2.3.2.a Historic and Cultural Preservation Discussion

1. Legal basis for Historic preservation
1. 1.1. Federal law
2. 1.2. Arizona Register of Historical Places
3. 1.3. Surprise Planning Area History
2. Waddell
3. Morristown
4. Wittmann

Historic and cultural resources include elements from the built environment such as structures, districts, landscape features, including significant trees and plantings, and other natural or designed features, interior elements and fixtures designated in conjunction with a property, significant archaeological sites, and traditional cultural properties. By tracing and preserving its past a city can gain a clear sense of the process by which it achieved its present form and substance. Surprise is a relatively new city, yet there are examples of boom and bust periods of development of the city’s core, early infrastructure and transportation routes, the spread of development outward, and continued military presence. The identification, evaluation, registration and protection of these resources, and the preservation of Surprise’s past for its current and future residents are the essential components of this section.

Legal basis for Historic preservation

Federal law

The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), enacted in 1966, established the National Register of Historic Places, authorized funding for state programs with participation by local governments, created the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and established a review process for protecting cultural resources. The NHPA provides the legal framework for most state and local preservation laws. The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. It is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect historic and archeological resources.

The NHPA was amended in 1980 to create the Certified Local Government (CLG) participation and integration in a comprehensive statewide historic preservation planning process. Cities and counties with CLG status may compete for preservation funds allocated by Congress and awarded to each state.

Arizona Register of Historical Places

The Arizona Register of Historic Places is the state’s list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects worthy of preservation. Arizona has adopted the National Register of Historic Places criteria for evaluating eligibility for the state register. The Arizona Historic Sites Review Committee is Arizona’s official State and National Register of Historic Places review board as mandated by state law and federal regulations. A listing on the Arizona Register of Historic Places protects and preserves a property by recognizing and appreciating historic properties and their importance, but does not prevent demolition of the property.

Surprise Planning Area History

Although known documented history of the region dates back to the 1800s, the city of Surprise itself was founded in 1929, by real estate developer and state legislator Homer C. Ludden who named it after his hometown of Surprise, Nebraska. Ludden subdivided the one-mile square parcel of land to build inexpensive houses for agricultural workers. The land was extensively used as irrigated farmlands and orchards and is now affordable real estate.

Early history of the region has a strong correlation to the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad (SF&PPR), built in the 1890s by an entrepreneur named Frank Murphy. It connected the northern part of Arizona with Phoenix and speeded Phoenix’s rise to economic supremacy in the state. There has been some mention about a development in the Bell Road-Grand Avenue area known as Beardsley. Beardsley was originally a station which honored Will H. Beardsley. For years it served as a sheep shearing point on the SF&PPR. Until the 1940s there were still corrals and residences. Expansion of the railroad right-of-away required the site to be bulldozed out of existence. The post office operated only in the year 1936. Beardsley was also the original junction of the branch of the SF&PPR (Railroads of Arizona, Vol.5 by David F Myrick, submitted by Paul S Hodson.) to McMicken. The junction was later relocated to Ennis 4.5 miles east of Beardsley. William Beardsley’s name is also associated with an irrigation project in the 1880s. His company, the Agua Fria Construction Company built a canal named the Beardsley Canal, from Lake Pleasant to ranches as far as 30 miles away.

The Beardsley Canal that dates back to 1888 has been assigned an Arizona Site Museum (ASM) site number and is eligible for inclusion into the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). There are also a few prehistoric Hohokam sites recommended as eligible for listing in the NRHP for their potential yield of information on Hohokam subsistence and settlement strategies in the lower Agua Fria River drainage.

The Surprise Planning Area was also home to three of the Luke Air Force Base (AFB) airfields, Luke AFB Auxiliary Airfield #1, Beardsley Auxiliary Army Airfield #2, and the Beardsley Auxiliary Army Airfield #3. The Beardsley Auxiliary Army Airfields #2 and #3 were built during World War II as part of a large number of satellite airfields for Luke AFB, which was the largest single-engine advanced training base in the world during World War II. According to the history of Luke AFB, the origination date of Beardsley Field #2 is lost to history.

The Airfield #3 was built after 1941, and according to an Army Corps of Engineers Report, the 656 acre property for Luke Auxiliary Airfield #3 was originally acquired in 1942. The airfield property was conveyed to the city of Phoenix in 1949. However, the entire property was leased again from the city of Phoenix in 1949 and the air field was re-established for military use. Luke Auxiliary Airfield #3 was depicted as an active airfield on the 1956 Phoenix Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss), which described the longest runway as being a 3,800' hard-surfaced strip. The military lease was once again terminated in 1957. The lease release documentation contained a clause prohibiting use of the land as an air field as long as Luke AFB is used as an air field. Luke Auxiliary Airfield #3 was depicted as a closed airfield on the December 1976 Phoenix Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy). The city of Phoenix in 2002 exchanged the Luke Auxiliary Airfield #3 property for another parcel of nearby land.

Other unincorporated areas located within the Surprise Planning Area also have historic documentation, especially development related to mining and homesteading activities.

Waddell

Waddell found its roots in 1910s primarily as an agricultural town. Donald Waddell, the founder, was originally from New York and, along with other farmers in the area, was instrumental in getting the Lake Pleasant Dam established. Mr. Waddell was also highly active in getting the rail spur to run along Cotton Lane up to Indian School Road. A post office and a store were located at the corner of Cotton Lane and Waddell Road along with a cotton gin. The rail spur came through there and often acted as a focal point for the labor camp that housed farm workers from Mexico.

Morristown

The first known name for Morristown was Vulture Siding. In 1897 after the importance of Vulture Mine faded, the name of the place was changed to Hot Springs Junction because at this station passengers disembarked from the train to take a stage to Castle Hot Springs. The name was later changed to Morristown to honor the first inhabitant at the place, George Morris, the discoverer of the Mack Morris Mine in Gila County. A post office was established on December 30, 1897, Lee H. Landis postmaster, Wells Fargo Station, 1903, (Hot Springs Junction). The Morristown store, formerly the Morristown Hotel also located within the area and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
Reference: Barnes, Arizona Journal Mining, November 4, 1897, 4:2, 16, p.356; P. O. Records, Maps: C-9, C-12 (Hot Springs Junction)

Wittmann

Former and merged names for the Wittmann area include Nadaburg. Lore has it that a lone rider was looking for a town between Phoenix and Wickenburg and he came across an old Indian, a Mexican or some say a German railroad worker. When he asked if there was a town nearby, he was told Nada, Nada burg. Nada is Spanish for no or nothing; burg of course refers to a town. There was nothing there. By the early 1900s the Santa Fe Railroad ran west out of Phoenix and there was a mail drop called Nadaburg. William Hovey Griffin filed a homestead claim on the section of land known as Nadaburg. The community was named after an investor who financed rebuilding of the Walnut Grove Dam, a dam that collapsed in the winter of 1889/90 killing several dozen workers. In November 1929 Joseph Wittmann filed the Wittmann Irrigation Project in an effort to bring water to the area. In the 1930s by mutual agreement, the settlement’s name was officially changed to Wittmann to honor Joseph Wittmann and his promise of irrigation water. Surprise has experienced tremendous growth in the years since it was founded and has burgeoned to a population of 107,593 (2008) from a population of 44 in 1929 at the time of Ludden.