[14] Its canal system led to a thriving farming community with the original settlers' crops, such as alfalfa, cotton, citrus, and hay, remaining important parts of the local economy for decades.

These remained the driving forces of the city until after World War II, when high-tech companies began to move into the valley and air conditioning made Phoenix's hot summers more bearable.

[40] The history of Phoenix begins with Jack Swilling, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War who prospected in the nearby mining town of Wickenburg in the newly formed Arizona Territory.

A new location three miles to the west of the original settlement, containing several allotments of farmland, was chosen, and lots began to officially be sold under the name of Phoenix in December of that year.

[51] This occurred just six months after Taft had vetoed a joint congressional resolution granting statehood to Arizona, due to his disapproval of the state constitution's position on the recall of judges.

[55] During World War II, Phoenix's economy shifted to that of a distribution center, transforming into an "embryonic industrial city" with the mass production of military supplies.

[24] The 1950s growth was spurred on by advances in air conditioning, which allowed homes and businesses to offset the extreme heat experienced in Phoenix and the surrounding areas during its long summers.

The color lines were so rigid that no one north of Van Buren Street would rent to the African-American baseball star Willie Mays, in town for spring training in the 1960s.

[72] In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson approved the Central Arizona Project, assuring future water supplies for Phoenix, Tucson, and the agricultural corridor between them.

On June 1, 2023, the State of Arizona announced the decision to halt new housing development in the Phoenix metropolitan area that relies solely on groundwater due to a predicted water shortfall.

[193] Concerts take place at Footprint Center and Comerica Theatre in downtown Phoenix, Ak-Chin Pavilion in Maryvale, Gila River Arena in Glendale, and Gammage Auditorium in Tempe (the last public building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright).

[197] Designed by Alden B. Dow, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Phoenix Art Museum was constructed in a single year, opening in November 1959.

[207] In April 2009, artist Janet Echelman installed Her Secret Is Patience, a netted sculpture suspended above Phoenix Civic Space Park that makes patterns of desert wind visible.

Phoenix also serves as a central point to many of the sights around the state of Arizona, such as the Grand Canyon, Lake Havasu (where the London Bridge is located), Meteor Crater, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, Tombstone, Kartchner Caverns, Sedona and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff.

Phoenix boasts cuisines from all over the world, such as barbecue, Cajun/Creole, Greek, Hawaiian, Irish, Japanese, Italian, fusion, Persian, Indian (South Asian), Korean, Spanish, Thai, Chinese, southwestern, Tex-Mex, Vietnamese, Brazilian, and French.

[233] The hamburger stand opened in 1953 on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Indian School Road, on the growing north side of Phoenix, and was the first location to sport the now internationally known golden arches, which were initially twice the height of the building.

[237] The year following their move to the new arena, the Suns made it to the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history, losing to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, four games to two.

Upon their move to Phoenix, the Cardinals played their home games at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in nearby Tempe.

However, after residents of Tempe rejected a bond initiative to pay for a new stadium, the Coyotes were deactivated, and the team's assets were moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 2021, the club moved to a new home, the Phoenix Rising Soccer Complex at Wild Horse Pass, which was located inside the Gila River Indian Community near Chandler and played there throughout the 2022 season.

With the move by the Colorado Rockies and the Diamondbacks to their new facility in the Salt River Indian Community, the league is entirely based in the Greater Phoenix area.

The city also hosts several major professional golf events, including the LPGA's Founder's Cup[267] and, since 1932, The Phoenix Open of the PGA Tour.

The paper would go through several additional name changes in its early years before finally settling on the Phoenix Herald, which still exists today in an online form.

[323] The major network television affiliates are KPHO 5 (CBS), Prescott-licensed KAZT-TV 7 (The CW), KAET 8 (PBS, operated by Arizona State University), KSAZ 10 (Fox), KPNX 12 (NBC), KNXV 15 (ABC), and KUTP 45 (MyNetworkTV).

Other network television affiliates operating in the area include KPAZ 21 (TBN), KTVW-DT 33 (Univision), KFPH-DT (UniMás), KTAZ 39 (Telemundo), and KPPX-TV 51 (ION).

From the opening sequences in Psycho,[324] to the night attack by the aliens in 1953's The War of the Worlds,[325] to freeway scenes in Little Miss Sunshine,[324] Phoenix has been the location for numerous major feature films.

Other notable pictures filmed at least partially in Phoenix include Raising Arizona, A Home at the End of the World,[325] Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Days of Thunder, The Gauntlet, The Grifters, Waiting to Exhale and Bus Stop.

[328] Centrally located in the metro area near several major freeway interchanges east of downtown Phoenix, the airport serves more than 100 cities with non-stop flights.

[331] In addition to American, other domestic carriers include Alaska Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, and United.

[365] The organization's mission statement states their purpose is to "foster relationships between the people of Phoenix and our Sister Cities around the world to promote friendship, peace and prosperity.