1940s in Arizona: Internment camps and high-tech firms
A look at some of the top stories that made headlines in The Arizona Republic over the years.
This is a look at the 1940s in Arizona.
March 29, 1941
Building up air bases
The Del E. Webb Construction Co., which would later become famous for constructing Sun City and other Arizona retirement communities, begins excavation for the first building at Litchfield Park Air Base. Phoenix had leased 1,440 acres in the West Valley west of Glendale to the War Department for the base, one of many established in Arizona to support the war effort. In June, the base will be transferred to the Navy and called Luke Field, after one of Phoenix's then most famous native sons: Lt. Frank Luke Jr., an aviator killed in France in World War I. In 1951, Luke Field will be reactivated as Luke Air Force Base.
1942
Internment camps
Two Japanese internment camps are established in Arizona, both on Indian land. The Poston War Relocation Center, near the Colorado River, is the largest such camp in America and the third-largest "city" in Arizona at the time. (The Poston camp is also constructed by Del Webb.) The Gila River War Relocation Center is near Coolidge. At their height, both camps will hold 30,000 Japanese, most of them American citizens.
Dec. 23, 1944
Scuttled escape
At around 9 p.m., Capt. Jurgen Wattenberg and 24 other German prisoners escape from Camp Papago Park through a 178-foot-long tunnel they had begun digging about three months earlier. They manage to flee without being detected, and it isn't until nearly 24 hours later that their absence is noticed. As a great manhunt begins, the prisoners head toward the Salt River, with plans to cobble together a raft and float down the Salt and, eventually, to the Gulf of California. It is, by any cursory glance of a map, a foolproof route — but their plan is foiled by a small detail the Germans hadn't considered: Then, as now, there is not enough water in the Salt River to float anything anywhere. By Jan. 28, 1945, all the prisoners are recaptured.
Oct. 25, 1946
Newspaper magnate
Eugene C. Pulliam, one of the last of the self-made newspaper publishers, buys The Arizona Republic, The Phoenix Gazette and the Arizona Weekly Gazette for $4 million.
With the purchase, he becomes one of the most powerful men in the state.
Pulliam would organize the three newspapers into Phoenix Newspapers Inc., a subsidiary of Central Newspapers Inc., based in Indianapolis.
1947
Phoenix Symphony is born
A group of music lovers forms the Phoenix Symphony. On July 3, a 22-member committee appoints John Barnett, then director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as the Phoenix Symphony's first conductor, after interviewing more than 20 applicants. Barnett has to bring over several musicians from Los Angeles in order to fill out the 77-member orchestra.
On Nov. 10, the Phoenix Symphony performs its inaugural concert at the Phoenix Union High School auditorium. For the first two years, Barnett and several musicians continue to commute between Phoenix and Los Angeles.
July 15, 1948
Voting rights
When Maricopa County Recorder Roger Laveen refuses to allow Frank Harrison and Harry Austin to register to vote, the two members of the Mohave-Apache Indian tribe file a lawsuit. In Harrison v. Laveen, the Arizona Supreme Court strikes down a provision of the Arizona Constitution that prohibited Indians from voting. Other states would follow suit.
1949
A new leadership system
Before 1949, Phoenix had been run by three commissioners, a governing model that the burgeoning city (pop. 100,000) was rapidly outgrowing. This year, a group of prominent business leaders — including attorney Frank Snell, Valley National Bank President Walter Bimson and Arizona Republic owner Eugene C. Pulliam — gathers to form the Charter Government Committee. The group proposes a restructured leadership system with council districts, a mayor and a strong city manager. The group promises to reform city government, almost always in the name of business growth, and supports candidates in both Republican and Democratic primaries. For the next 20 years, a CGC-supported candidate will win every seat of every election in Phoenix. Charter government will end in 1975, when independent candidate Margaret T. Hance is elected mayor of Phoenix.
Sept. 10, 1949
Miss Arizona wins big
Miss Arizona, Jacque Mercer of Litchfield Park, wins the 1949 Miss America pageant. Her victory makes the front page of the next day's Arizona Republic, and a crowd of 75,000 will line Washington Street to welcome her home to Phoenix a month later. At her homecoming, Mercer will wear "a Paris designed two-piece cocoa suit with flying panels" and be greeted at Sky Harbor Airport by her parents, grandparents and one of her two small dogs.
1949
High-tech industry
The first Motorola plant is built in Phoenix, heralding a new era of high technology and manufacturing in Arizona. The company's 52nd Street plant will later become part of a Superfund cleanup site.
Best photos from The Republic's 125 years
Front pages from The Republic's 125 years
