Citrus -- Mesa (Ariz.)

Abstract Mr. Thayer tells the story of his parents' trip to Phoenix, from Lima, Ohio, as tourists in 1900. They ended up staying because the town of Buckeye badly needed a physician. The Thayers, who married in 1927, homesteaded in Mesa where they dug a well and cleared 200 acres of cactus and brush to grow citrus. They also milked dairy cows to pay for the land and trees. They ran a nursery and sold citrus trees to other growers. Mrs. Thayer recounts many funny stories of living on the land and the...

Abstract Robertson begins by recounting her family's move from California to Arizona in 1911. Her father, Paul Baxter Beville, a citrus farmer, moved to Mesa to grow citrus because the land was plentiful and the temperatures were ideal. Robertson recalls that her father became a community leader, serving on the Mesa City Council and as mayor in the mid-1910's. She mentions several prominent Mesa families and local businesses including Everybody's Drugstore, the Toggery, Wendel's jewelry store,...