Books published by Arcadia Publishing Library Editions

Fort Worth is called the city "Where the West Begins," and 100 years ago, the neighborhood known as Fairmount was where the south side ended. Now considered inner city, the Fairmount Southside Historic District is actually numerous smaller subdivisions including the largest, the Fairmount addition, and the smallest, the dubiously named Swastika Place. The neighborhoods were home to early merchants, lawyers, judges, artists, and small-business owners-many of whom went on to local and national fame. Today that legacy continues. Fairmount welcomes new generations of urban pioneers and benefits from a neighborhood renaissance that has brought this historically and architecturally significant gem of the city back from the brink of extinction.

In 1916, Paul W. Litchfield, vice president of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, purchased 16,000 acres west of Phoenix to grow long staple cotton for use in the pneumatic tires the company manufactured. With this, the Southwest Cotton Company was formed. This huge undertaking required drilling wells and building power lines, roads, canals, and, of course, housing for workers. The war years brought Goodyear Aircraft, built by the U.S. Department of Defense on land leased from Southwest Cotton Company, and Litchfield Naval Air Facility. With the arrival of Goodyear Aircraft and the navy base, homes, apartments, and basic retail services sprang up. The town of Goodyear was incorporated on November 19, 1946, with a population of 1,250. Named an All-America City in 2008, Goodyear is now a thriving community of 58,000 residents and the spring training home of Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds.

On July 4, 1876, immigrants from Boston traveling to California were camped at Antelope Spring in a valley just south of the San Francisco Peaks. To celebrate the nation's centennial, the pioneers stripped the branches off a tall pine tree and ran up Old Glory. This event gave Flagstaff its name. Six years later, in 1882, the Atlantic and Pacific Railway reached Flagstaff, and a small settlement was born. Railroad construction crews used local ponderosa pine trees for rail ties, beginning a timber industry that thrived in the region for the next century. Flagstaff also became a center of tourism as visitors came to see spectacular natural sights in the surrounding territory, including the Grand Canyon, Oak Creek Canyon, and Sunset Crater, and to experience the Native American cultures of the American Southwest. This volume traces the establishment and early development of Flagstaff and depicts many facets of life in Arizona's "Mountain Town."

On October 26, 1862, Col. Edward P. Connor and the 3rd California Volunteers set up Camp Douglas for the purpose of protecting the overland mail and telegraph routes between Nevada and Wyoming. This began a long history of a U.S. military presence in the Salt Lake Valley Mormon community. Although the camp closed on October 26, 1991, the U.S. military still has a presence today on the east bench of Salt Lake City known as Fort Douglas. The base as it was during its heyday of the 38th Infantry is gone, but the parade ground and Gothic sandstone homes of Officers Circle, shaded by trees planted long ago, still remain at Fort Douglas. The horses have disappeared and the "old soldiers have faded away," but the stable and red-brick barracks also remain. A few old-timers still enjoy a stroll around the parade ground, listening for the canyon breeze ruffling through the trees that echo faintly the calls of yesteryear.

The city of Peoria, Arizona, located 14 miles northwest of Phoenix, was founded in 1886 near the eastern bank of New River by settlers from Peoria, Illinois. The pioneers used the Arizona Canal to irrigate the surrounding dry desert, turning the town into a farming community. Peoria became a stop along the Santa Fe, Prescott, and Phoenix Railroad in 1895 and boasted its own train station and landmark water tower. A small commercial section developed nearby. Peoria was the last, full-service stop on the way out of the Salt River Valley along U.S. Highway 60 (Grand Avenue) before Wickenburg, 40 miles to the northwest. The town began to take shape as a suburb of Phoenix in the latter half of the 20th century, growing from 600 people in 1920 to over 151,000 in 2007. The city continues to expand by population and land annexation. It now includes the popular recreation area Lake Pleasant and extends into a small portion of Yavapai County.

Early travelers coming up the Cowlitz River saw a large rock formation next to the river, which they named Castle Rock. It was here, nestled between the Willapa Hills and the Cascade Mountains, that William and Eliza Huntington made their homestead in 1852. Theirs and several other early land grants make up what is now the site of Castle Rock, as well as nearby homes and farms. Descendants of many early pioneer families continue to live in Castle Rock, including Pyle, Jackson, Merrill, Dougherty, Whittle, Studebaker, and others. The town and its people have survived a series of natural disasters in the 20th century, including floods, an earthquake, a Pacific hurricane, and the eruption of Mount St. Helens, each time picking up the pieces of their lives and rebuilding. With the virtual collapse of the timber industry, Castle Rock is now beginning to find its identity and ability to prosper in the 21st century.