Unincorporated community in the state of Arizona, United States
Unincorporated community in Arizona, United States
Waddell
is an
unincorporated community
in
Maricopa County
,
Arizona
, United States, northwest of the city of
Phoenix
. Waddell is named after
Donald Ware Waddell
, a native of
Ohio
, who was a partner in the
New York City
investment firm of Brandon, Gordon and Waddell. It was this firm that organized the private financing for construction of the dam for the water reclamation project that creates
Lake Pleasant
.
[2]
The intended Waddell town site was laid out by Donald W. Waddell in 1935, on property he owned on the northeast corner of Waddell Road and Cotton Lane (Section 12, T3N, R2W, G&SRB&M).
[3]
Waddell moved to the area to oversee the firm's interests in the project. He served on the board of the Maricopa Water District and invested in land through his interests in the Arizona Citrus Land Company and the Waddell Ranch Company.
In 1937, the Waddell Post Office was established inside the store on the original town site. Later, the post office moved across the street and shared space with the cotton gin office. The current Waddell Post Office was built in 1992 and is located on Glendale Avenue and Cotton Lane, four miles south of the original site. The town never did develop, but remained a post office and place name for the area.
[4]
The dam on the
Agua Fria River
that creates Lake Pleasant (once called Frog Tanks Dam then, Pleasant Dam) was renamed for Donald W. Waddell in 1963, shortly after his death, in recognition of his contributions to the Maricopa Water District.
Barry M. Goldwater
spoke at the dedication ceremony.
[5]
With the expansion of the city of
Surprise
, use of the name Waddell to describe the location is rapidly falling into disuse. Influence of the name can still be seen in the name of Waddell Road, an arterial street running through Surprise, as well as the
New Waddell Dam
at Lake Pleasant. In November 2010 the
White Tank Regional Library
opened.
[6]
The community contains the Wat Promkunaram
Buddhist Temple
. This facility was the site of a
mass shooting in 1991
which left nine people dead, among them monks and temple helpers. It remains the deadliest homicide incident in Arizona history since statehood. Sixteen-year-old Alessandro Garcia and 17-year-old Jonathan Doody were charged with the crime, convicted, and sentenced. Doody was tried three times and sentenced to 281 years of prison in 2014.
[7]
See also
[
edit
]
Arizona portal
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Waddell ZIP Code"
. zipdatamaps.com. 2022
. Retrieved
November 11,
2022
.
- ^
Introcaso, David M. (1986).
Waddell Dam
(PDF)
. Historic American Engineering Record. AZ-11.
- ^
"Waddell Plat Map".
Maricopa County Recorders Office
. Recording #19350014223 (Docket Book 24): 12. August 5, 1935.
- ^
Bradshaw, Wayne I. (1980). "Peoria, Arizona Post Office, 1888?1980": 17?18.
- ^
"Waddell Dam Rites Saturday".
The Phoenix Gazette
. May 24, 1965.
- ^
"White Tank Branch Library -- Maricopa County Library"
.
- ^
Schwartz, David (March 14, 2014).
"Arizona man gets nine life terms for Buddhist temple murders"
.
Reuters
. Retrieved
June 19,
2015
.
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Waddell, Arizona
at Wikimedia Commons