Phoenix is situated in the south-central part of Arizona and almost miles north of the Mexico border. Phoenix is located midway between Texas and Los Angeles, El Paso, and California.
Phoenix is the largest city and also the capital of the state of Arizona. Thus, Phoenix is even known as Arizona’s Urban Heart.
With a population of more than 1.6 million, this city offers many interesting facts. So, in this article, we will now discuss some interesting facts about Phoenix City.
Amazing Phoenix facts to Check once
The Hohokam people occupied Phoenix for 2000 years
The Hohokam people initially occupied the Phoenix Area for about 2000 years, and during that time, they made their best effort to make the land fertile by making 135 miles of irrigation canals.
However, according to the available record, the time of draught between 1300 and 1450 resulted in the Hohokam civilization’s abandonment of the region.
Darrel Duppa is believed to have named this city
Darrell Duppa is believed to have named the town “Phoneix” according to his assumption after watching Hohokam’s ruins and prehistoric canals.
He thought that a new civilization would rise from the ashes of a previous civilization. Also, he is credited with building one of the oldest homes in this city in 1870.
Phoenix is in the Sonoran Desert
Phoenix City is in the Sonoran Desert, which is one of the greenest and wettest deserts in the United States. It gets between three to fifteen inches of rainfall per year.
Also, the Sonoran Desert is the only place on the planet where you can find the Saguaro cactus.
Also, the average rainfall in Phenix is 8.04 inches.
Phoenix gets sunshine more often
Phoenix receives sunshine more often than any other known metropolitan area in the United States, as per the National Climatic Data Center. Phoenix City gets sunshine for almost 85 percent of its daylight hours.
The high temperature in the city is about 86.7 degrees. The average high temperature for this city, Phoenix, in the winter is 67 degrees.
Sky Harbor Airport: One of the busiest airports in the country
Sky Harbor Airport, which is the main airport for the Greater Phoenix area, serves more than 40 million passengers a year. This airport is one of the busiest airports in the country and even goes to more than 100 domestic and international destinations.
This airport is the center for two of the major low-fare carriers, Southwest Airlines, and US Airways.
The city of Phoenix bought Sky Harbor Airport for $100,000
In July 1935, Sky Harbor Airport was bought by the city of Phoenix for $100,000. On a typical day at this airport, over 1200 aircraft arrive and depart from its three runways that handle more than 1000 tons of cargo and 125,000 passengers. This Sky Harbor Airport is spread over more than 3400 acres.
Farming and ranching were once vital parts of the economy of Phoenix City
Farming and ranching were once a vital part of the city’s economy which is now dominated mainly by tourism and assisted by technology and service sectors. Interestingly, almost three-quarters of Arizona’s manufacturing tasks are in the Phoenix area.
Companies like Motorola, Intel, and McDonnell Douglas are among several companies that operate in the area.
In the year 1940, the town had an approximate population of 65000 residents, and by 2010 it turned out to be the sixth largest city in the country.
The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest art museum in the Southwestern United States
The well-known Phoenix Art Museum is the largest art museum in the Southwestern part of the United States.
Along with a landscaped Sculpture Garden, the museum even displays a huge collection of international and national modern and contemporary art.
Moreover, the famous Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix City is home to approximately 16000 instruments from almost 200 different countries.
Sports, especially baseball, are really popular here
There are about 15 Major League Baseball teams, such as Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Fox, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, and Arizona Diamondbacks.
All these teams conduct spring training in the Cactus League in Phoenix City.
There is a mysterious bat cave in Phoenix
In Phoenix, there is a mysterious bat cave in Phoenix, where thousands of free tailed bats of Mexico gather to rest and sleep during the day.
After, they flock back to their destination during the night. This generally happens when a batch of about 10,000 to 20,000 bats are on their way to Mexico between the month of May and October every year.
Also, the cave where these bats reside is mainly a flood control tunnel which is used to keep the entire city from being overflooded when the need be.
The land on which the state capitol building stands was donated by a farmer
The land on which the state capitol building of Arizona stands was mainly donated by a local farmer.
However, this building no longer houses any branches of the government of the state. Now, the branches are relocated to nearby buildings, and the old capitol building is now known as the Arizona Capitol Museum.
Phoenix is famous as Arizona’s Urban Heart
Phoenix is well-known as Arizona’s Urban Heart. It is the only state capital that has a population of over 1 million residents. Also, the population of Phoenix City is predominantly white.
In 1867, this region was settled as an agricultural community near the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers. Also, in 1881, it was incorporated as a city. Finally, it became the capital of Arizona territory in the year 1889.
Here you may encounter dust or sand storms called haboobs
The dry and warm weather in the regions results in the development of wind/dust/sand storms known as haboobs. Between the months of June and September, the city of Phoenix experiences three of these dangerous, large storms per year.
The saguaro: The largest cactus in the United States
The largest cactus in the United States is the saguaro cactus. They are found mainly in the Sonoran Desert. The cactus may live 150-200 years old if they can get the right growing conditions.
Another interesting thing is that it is a very slow-growing cactus, and after becoming ten years old, it can only be 1.5 inches tall.
About the harvesting, destruction, or even destruction of this particular cactus, Arizona has some strict regulations. Tucson is a vital part of the Sonoran Desert, and Phoenix is the largest city in this desert.
Over 22 million visitors come here
Over 22 million visitors come to the city of Phoenix per year. Also, Arizona is the one and only state in the United States to have a section of all four famous deserts that are there in North America, such as Mohave, Great Basin, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan.
Another interesting fact about Phoenix City is that the “Five C’s”; Cattle, Copper, Climate, Citrus, and Cotton were the pillars of the original economy of this city.
Without Amtrak rail service, the city of Phoenix is the largest U.S. city
On October 9, 1995, an Amtrak passenger train was derailed, leaving an employee of Amtrak dead and several others injured. Thus, Amtrak stopped its service to the city of Phoenix in June 1996.
In 2015, a reward of $310,000 was offered by the FBI for information leading to the conviction and arrest of those responsible for the derailment of the Amtrak train.
The Greater Phoenix area is known as “the Valley”
The Greater Phoenix area is sometimes referred to as “the Valley.” The actual reason behind this is that it is partially surrounded by different mountain ranges, such as the White Tanks to the West, the Superstitions in the East, the Sierra Estrellas to the Southwest, and the McDowell’s to the Northeast.
Phoenix is a desert paradise
There are only 21 deserts in the world, and four of them are in North America. Greater Phoenix is located in the Sonoran Desert and has an elevation of 1117 feet above sea level.
The Sonoran Desert is different from other deserts as it is one of North America’s greenest and wettest deserts because of the 3 to 15 inches of rainfall it sees every year.
The population of Phoenix City grows in winter
Along with tourism, hospitality is another vital industry in Greater Phoenix, with its many Four Star/Four Diamond and Five Star/ Five Diamond resorts.
There are about 500 hotels and over 40 resort properties with more than 62,000 guest rooms to house over 22 million people visiting metropolitan Phoenix annually. Also, from October or November to April or May, “snowbirds” hibernate in the Phoenix heat each year.
Phoenix has franchises in all notable professional sports leagues
Phoenix city has franchises in all the four major professional sports leagues, such as the Arizona Diamondbacks play in the MLB, the phoenix sun plays in the NBA, the Arizona Cardinals play in the NFL, and Arizona Coyotes play in the NHL.
Also, fans of NASCAR won’t be disappointed because ISM Raceway hosts two events of NASCAR here each racing season.
Phoenix is one of the world’s top golf destinations
Greater Phoenix is one of the top golf destinations in the world. However, there are many other activities to enjoy here when it not incredibly hot, such as biking, hiking, and also horseback riding.
You can even enjoy hiking a mountain that resembles the head and hump of a kneeling camel, known as Camelback Mountain.
So, the city of Phoenix is a very interesting place that is loved by many tourists for its beautiful landscape, interesting history, sports-loving nature, and many more.
At the end of this article, we came to know 21 interesting facts that offer us a clear picture of this beautiful city known as Phoenix. If you want to know some additional facts, you can see our website.
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