History of Mesa

Mesa is the third-largest city in the US State of Arizona after Phoenix and Tucson. The 38th-largest city in the US has a population of 439,041, according to the 2010 Census Bureau. Mesa is home to numerous higher education facilities including the Polytechnic campus of Arizona State University.

Origins

Some 2,000 years ago, the Hohokam people, whose name means “All Used Up” or “The Departed Ones,” built the first canal system.
The canals, the largest and most sophisticated by the then standards, delivered water to an area over 110,000 acres (450 km2) by A.D. 1100, transforming the Sonoran Desert into an agricultural oasis. Many of these canals are still in use today.
The Hohokam vanished, and the US Army troops subdued the Apache by the late 19th century near present-day Mesa laying the foundation for settlement.

Mormon

Mormon officials asked Daniel Webster Jones to head a group of people to set up a Mormon settlement in Arizona. They traveled from St. George, Utah in March 1877and arrived at Lehi, northern present-day Mesa. Initially known as Jonesville and Fort Utah, Brigham Young, Jr suggested the name Lehi in 1883, which stuck.

Mesa Company

Another group, the First Mesa Company, under the leadership of Francis Martin Pomeroy, Charles Crismon, George Warren Sirrine and Charles I. Robson, arrived from Utah and Idaho at the same time.
They did not settle at Lehi settlement. Instead, they settled at the top of the mesa that serves as the city’s namesake. They dug irrigation canals, some of which were over the original Hohokam canals. Another Mesa Company arrived in 1879 and settled to the west of where the First Mesa Company settled in 1880, due to lack of available farmland. This settlement was called Stringtown.

Registration and growth

These original settlers registered Mesa City as a 1-square-mile (2.6 km2) town site on July 17, 1878. With the first school coming up in 1879, 1883 witnessed the incorporation of Mesa City with a population of 300 people.
Military officers started migrating to Mesa area following the opening of Falcon Field and Williams Field in the early 1940s. The invention of air conditioners and the rise of tourism, Mesa’s population grew. Industry—especially early aerospace companies and agriculture—grew in the 1950s and 1960s.

Population

The Census Bureau reported Mesa’s population as 10.9 percent Hispanic and 84.9 percent non-Hispanic white in 1990. The mild winter climate, beautiful environment, and stable economic conditions attract more residents every year. The city’s population is approximately 404,000 in 2000, over 100,000 people more than in 1990. We at Arizona Roofing Systems, top ranked Mesa roofing company are extremely happy to be part of such a lovely community and city.