ADAS Calibration in Scottsdale, AZ

Scottsdale was originally a Pima village known as Vaṣai S-vaṣonĭ, meaning “rotting hay”. Some Pima people remain there today. Until the late 1960s, there was a still-occupied traditional dwelling on the southeast corner of Indian Bend Road and Hayden Road. The Pima who live in Scottsdale today reside in modern houses, not traditional dwellings. Many Pima and Maricopa people live in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which borders Scottsdale to the south and east.

In the early to mid-1880s, U.S. Army Chaplain Winfield Scott visited the Salt River Valley and was impressed with it and its potential for agriculture. Returning in 1888 with his wife, Helen, he purchased 640 acres (260 ha) where historic Old Town is now, for $3.50 an acre ($92 as of 2015) . Another landowner in the Southern part of town, Albert G. Utley, filed plans with Maricopa County for a city named “Orangedale,” using Scott’s Field as a border. When the newspaper, then called the Arizona Republican, published an article about the plan, they erroneously called the town “Scottsdale.” The article drew some publicity for the town, and ultimately this convinced Utley to change his filing and officially name the town “Scottsdale.”

In 1896, the Scottsdale Public School system was established, and opened the first schoolhouse, which was followed by the opening of the first general store by J. L. Davis, which also housed the first post office for Scottsdale in 1897. In the early 1900s the community supported an artists and writers culture, culminating in the opening of the region’s first resort in 1909, the Ingleside Inn, just south of the Arizona Canal and west of the Crosscut Canal (Indian School Road at about 64th Street) in what is today Scottsdale. Also in 1909, Cavalliere’s Blacksmith Shop opened in downtown Scottsdale, and the original schoolhouse was replaced by the much more expansive Little Red Schoolhouse, which stands to this day. While not in its original building, Cavalliere’s has been in continuous operation since that time.