds eventually grew to over . The grounds were designed to stress-test trucks and heavy equipment with, among other things, a test track, dirt tracks, a special testing area with 20 to 60% grade, service shops, and a runway for company executives. The grounds were sold to a property development company in 1983, due to a combination of economic issues, labor union problems, and a patent infringement judgement against the company. The area is now a part of ''The Foothills'' and ''Club West'' developments.


Development

Development of Ahwatukee began in 1970, when Presley Development Company, led by Randall Presley, bought of land. The land included Ahwatukee Ranch, then owned by a land syndicate led by an
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U ...
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
professor, as well as land owned by a local moving and storage firm. Presley originally planned for the area to be a
retirement community A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves; however, assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socializ ...
, but later devised a mix of retirement living, family living, and light commercial zoning for the area. Presley Development was noted to have a role in Ahwatukee eventually becoming a part of Phoenix, instead of neighboring Chandler or Tempe, through a handshake deal between
Maricopa County Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about 6 ...
Supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position that is primarily based on authority over workers or ...
Bob Stark, who was also an attorney with Presley Development, and
Mayor of Phoenix The following is a list of the mayors of Phoenix, Arizona. Living former mayors of Phoenix There are six living former mayors of Phoenix, the oldest being John B. Nelson (served 1994, born 1936). The most recent death of a former mayor o ...
John D. Driggs. However, Chandler and Tempe officials were noted to have refused offers of annexing Ahwatukee. Phoenix annexed the area in stages, from 1980 to 1987. It has been suggested that Phoenix's annexation of Ahwatukee had, to a degree, affected Tempe's future development. Plans for Ahwatukee were approved by Maricopa County in November 1971, and 17 model homes were opened in an area near 50th Street and Elliot Road in 1973. In the same year as the model homes’ opening, the
Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the ...
set aside $5 million to build a prison near the proving grounds. Plans for the prison, however, were later scrapped. The area's first elementary school, Kyrene de los Lomas, opened in 1976, while
Mountain Pointe High School Mountain Pointe High School is a secondary school located in Ahwatukee, Arizona one of eight public high schools serving the Tempe Union High School District. History The Ahwatukee area of Phoenix experienced explosive growth in the 1990s. The ...
opened as the area's first high school in 1991.


Etymology

There exist three theories surrounding the name "Ahwatukee", with all three claiming the name has roots in the
Crow language Crow ( native name: ''Apsáalooke'' ) is a Missouri Valley Siouan language spoken primarily by the Crow Nation in present-day southeastern Montana. The word, ''Apsáalooke,'' translates to "children of the raven." It is one of the larger popula ...
. Some stories of the name's origin trace back to Brinton, who chose a Crow-rooted name for her new property due to her time among the
Crow Nation The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation locat ...
tribal members in Wyoming, and the influence it subsequently had on her.


House of dreams

Some sources claim the name is a Crow term for ''house of your dreams'', ''house of my dreams'', or ''house of dreams'' Until at least 2006, the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce acknowledged ''house of dreams'' as the meaning of the area's name. However, according to the Crow language dictionary maintained by the Crow Language Consortium, the Crow word for "house" is ''ashé'', and the Crow word for "dream" is ''baashíale'' or ''balewaashíale''.


Land on the other side of the hill

Some sources claim the name is a Crow term for ''land on the other side of the hill'', based on the Crow word ''awe chuuke''. According to the same Crow dictionary, the word ''awé'' means "ground", "land", or "earth", and the word ''chúuke'' means "over the ridge", "over the hill", or "the next valley over".


Flat land

According to ''The Everyday Language of White Racism'' by Jane Hill, the name closely resembles a Crow term for "flat land" or "prairie". According to the Crow language dictionary maintained by the Crow Language Consortium, the Crow word for "flat land" is "alawachúhke".


Geography

The Ahwatukee Foothills Village is bordered by
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pla ...
to the east, South Mountain to the north, and the
Gila River Indian Community The Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) ( O'odham language: Keli Akimel Oʼotham, ''meaning "Gila River People"'', Maricopa language: Pee-Posh) is an Indian reservation in the U.S. state of Arizona, lying adjacent to the south side of the city of ...
& Loop 202 to the west and south. Ahwatukee is geographically isolated from the rest of Phoenix, and was once seen as appropriate for semi-rural development.


Demographics

Based on 2016 estimates, the Ahwatukee Foothills Village has 83,464 residents. 83% of the population are
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 6.5% are Asian, 5.6% are
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have of ...
or African American, 1.6% are Native American and 3.3% identify as some other race. 12.3% of the population is Hispanic. Due to the community's predominantly Caucasian racial makeup, the area has been called "All-White-tukee".


Education


Public

K-8 public school students in the area attend schools operated by the
Kyrene School District Kyrene School District is a K-8 school district that serves parts of Tempe, Chandler, Guadalupe, and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as portions of the Gila River Indian Community within Maricopa County. Kyrene School District operates a total of 26 ...
. In fact, Ahwatukee-based schools constitute 12 out of 25 (48%) of Kyrene's schools. High school students go to one of two in the area: Desert Vista and Mountain Pointe. Both schools are operated by the
Tempe Union High School District The Tempe Union High School District is a school district of high schools in Tempe, Arizona, USA. Its service area includes all of Tempe, the city of Chandler, Arizona west of the Loop 101, Guadalupe, the Gila River Indian Community in Maricopa ...


Private

There are a number of private schools in Ahwatukee. One of the schools, Summit School of Ahwatukee, is ranked as one of the most expensive private schools in the Phoenix area by
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
in 2014.


Infrastructure


Transportation

The community is served by the ALEX neighborhood circulator, which is operated by
Valley Metro Bus Valley Metro Bus is a transit bus system for public transport in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. In , the Valley Metro half the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . Buses are operated by private companies contracte ...
. Riders, however, have complained of poor service after a new contractor took over the route in 2016. Portions of Ahwatukee are also served by Valley Metro Routes 56-Priest Drive, 108-Elliot Road, 140-Ray Road, 156-Chandler Boulevard/Williams Field Road, and the I-10 East RAPID route. As a result of having access points only via 48th Street in the northeastern part of the area, and a number of east–west crossings over I-10, Ahwatukee has been called the world's largest ''
cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...
''. The building of Loop 202's South Mountain Freeway segment, however, has given the area a western gateway, via a series of exits along the southern border of the community.


References


External links


Ahwatukee Foothills News: Community News & Events
{{Authority control Urban villages of Phoenix, Arizona 1971 establishments in Arizona