Arizona History

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The Arizona History Convention has teamed up with the Historical Society of New Mexico for a joint conference this spring.
Mar. 1, 2022
Papago Park
Language changes all the time, but the Tohono O’odham have long rejected a term that’s ubiquitous here in the Valley: Papago. That name, the story goes, was given to the Tohono O’odham by Spanish settlers.
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Feb. 22, 2022
Karyn Gitlis Ash Avenue Tempe
Ash Avenue in downtown Tempe has long been a cross-section of Valley life. With houses that date back to the early 1900s, the neighborhood is bordered by railroad tracks on one side and ASU’s ever-growing campus on the other.
Feb. 10, 2022
kathy nakagawa at baseline flowers
In the years following World War II, you could drive along Baseline Road in south Phoenix and see every color of the rainbow — in flowers. And you could smell their sweet scent for miles. Now, only one flower shop remains.

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Feb. 9, 2022
ads from the weekly arizona miner
These days, a lot of people begin the dating ritual by swiping left or right. But long before the internet age, things weren’t so different. Just in time for Valentine's season, Arizona newspaper librarian Sativa Peterson dug into the earliest personal ads she could find in those papers. And she found a Valentine’s gold mine.
Feb. 1, 2022
Verde Valley Archaeology Center
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved funding for rural infrastructure projects, including some in Arizona, which is good news for a central Arizona museum. The Verde Valley was once home to a number of Indigenous groups who left behind numerous dwellings and artifacts.
Jan. 31, 2022
Enslaved Navajo men Juan Carson and Gabriel Woodson
For many years, Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center in southern Colorado paid homage to Kit Carson, a frontiersman and U.S. Army officer, who was well-known for leading campaigns against Native Americans in the region. But recently, a new exhibit took center stage there, telling a completely different story.
Jan. 28, 2022
1977 Pontiac Trans Am
Saturday opens one of gearheads’ most anticipated events of the auto show season, the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction.
Jan. 21, 2022
Chiricahua National Monument
A popular national monument in southern Arizona could become a national park under a new bill introduced in Congress.
Jan. 21, 2022
soldiers at the uss arizona memorial
Over 1,000 men died aboard the USS Arizona during Pearl Harbor, but 80 years later, their stories remain.
Jan. 21, 2022
Thomas Olmsted
Bishop Thomas Olmsted’s time as leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is likely nearing an end. Jan. 21 was the theologian and lawyer’s 75th birthday.
Jan. 20, 2022
Bisbee High School
A piece of Bisbee history is for sale. The original high school, built in 1914, is on the market. According to the county, the three-story, 45,000-square-foot building was once recognized by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! because all four levels of the building have an entrance at street level.
Dec. 28, 2021
people lay their hands on a casket during a funeral
Historians believe that obituaries were first published in ancient Rome and that they became a regular part of publications in the mid-1800s. The form has changed dramatically since then, but its purpose hasn’t — to inform the public about someone’s death
Dec. 28, 2021
Christmas tree with white lights and ornaments
In 1929, the Arizona-Mexico border was moved, temporarily and informally, to allow children from Nogales, Sonora, to come to Nogales, Arizona, to the town’s Christmas tree. But the story is not all that well-known in Arizona, even among long-time residents of that border community.
Dec. 28, 2021
block walls
The many sprawling suburbs of Phoenix strive to be unique, whether it’s about neighborhood parks, shopping centers or public art. But there is one thing almost all of them have in common: tall block fences.
More Q&AZ questions answered
Dec. 27, 2021
Buckhorn Baths in Mesa
The Buckhorn Baths were sold earlier this year, and the new owner plans to build townhomes on the site as well as refurbish the baths themselves, among other projects.
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Dec. 23, 2021
Phoenix Christmas dinner menus
As we head right into the holidays, The Show looked back at Christmases past, Arizona-style. Sativa Peterson is the news content program manager for the state’s research library, and she’s usually digging through the archives to find out more about historic events. The Show spoke with her to learn what the holiday season looked like in Arizona 100 years ago.
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Dec. 22, 2021
Susan Vespoli
It’s season’s endings for “Word” as we close out 2021. What do a former hotshot from Arizona, a Valley poet with a new collection about addiction as well as a planetary scientist and writer from Tucson have in common? They’re part of “Word.” It’s a podcast about literature in Arizona and the region.
Dec. 21, 2021
top stories of 2021
Over the course of 2021, the KJZZ News a wide range of stories. As 2022 approaches, here's a look back at the five most-viewed stories on KJZZ.org.
Dec. 9, 2021
butte hill mining
A current exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum showcases the role of mining in the American West. It’s called, "Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West."
Dec. 9, 2021

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