Chandler, AZ

Chandler grew from an agricultural undertaking shaped by irrigation. Veterinary surgeon Alexander John Chandler acquired land in the area in 1891 and developed canals before founding the Arizona town on 16 May 1912. The San Marcos Hotel opened on 22 November 1913, giving the new settlement an early resort landmark. Cotton, grain and alfalfa belonged to its farming economy, while ostrich raising briefly served the market for fashionable feathers. Incorporation followed in 1920 and city status in 1954. Later electronics and manufacturing development changed Chandler's scale, adding an industrial chapter to a history whose beginnings lay in land, water and planned settlement.