Phoenix's origins date back to 700 AD, when the area, named Pueblo Grande by the Spanish, was home to a progressive agricultural community who constructed canal irrigation systems that fed off the Salt River. The U.S. military sparked redevelopment in the Salt River valley by establishing Fort McDowell in 1865. Two years later, Jack Swilling was traveling on horseback through the region and decided the desert setting was an ideal place to establish a new community. The name Phoenix came from the idea that, just like the mythical bird, the new town would spring from the ruins of a former...