San Tan Historical Society

05/02/2026

05/02/2026

John Y.T. Smith was the first “non-Indian” civilian to live in the Phoenix area. He dug out the 1000-plus year-old Hohokam irrigation canals to grow hay and grain for the U.S. Cavalry at Ft. McDowell. Smiths middle initials “Y.T.” stood for “Your’s Truly”. He adopted these middle initials to delineate his name John Smith from all the other John Smiths. After the Civil War, Jack Swilling, a former Civil War Army Scout, Prospector, & Indian Fighter, hauled hay for Smith. Swilling saw Smith’s canal irrigation and convinced his wealthy English friend Daryl Duppa to become partners and build the City of Phoenix.

04/11/2026

Duane Schnepf’s 3rd grade picture the previous post of his 1953 class photos.

04/09/2026

Rittenhouse School, Queen Creek, AZ 3/1953. Mrs. Hibbs, Grade 3

03/24/2026

The Germann family (pronounced Germaine) came to QC in 1914 from New Jersey. Their youngest son, Walter Germann, came here after his WW1 U.S. Army discharge in 1919. This discharge (attached) states he was a cook and participated in the Battle of St. Mihiel, France, September 15 & 16, 1918. Although WW1 started in July 1914, the U.S. did not enter WW1 until April 1917. The Battle of Mihiel, France was the first large battle fought with U.S. troops in WW 1. Over 500,000 U.S. troops and 100,000 French troops led by American General “Black Jack” Pershing pushed back the German Army “bulge” at Verdun, France. This battle began turning the tide towards the defeat of the German Army. There are no living descendants of the Queen Creek branch of the Germann Family. A prominent road here was named here after the Germann Family.

03/10/2026

Bottom of photo: Town Center-Old Ellsworth Rd. and Ocotillo Rd. circa late 1940s.

01/10/2026

In the late 19th Century the “Tucson Ring” business men conspired to make a fortune keeping the Apaches agitated. Please read!

Part III – The Tucson Ring If you have not read Part I or Part II of this series, start here; How Tucson Pioneers Perpetuated The Apache Wars: Part I. There were no successful Tucson pioneer businessmen who were not a party to the fleecing of the federal government to the extreme detriment of the ...

12/28/2025

Click on the video below. This Hohokam Native American Queen Creek site was located along Riggs Road between Ellsworth and Crismon Rds. It dates from 600ad to 1450ad. There was a village, a water reservoir, and extensive irrigation canals for farming several varieties of corn, beans, squash, melons and cotton. The 2013 archeological excavation was done to build the Easr/West Riggs Road extension between Ellsworth Loop and Crismon Rds. Sylvestre Andrade, Queen Creeks first resident, built the Rancho Poso de Sonqui on this site in the late 1860s. At the same time he also built the Andrade Desert Wells Stage Stop located at Sossaman and Chandler Heights Rds. The well was dug 117 feet deep located next to a 10’ x 10’ X 4’ mortared stone cobble water tank with a mortared stone floor. When Sylvestre Andrade retired in the late 1890s, the sale of the 2 properties included several thousand cattle and 400 mustang horses. The Arizona Republic once called him the most prominent Mexican in Maricopa County. He died in Florence in 1910 at 82. The stage coach route came from the town of Sacaton through a mountain pass between San Tan Mountain and Goldmine Mountain. After watering the teams of horses or mules, the stage coach proceeded on a northwest path 17 miles to Mesa.

Arizona's Maricopa County Department of Transportation is extending Riggs Road in Queen Creek, Arizona. Prior to their moving forward with the extension, loc...

12/09/2025

Beginning at age 14, in 1939, Betty Binner Nash was the writer and publisher of the Chandler Heights Weekly Newspaper until 1949. She delivered the paper for 3 cents a copy to Chandler Heights neighbors on horseback (see photo). In 1983, Betty began publishing the Chandler Heights Monthly Newspaper which expanded by request to the Chandler Heights, Higley and Queen Creek Post Offices for delivery. Circulation was initially 3000 papers an issue but grew to serve 5600 households by 1996. The San Tan Historical Society has the privilege of having many issues of this historically important newspaper in our archives. Some may have been lost long ago in a house fire. Betty’s newspapers are truly a valuable “record in time” of Chandler Heights, and its neighboring communities. We are so grateful to be able to preserve and share them.

12/01/2025

Does anyone recognize the people in this photo? Also, do you know what year the photo was taken?