Marinette was a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Maricopa County, Arizona Maricopa County () is a County (United States), county in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the List ...

, located just northwest of

Peoria, Arizona Peoria ( ) is a city in Maricopa and Yavapai counties in the U.S. state of Arizona. Most of the city is located in Maricopa County, while a portion of it in the north is in Yavapai County. It is a major suburb of Phoenix. As of the 2020 cens ...

, along the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

. The site was promoted in the early 20th century for production of citrus fruit, apricots, olives, and other crops. The town was purchased by the Southwest Cotton company, a Goodyear subsidiary, in 1920. Throughout the late 40s and 50s the J. G. Boswell Company owned much of the land for its agricultural production. The town existed until 1957, when the post office serving Marinette was moved to Youngtown. The place where Marinette once was later became the site of

Del Webb Corporation The Del E. Webb Construction Company was a construction company that was founded in 1928 and developed by Del Webb. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, it became the Del E. Webb Corporation a publicly traded company on the New York ...

Sun City, Arizona Sun City is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, that is located within the Phoenix metropolitan area. The population wa ...

.''Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas'', 1959 Edition, p. 74

History

In 1892, two men from

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, R.P. Davie and a business partner, chose to invest in 640 adjoining acres each. A section of railroad track on a corner of one of the sections, made the investment more advantageous. The two men negotiated to build a water stop on their land, naming it “Marinette” after their home town in Wisconsin. The town would grow over the next several years with the construction of homes, a general store, and eventually a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

in 1912. The more than 1200 acres sat between the Agua Fría River and New River, making the land easily irrigated for crops. Davie developed a deep well pumping system in order to better irrigate his crops. In 1918, Davie began planting

sugar beets A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

. Sugar beets were a very popular commodity in the area around this time, as William J. Murphy, founder of

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Located about nine miles northwest of the state capital Phoenix, Glendale is known for State Farm Stadium, which is the home of the Arizona Cardinals football team. The city al ...

was also a commercial grower and had opened the

Beet Sugar Factory A beet sugar factory, or sugar factory, is a type of production facility that produces sugar from Sugar beet, sugar beets or alternative plants to sugarcane in making refined sugar. These factories process the beets to produce White sugar, refined ...

in 1906. Davie invested heavily in his sugar beet crops, and soon learned that the soil could not produce a sweet enough beet, losing a great amount of his money. In 1920, R.P. Davie sold his remaining land to the Southwest Cotton Company, a former subsidiary of Goodyear, used to expand their cotton growing operations from Goodyear and Litchfield Park. Southwest Cotton eventually sold their holdings to J.G. Boswell in 1936, allowing his company to continue to grow cotton, as well as lettuce. In 1957, the Marinette post office moved to

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

, Arizona, marking the beginning of the end for the small town. Twenty-three years later, the Boswells would once again sell the land. In 1959, Del E. Webb purchased the Marinette Ranch in order to construct the beginnings of his new master planned retirement community and rename it Sun City.

Legacy

Today, you can still find some traces and references to the old town. At Grand Avenue and 105th Avenue, a historical marker was placed to remember and explain a brief history of the town. The Marinette Recreation Center in Sun City, is also named after the former town.

References

External links

Marinette article
at Wikimapia, with maps and photos {{Maricopa County, Arizona Former populated places in Maricopa County, Arizona Ghost towns in Arizona