Visiting Casa Grande and Casa Grande
Way back in 1878, the sprawling city of Casa Grande was founded. A mining town, the Southern Pacific Railroad played a big part in its history. Casa Grande grew slowly, and suffered large fires within the town in 1886 and 1893-- all wooden structures were destroyed. As agriculture progressed, Casa Grande was eventually incorporated in 1915.
Thompson Rodney Peart was a founding father. Peart Road, Peart Park, and the Peart Center are all named after him.
Over Labor Day weekend, I really wanted to take a day trip, and my husband, really wanted NOT to. We compromised by staying close, and went tooling up the interstate to our nearest "big" neighbor, about a 40 minute trip from Marana.
Casa Grande has really changed along the freeway between Tucson and Phoenix, and I was curious to see what changes have taken place within the city "proper".
City Hall is lovely, with the green grass and trees all around. I love the preservation of some of the early architecture.
Look at the beautiful rock work! This is a museum.
As we began to come across subdivision after subdivision, I was thankful to see this old original. Wow. What a roof!
Perhaps a dozen modern subdivisions now dot the Casa Grande area.
Some even have lakes!
Large apartment complexes are new as well.
Yet another new subdivision.
Florence Blvd, or the Casa Grande Highway -- the main road stretching both sides of 1-10 has every shopping and fast food convenience, I think. A large mall with theater, Walmart, Kmart, Ace Hardware, Lowe's, furniture stores, grocery stores...they are all there, and no more than 15 minutes from any part of Casa Grande.
I'm glad that Casa Grande has kept some of their history along with the modern "contemporary" subdivisions.
View more information at CasaGrandChamber.org. "Explore early Casa Grande and experience the 19th century mining boom at the Casa Grande Valley Historical Society and Museum, 110 W. Florence Blvd. While touring the museum’s historic grounds, learn how irrigation turned sandy plains into lush cotton fields. Call the Historical Society at (520) 836-2223 for more information and a schedule of upcoming events."
In part two, I'll share more about Casa Grande - the Indian ruins. I always thought the ruins were named after the city, but it's the other way around!
Comments(12)