Phoenix, the thriving metropolis nicknamed "the Valley of the Sun," takes its name from Greek legend. Inspired by the hundreds of miles of irrigation canals left behind by the ancient Hohokam civilization, early settlers envisioned this new city rising, like the splendid firebird of lore, from the dust of the Sonoran desert. Settled between the Salt and Gila Rivers, Phoenix became the territorial capital of Arizona in 1889, after railroads linked it to the rest of the Southwest. For much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, however, it remained a small agricultural settlement.

At the turn of the century, severe drought crippled agricultural production. Endemic water shortage led to violent conflicts over water rights and led to the landmark 1892 court case known as the "Kibbey Decision," which ruled that that water belonged to the land and that whoever used the water first would enjoy prior rights over those who came later. While this ruling did not end the tension, it proved successful enough to serve as a model for later Western water rights legislation.

The onset of World War II and the subsequent industrial boom marked the beginning of an era of rapid growth and prosperity for Phoenix. New housing and road projects alleviated severe housing shortages and traffic congestion, and the city spread out across the desert. The invention of air conditioning and the completion of the Eisenhower Interstate System in the postwar years encouraged further growth, and by midcentury Phoenix was one of the largest metropolitan areas in the West. Today, more than 5 million people live in and around Phoenix.

Podcast Written by Erika Wilhite, Public History Student at the University of West Florida.