Whatever happened to the Plaza in downtown Phoenix?


When the city of Phoenix was originally platted, in 1870, a square block was set aside for the use of the citizens. It was simply called the Plaza. Its boundaries were from Washington to Jefferson and from 1st Street to 2nd Street. It was a place for people to meet, for picnics, to watch parades, that sort of thing. It's where the first City Hall building was built, and in addition to trees and open spaces, it had a gazebo, where concerts were given.


Whether the founders of Phoenix intended it to remain that way, as a public space, forever, is something that I have found no real documentation on. Certainly it would have seemed like it as generation after generation used that place. Then in 1931 the bulldozers arrived.


Nowadays it's just a parking lot. For over thirty years it's where the Fox Theater was. Then the bulldozers took that away. It must have been heartbreaking for people to see places that they knew and loved go away.

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