A Brief History of Ahwatukee...
Ahwatukee (formally "Ahwatukee Foothills Village") is an L-shaped neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona bordered on the north by South Mountain Park and Baseline Road, on the east by Interstate 10 and the cities of Chandler, Guadalupe, and Tempe, and on the south and west by the Gila River Indian Community.
Although annexed by the City of Phoenix from 1978 to 1987, before substantial residential growth, many of its residents still think of it as a separate city. It is one of the city's 15 urban villages. The 35.8 square-mile (92.7 km²) village currently has a population of approximately 85,000 people.
History
Legend has it that in 1921, Dr. and Mrs. W.V.B. Ames built a house on approximately 2,000 acres on the southeast side of the South Mountains. They gave the area its original name, Casa de Sueños, which in Spanish means, "House of Dreams." Dr. Ames died within just three months of moving into the house, and after Mrs. Ames' death in 1933 the house and most of the land was willed to St. Luke's Hospital, then bought in 1935 by Miss Helen Brinton, who appeared to have retranslated the name of the house to the Crow word which now serves as the name of the village. The house was demolished in 1979, and parts of it were used to build the Our Lady of Guadalupe church. Marty Gibson was the first to write a book on the history of Ahwatukee, titled, "The History of Ahwatukee."
As it turns out, the Crow translation for "House of Dreams" (ashe ammeewiawe) sounds nothing like Ahwatukee. More likely, the town was named after the Crow words awe chuuke, meaning "land on the other side of the hill," or "land in the next valley." -Which is a curious reference because the Crow are a native northern plains tribe now residing in southeast Montana, and have never been associated with Arizona where the Apache, Hopi, Pima and Navajo are indigenous.
In 1971 part of the land was purchased, subdivided, and developed into a residential community by the Presley Development Company, owned by Elvis Presley's uncle. Ahwatukee is also home to many up and coming music groups such as Anarbor.
Ahwatukee has grown as the city acquired other land parcels to the west, including land owned by International Harvester, which operated a proving ground for earth-moving equipment there from 1947 to 1983. The State of Arizona, has bought, sold, or swapped land several times, including transferring state trust land to developers in controversial auctions in which residents and conservationists have lobbied for the space to be converted to parkland.
Neighborhood Characteristics
The village falls within three zip codes:
* 85044 (population 40,000) - Covers the area north of Chandler Boulevard and roughly east of 32nd Street. It has a median income of approximately $65,000.
* 85045 (5,000) - Covers area roughly west of Central Avenue. It has a median income of approximately $105,000.
* 85048 (35,000) - Covers the remaining portion of the village. It has a median income of approximately $90,000.
Surrounded to the northwest by South Mountain Park, blocked to the east by I-10 and to the south by the Gila River Indian Community, Ahwatukee Foothills is geographically isolated from the city which it is part of, Phoenix. Due to its relatively few access points (through a couple of bridges across Interstate 10), it has been called The World's Largest Cul-de-sac. People who live in Ahwatukee are stuck there. According to a traffic counts study, Chandler Blvd., one of the only connections to I-10, has 61,900 vehicles in a 24-hour period. This is higher than any other street in the city of Phoenix making Ahwatukee a traffic nightmare.
Education
The area's K-8 students are served by the Kyrene School District. The Kyrene Schools in Ahwatukee include Kyrene Cerritos (K-5), Kyrene De La Colina (K-5), Kyrene de las Lomas (K-5),Kyrene Estrella (K-5), Kyrene Monte Vista (K-5), Kyrene de los Lagos (K-5), Kyrene del Milenio (K-5),and Kyrene Sierra (K-5) elementary schools, and Centennial (6-8), Akimel A-al (6-8), Altadeña (6-8) middle 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. There are also a number of private/charter schools, including Keystone Montessori School, Horizon Community Learning Center Charter School, Intelli-School High School, and Skyline Technical High School.
Climate
Ahwatukee receives approximately 8 inches of rainfall yearly.[4] Temperatures are mild during the winter months and average around 67 degrees F. In the summer, temperatures average around 100 degrees F.
Lows rarely reach freezing temperatures during the winter months. However, cool air can fall from the upper elevations and settle in the lower terrains, causing variations in temperature.
Snow is extremely rare for the area, but can sometimes be seen on the Sierra Estrella mountain range to the southwest.
Carole Wilson
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