Desert Visions and the Making of Phoenix, 1860-2009

6 Growing the City: Economic, Cultural, and Spatial Expansion

154 Part II educational and cultural institutions in the Valley, because they recognized these were crucial for recruiting and retaining the skilled and educated workforce that economic development required. And this reflected their belief that growth was generally and broadly beneficial. The combination of these factors enabled the city to prosper, to grow in population, and to annex large amounts of adjacent territory, as well as fostering the transformation of several Valley towns into new suburbs. This metropolitan form differed from the area’s previous configuration, as well asfrom urban patterns in areas further east. growth of the postwar economy InimportantrespectsthepostwareconomyofPhoenixcontinuedtoreflectthe area’sinherentcharacterandresources.Thefertilesoilandplentifulwatersupply maintained agriculture’s vital role in the area’s employment and income, while climate encouraged the expansion of tourism and the continued in-migration of health seekers. The growth of air travel and the availability of air-conditioning bolstered both tourism and population growth. The new city leaders had greater aspirations for the city than this, however, drawing on their wartime experienceswithdefensespendingandtheincomeobtainablefromelectronics and aviation-relatedmanufacturing. But Phoenix faced steep competition from many other cities that had drawn the same lessons, and its hopes for continuity were dashed when the end of World War II brought lower spending for military personnel, weapons, and war-related manufacturing. California provided the greatest contrast with Phoenix and the best model. Various of its cities had focused on military-related activity for decades, and that had yielded both a substantial investment by the military and a critical mass influencing the economic development of the host cities. World War II significantly affected Phoenix, creating physical structures and new perspectives, but it was America’s postwar foreign and military policies that actually changed the Valley’s future. As President Harry Truman pressed Congress in the spring of 1947 to increase military assistance to Greece and Turkey, Phoenix was fighting its own battle, threatening to use police to prevent the federal government from removing any buildings from Luke Field. As the Cold War expanded, with the implementation of the Marshall Plan, the establishment of NATO, and continued development of airpower and missiles, America’s military budget rose. Finally, the outbreak of the “hot” war in Korea in June 1950 returned America’s role and military spending to levels like those of World War II, where they would remain, and Growing the City 155 this new commitment provided a significant, direct, and continuing impact on Phoenix.1 After faltering immediately after the war, Arizona’s economy more than tripled from 1947 to 1960, with gains in all economic sectors.2 Agriculture, the traditional basis of the Valley’s economy, flourished during this era, led by increased production of cotton, lettuce, and livestock, and the acreage in production roseto 485,000 acres in 1955 and to 519,160 acres in 1959.3 The county’s retail sector grew nearly sixfold, expanding from 45 to 58 percent of the state’s retail sales. Wholesaling also prospered, with more trucking firms, more warehouses of national companies such as Westinghouse, Pittsburgh Glass,andH.J.Heinz,andanascentinternationalexportbusiness.4 Stimulated especially by the increase in tourism, service-sector employment increased slightly faster than the general rate of economic growth, while the flood of people moving to Phoenix kept construction employment strong at nearly 10 percent of the nonagricultural workforce.5 Increased employment and economic expansion brought greater prosperity, as Arizona’s average annual wages rose from $2,894 in 1949 to $4,697 in 1959.6 Manufacturing was the most important sector, because it was the dynamic force that expanded the economy and because manufacturing wages were higher than those in other fields and raised the community’s standard of living. In 1949 average annual wages in manufacturing were $3,083, just below construction wages and above the other categories. By 1958 the average had jumped to $5,568, but that included considerable variation by industry (table 6.1).7 Jobs in manufacturing airplane and aerospace components paid the best and were the most numerous, followed by jobs in manufacturing electrical machinery, other machinery, various types of metal fabrication, and jobs in manufacturing building materials.The least remunerative manufacturing jobs were in apparel and furniture manufacturing. This hierarchy helps to explain the Phoenix plan for economic development and the degree of its success. The prewar manufacturing base of Phoenix was primarily meatpacking, some metalworks, and minor clothes making. The growing part of that sector was in the production of...