Wittmann is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Maricopa County,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 684, down from 763 in 2010. It is located along U.S. Route 60 in the central part of Arizona, northwest of central Phoenix, and is part of the

Phoenix metropolitan area The Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, metro Phoenix, or The Valley, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the Southwestern United States, with its largest principal city being the c ...

, although just outside the urban portion. A variant name was "Nadaburg"; the present name is for Joseph Wittmann and his wife Eleanor van Beuren Wittmann, a couple who attempted several times to get approvals to build a dam project in nearby Box Canyon that would have benefitted the town. This was to be a successor to the poorly engineered Walnut Grove dam that had collapsed in February 1890, less than two years after it had filled. Eleanor van Beuren's father was the nominal head of a group of East Coast investors that had funded what was then primarily a placer mining project. One of the Walnut Grove Water Storage Company's engineers (not responsible for the design) was Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Oswald Brodie, who was later appointed Arizona's territorial governor. Governmental approval and adequate funding lacking, the replacement dam project plans faltered. A long-projected time for repayment of supplemental government funding killed Joseph Wittmann's project in the 1940s, leaving promises to Maricopa County families broken. The naming of nearby Morristown also refers to the Wittmann and van Beuren families, for they had residences in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

History

The town was first named "Nadaburg", which is a combination of two words, the Spanish word "Nada", which means "nothing" and the German word "burg", which means "castle". R.E. Wells of the Southern Transcontinental Railroad named the site Nadaburg when a

railroad switch A railroad switch (American English, AE), turnout, or (set of) points (Commonwealth English, CE) is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one Rail tracks, track to another, such as at a Junction (rail), ...

was installed in the area years before it was formally opened to homesteading as a result of the Department of Interior Act of December 29, 1916.History of Nadaburg
/ref>"A brief history of a tiny western town" by: Rock Betu
/ref> William Hovey Griffin, a native of Texas, founded the town of Nadaburg (Wittmann). He filed his homestead petition in September 1920. That same year he also plotted out the town site. Griffin donated a block of land to the Maricopa County School District where the little Red School House (it was white at that time) was built. The school currently serves as the Nadaburg Unified School District Governing Board's Boardroom. In 1925, Griffin applied to the state corporation commission explaining the necessity of a water utility and requesting a permit to construct one in the town. Up to that point, Griffin had been providing water for about 20 families in the area from his original well that he drilled upon his arrival in 1920. Joseph Wittmann, continuing a legacy initiated by his father-in-law, endeavored to build a dam on the Hassayampa River, which would bring irrigation water to the town of Nadaburg. In 1926, lots and acreage were given to Wittmann, by the citizens of Nadaburg, in support of the construction of the dam. In 1929, the people of Nadaburg changed the name of the town to Wittmann, honoring the family who promised them the water reserves and canals that would irrigate their fields. Hydroelectric dams to were also promised to bring power the community and others nearby. Other land and claims included those that had belonged to the Wittmann-van Beuren family ever since the Walnut Grove Water Storage Company went into receivership in the 1890s. However, unable and/or ill-equipped to keep his family's promise, Joseph Wittmann and his son Joseph Jr. were sued by the citizens of the town; at least half of them were able to recover their lands. The town's economy is largely rooted in agriculture with the town's fertile soil. In the 1930s, the town widely grew dates, citrus, grapes, alfalfa, lettuce and cantaloupes. There have also been numerous livestock farms and dairies.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 763 people living in the Wittmann census-designated place. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 56.3 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Wittmann was 83.8%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.8%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.2% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 10.6% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. 24.0% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race.

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Wittmann has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

, abbreviated "BWh" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Wittmann was on June 28, 2013, and June 20, 2017, while the coldest temperature recorded was on January 13, 1963.

Images

File:Wittmann, Az. Fire Station.JPG, Wittmann Fire Station on Patton Road File:Wittmann-Church-1930.jpg, Early Nadaburg church, now the Assembly of God, built c. 1930, and located at 32858 Center Street. File:Wittmann-Wittmann Cemetery-1917.jpg, Wittmann Cemetery at 21307 Galvin Street. The first recorded burial was that of James Stalnaker in 1917. File: Glendale-West Resthaven Park Cemetery-William Hovey Griffin.jpg , Grave of William Hovey Griffin (1875–1956) in West Resthaven Park Cemetery and Funeral Home, Glendale

References

External links