Metro Phoenix has changed a lot since 1930s: See the historical photos

A woman poses by the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport fly-in chapel in the 1930s.

A wide-angled picture of Gilbert's Main Street in the early 1930s.

Blakely Motor Co. occupied a building on the west side of Main Street in Gilbert in this photo of a flooded downtown from the 1930s.

10/2: Chandler has a history of savvy business people and entrepreneurs going back more than 100 years. Several of those early entrepreneurs started businesses familiar today. Foremost among them is Arizona’s hometown grocery, Bashas’. The story begins with Lebanese immigrant Najeeb Basha and his wife, Najeeby, moving to Arizona from New York City, having heard of wealth to be made in the mining towns. They opened a general store in Ray, moving to Sonora when the first store burned down. Later they moved to the small town of Chandler, opening a store just west of Washington Street on the south side of Boston Street. Though the building no longer stands, the concrete pad remains next to today’s SoHo 63. In this photo, circa 1930, employees take a break at the Chandler Bashas’.

A 1930s photograph showing the popularity of the Salt River as Tempe's biggest natural swimming pool.

Kim Tang grandparents in 1930.

The Arizona Citrus Growers field box dump station in the 1930s near downtown Phoenix.

The Westward Ho hotel in downtown Phoenix, circa 1930s.

One of Hattie Mosher's unfinished buildings in the 1930s

A chuck wagon served up grub on the John Anderson Ranch into the 1930s.

In the 1930s, a small group of passionate local citizens saw the need to conserve the beautiful desert environment and started the Desert Botanical Garden.

Lawrence H. Sorey’s General Store opened in 1910, was the first business in an area of ranches and farms originally settled by Stephen Higley. Sorey’s store seen in a 1930s photograph was demolished in 2010.

Gilbert High School's swim team, photographed in the 1930s.

Schneider's Drug Store appeared at Western and Central avenues in Avondale in 1945, after an earlier, 1930s-era store burned down. Tony Schneider owned Avondale's first drugstore and other nearby businesses until 1976. In 2012, the Mosaic Arts Center renovated the space into a supplemental educational program.

Alfalfa hay put Gilbert on the map, but we who live in Gilbert also need to recognize the importance of cotton — the cash crop that allowed farmers to better support their families and gave them extra spending money to buy additional land for more cotton, grain and alfalfa. The woman in the accompanying photo was typical of many who made their living in the 1930s and ’40s picking cotton. She is carrying a 12-foot canvas bag as she is probably going to the trailer to have her cotton weighed.

In the early 1930s, Tombstone was struggling to survive. The Cochise County Courthouse had seen better days.

Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, circa 1930.

The five-story, 250-room Adams Hotel had replaced the original that burned to the ground in 1910. It is pictured in this photo circa 1930.

A photo of Alessio and Leo Carraro, circa 1930, on display at the historic Tovrea Castle in Phoenix.

Tovrea Castle, located on East Van Buren, was named for the original builder Alessio Carraro, and its second owners, E. A. and Della Tovrea.

Earls Grocery, circa late 1930s, at the northwest corner of Scottsdale Road and Main Street. The first floor included the store with residential space on the second floor. The large delivery truck to the right is from Pictsweet, a company that was an early provider of frozen vegetables.

Clement's Auto Repair shop, pictured in the 1930s, along Gilbert Road in the town's Heritage District.

Branding young steers with the Sands “LS” mark in the 1930s at Manistee Ranch was a hot and dusty job for wrangers. Besides being used to raise crops, the ranch served as a feedlot to fatten cattle for market. Manistee Ranch was on the outskirts of Glendale until it was surrounded by a growing city. Half the ranch was sold off bit by bit in the years after World War II, but the rest was still used for ranching activities until 1996.

Aerial view of La Loma, with Litchfield Road running from north to south in the photo. North of La Loma in the white area is where Luke Air Force Base is located. Photo circa 1930s.

Central Avenue sometime in the 1930s.

On March 4, 1930, Coolidge Dam was dedicated, although the lake had not filled up high enough to cover the grass. Humorist Will Rogers, guest speaker at the dedication, said that if it was his lake, he would have mowed it.

Paul Litchfield, circa 1930, looks over one of his cotton fields.

Paul Litchfield was sent by the company to oversee the project and Goodyear Farms, which put thousands of acres under cultivation. In the 1920s Litchfield and wife Florence built a beautiful winter estate, Rancho La Loma, on the hill overlooking the townsite. The company town was officially named Litchfield Park in 1926.

The Lazy B Ranch in Duncan, Ariz., in the late 1930s. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor grew up on the ranch.

Beth El Synagogue at Fillmore and Fourth streets in the 1930s.

Barry Goldwater with camera gear on Mount Lemmon near Tucson in the early 1930s.

A 1930s photo postcard depicts the recently completed Spanish Revival Southern Pacific depot – the last erected in Mesa. It was lost to fire in 1989.

The historic 111 W. Main St. building in downtown Mesa was originally Wrights Super Market in the 1930s.

Marguerite Culley visits a Desert Mission patient resting in front of a cottage in Sunnyslope, circa 1930s.

Arizona Biltmore in the 1930s.

A Texaco station was among the first structures built on Surprise's Original Town Site in the 1930s.

A 1930s photo of the Gilbert Elementary School, which is now the Gilbert Historical Museum.

The Buckeye courthouse, pictured here during the era of the 1920s and 1930s, was built in 1912 by Royal W. Lescher. This building was later used as a hospital, grade school auxiliary building, library, and food bank. Buckeye's first mayor, Hugh M. Watson founded the Buckeye Valley Bank.

This is how the Judson School looked in the 1930s; Mummy Mountain is in the background.

A 1930 photograph of Palm Walk shows “teenage” Mexican Fan Palms planted about a decade earlier. Normal Avenue before it was closed to traffic is at left in this view looking south.

A detail of a 1930s aerial view shows the white-front Goodwin Opera House and skating rink at the center. The stage house addition completed in 1907 is shown at the rear.

Downtown Chandler in 1930.

No known photographs of the original Goodwin’s Opera House on East 5th Street have yet been discovered. This image of the relatively unchanged facade was taken in the 1930s. Goodwin sold the business to Bill Menhennet in 1921, who in turn sold it to future theater impresario “Red” Harkins in 1933.

The old brick courthouse erected in the late-1880s was a stunning sight in the pioneer town of Prescott, but did not survive the ravages of time. It was replaced with the current structure in the early 1900s, as shown in this 1930s photo.

The O.S. Stapley building in the 1930s.

Arizona Gov. George W.P. Hunt speaks at an event in 1931 at Riverside Park, Central Avenue and the Salt River in Phoenix. At the time, Riverside Park was a spring-training facility for the Detriot Tigers.

The Mill Avenue bridge in Tempe was built in 1931 and dedicated May 1, 1933. It replaced the smaller, single-lane Ash Avenue bridge.

Good Samaritan Hospital as it appeared in Phoenix in 1931.

In March 1931, Albert Einstein visited Petrified Forest National Park.

Wilhelm Automotive, shown in about 1932, in Peoria.

Nathan J. Harris salvaged Chandler's old 100,000-gallon water tank in 1932 and turned it into a barbecue restaurant. People lined up all the way down Saragosa Street to purchase a meal from his popular barbecue joint.

Construction on St. Mary's started in 1932, with parishioners themselves doing much of the work of making adobe bricks and constructing the building. The church was completed in 1935.

The Desert View Watchtower under construction, circa 1932.

That "startling woman" Mae West appears in front of the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix to promote her new movie in 1933.

For decades, employees would sing as visitors departed from the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim. This shot was taken in 1933.

Historic photo (circa 1950s) from the Old Adobe Mission in downtown Scottsdale, which opened in 1933 and was built by the Hispanic parishioners of the old Barrio, which was at the site of the current Scottsdale Civic Center. The photo is of staff and parishioners cutting roses for the celebration "Miracle of the Roses."

Residents gather for 1933 dedication of the Tempe bridge.

This is a class on the grounds of the Gilbert Elementary School, about 1933. June Neely Morrison is the girl with black hair in the back right. June and her five siblings attended this school.

Getting around in a boat during a 1933 flood in downtown Gilbert are (from left) Joella Blakely, Joyce Erwin, Cora Marie Burk, Frances La Tourette and Gladys Nowell.

The Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe in 1933.

Employees with the Phoenix Light and Power Co. promote natural gas in Arizona in 1933.

This 1933 Cadillac limousine was once owned by movie star Joan Crawford. It was later purchased by San Marcos Hotel owner John Quarty to shuttle guests to and from the hotel.

The Cameron Hotel served as a the Grand Canyon post office in 1933. The lower half survived and is part of a cabin at the Bright Angel Lodge.

As parts of Tombstone began to crumble in the late 1920s, civic leaders searched for ways to survive. They found it in the town's colorful past.

Tempe's opera house circa 1930s.

In this 1934 photograph an unidentified boy cleans the box office area of "Red" Harkins one season experiment at the Tempe Beach Theater.

A 1934 view of May swimmers at University Park pool at 10th Avenue and Van Buren Street, the oldest continuously operated public pool in the state, first opening in 1927.

In this circa 1934 photograph, the newly completed State Tuberculosis Sanatorium, with its conspicuous Moorish influence, stands bright in the sun along present-day Curry Road in Papago Park.

Staff and others attend the dedication of the original Arizona State Tuberculosis Sanitarium on Sept. 9, 1934.

Carl's, which later became Roman's Oasis, first opened in 1920. It is pictured here in 1934.

This photo was taken by future U.S. senator from Arizona Barry Goldwater when he was in a tethered balloon in 1935, near Central Avenue in Phoenix. The view is looking east toward Camelback Mountain.

This aerial photo, taken in 1935, shows all of early Gilbert.

In this 1935 photo, workers carry adobe bricks which became part of the original St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Chandler Boulevard.

A car winds down the snowy State Route 89, White Spar Highway between Wilhoit and Prescott, some time in 1935.

This 1935 aerial photo of Rendezvous Park shows the ballpark and the circular recreation building. Center and First streets meet at the bottom center.

Drought refugees in Phoenix drifting around and looking for work in cotton in August 1936.

Mary Alice Pigg and her husband, Joe (left), started Joe Pigg’s Eat & Drink restaurant in 1936 near the Arizona State Teachers College campus. It closed in 1941 when Joe enlisted in the Navy.

David Saba, Sr., stands in his first Chandler store in 1936.

Gilbert's main street, photographed around 1936 about 50 yards north from the railroad tracks in downtown Gilbert. Capital Fuel Feed and Seed Company, at left, was a hub for farmers who bought supplies there.

In its early years firefighting in Mesa was a volunteer effort. Later, with an organized department, Mesa got its fire station seen in this 1936 photo, bookended on the left by City Hall and on the right by the police station.

Camelback Inn photographed in 1936.

Fields about 70 miles from Phoenix in the process of being irrigated in May 1937.

Drought refugee families are mingled with and supplanted Mexican laborers in the Southwest, including Chandler in May 1937.

The daughter of Mexican field laborer is photographed near Chandler during May 1937.

Spectators gathered to watch a parade along Central Avenue in Phoenix in 1937. This view is looking north from Adams Street toward the San Carlos Hotel and Hotel Westward Ho.

Less than five years after introducing Phoenix bus service in 1937, the city had its designs set on expanding into Tempe, Mesa and Glendale, setting off a war of words with its neighboring cities.

A view of May swimmers at University bath house and pool in 1937. University is the oldest continuously operated public pool in the state, first opening in 1927.

The Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone was Arizona's most notorious entertainment destination. It is pictured here in 1937.

The original bar at El Chorro in 1937.

Phoenix's first Chinese school in 1938.

This photo taken in 1938 shows downtown Gilbert at Page Avenue and Gilbert Road (looking south) during the time of the Great Depression. The number of parked cars indicates that the photo was taken perhaps on a Saturday.

The exterior of MacAlpine's soda fountain in Phoenix as it appeared circa 1938.

In 1938, ownership changed to Nick Gannis and it was renamed Southwest Candy Company. They provided candy, gum and cigarettes to retail stores throughout the state.

The town of Superior and the Magma Copper Company's Concentrator as seen in September of 1938.

The Blakely Automotive building, the Serrano Popular Store and the Page Market on the left, are shown with the flood of 1938 in the foreground.

For 34 years the Varsity Inn at the southwestern corner of University Drive and College Avenue was the campus’s most popular student and faculty hangout. ASU purchased the property in 1964 to expand classroom space.

Clover Court motel, 911 S. 17th Ave. in Phoenix, in 1939. It was owned by Al and Kitty Mortenson.