In 1907, five years before Arizona’s statehood, Walter Gist Tolleson and his wife, Alethea, chose the dry Arizona Territory for their sick son. In 1910, they purchased and later subdivided 160 acres just 10 miles from a young settlement known as Phoenix. And in 1912, the town of Tolleson was born. By the 1940s and 1950s, the community had become the “Vegetable Center of the World.” The area that was once an agricultural mecca is now divided by suburban sprawl, but Tolleson’s original spirit remains. It is bustling with growing schools and industry, as well as world-class sports, shopping, and entertainment facilities, all surrounding a 6-square-mile community with small-town pride. That inexhaustible spirit continues to make Tolleson one of the greatest places in the country to live.

Many farmers in the Dust Bowl, in desperation, pulled up stakes and abandoned their land. They lost their farms to foreclosure and the tenant farmers or sharecroppers were evicted. They were displaced and joined the thousands of other families who headed west in search of work and a new life. The writing of this book is a labor of love and desire to record and preserve the history and heritage of the migrant workers. I have attempted to record the events that occurred in the lives of these families.

This is a non fiction book written by Cruz Pariga Dominguez and Belen Soto Moreno. The book tells their story of growing up in Litchfield Park Arizona from 1917-1986 during the time that Goodyear Tire and Rubber owned the Litchfield Ranch. The camps were where both immigrants and native born people lived and could nurture their culture and heritage. The book contains over 250 original photographs from the families living in the five camps. They enable the reader an opportunity to envision the lives of the residents. There are fascinating stories written by the authors of hard work, church, school and family coming together with a strong sense of community. This book is to record the lasting imprint they left on the Southwest area of Arizona and to preserve their precious memories for years to come.

The name Goodyear is synonymous with quality tires, blimps, and the excitement of motor-sports. But did you know that Goodyear helped conquer the moon, marketed expanding balloon houses, and fought off a hostile takeover by a man reported to have a superstitious fear of rubber? You may be surprised by some of the people and events that have made Goodyear what it is today. Discover the fascinating history behind the company that has played a defining role in the 20th Century. The Legend of Goodyear: The First 100 Years, provides a detailed account of the unfolding drama of this American icon’s success. Hardcover, 256 pages, over 350 color and black & white photos.

Founded in 1896 and originally known as Coldwater, the town of Avondale was settled along the banks of the Agua Fria River under the leadership of William “Billy” Graham Moore, a former blacksmith who supposedly ran with the Civil War’s infamous Cantrell’s Raiders. Moore operated a freight station on the west bank of the river, but after an argument with a postal inspector who proclaimed that homemade “hooch” was not to be sold in an enterprise that handled government mail, the post office was moved to the Avondale Ranch and took on the ranch’s name as the Avondale Post Office. Since that time, Avondale has grown tremendously to become a thoroughly modern city, near the heart of the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Liberty, Arizona remains on as a small dot on the map, but the people who struggled and sacrificed to carve out a better life in the West live on in this memoir.

Luke Air Force Base, created in less than a year from desert scrub and farmland, stands some 20 miles west of Phoenix. On March 31, 1941, months before the United States entered World War II, construction began. That summer, the Army Air Corps named Luke Field after World War I hero and triple ace Frank Luke Jr. Some pilots from Luke Field’s first class flew from airfields in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. From the beginning, Luke Field trained fighter pilots, as it does today. Over the years, Luke Air Force Base was home to 14 primary fighter aircraft, graduated over 60,000 students, and accounted for millions of training flight hours. Of the pilots who trained at Luke Field, a number became aces, including the all-time US leading ace, Maj. Richard I. Bong. For decades, Luke Air Force Base has been home to more fighter aircraft than any other base in the United States, earning the moniker “Fighter Country.”

In 1908, William Kriegbaum, a California citrus grower, arrived as the first settler in what was to become Litchfield Park. He, along with other settlers from California, owned the land until 1916, when Paul Litchfield of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company came to the area and purchased 16,000 acres to plant cotton for tires. In 1918, the townsite was planned with tree-lined streets and buildings to include an “organizational house” for Goodyear executives, which is now the famed Wigwam Resort. When new materials for tires were developed, cotton was no longer needed for cord. Shortly thereafter, Goodyear brought its tire-testing fleet to Litchfield, and farm equipment companies followed suit, sending engineers to design and test new machinery. The steel-wheeled tractor tire was replaced by Paul Litchfield’s newly patented pneumatic tire as the standard for farm equipment. The World War II years brought changes to the area as an influx of new residents transformed the company town to a more planned community.