Celeste Crouch has lived in Litchfield Park for almost 40 years and my three children grew up here and attended local schools. Litchfield Park has a very special history and Mr. Paul Litchfield, the Founder, was a very special man. After reading the Thesis from 1948 written by Susan Smith on the early History of this area I was hooked.

Celeste founded the Litchfield Park Historical Society in the Fall of 2000 and the first Organizational Meeting was held in March of 2001. With the help of Ruth Byrnes, early resident of Litchfield Park, and now an active member of the Glendale Historical Society, we wrote a Mission Statement and By-Laws. Local residents, Peggy & Dick Vasiloff, are from Akron, Ohio where the Goodyear Tire Rubber Company has its headquarters. While there they visited the University of Akron where our early archives are stored and brought back pictures and copies of our early history. With this great information we were able to get started with the history we needed as Goodyear Corp. was very good at taking pictures and keeping history. Since this time we have added many pictures and more history through the years.

In November of 2013 a Book on the early history of Litchfield Park was published by Arcadia Publishers in their Images of America series. It is now available in local area stores.

Litchfield Park Historical Society Speakers Series

Litchfield Park Historical Society Speakers Series (September 3rd 10:00 a.m.)

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Litchfield Park Historical Society Speakers Series A History of The Church at Litchfield Park Tuesday, September 3 10:00 a.m. The Church at Litchfield Park, Souers Hall 300 N. Old Litchfield Rd Litchfield Park, AZ 85340   Litchfield…

SW Cotton Company’s Labor Force

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The Southwest Cotton Company provided the labor to create a new landscape in the area. They built 154 miles of roads and drilled dozens of wells and made concrete irrigation ditches. They laid gas lines and built electrical connectors.
Litchfield Park, Arizona

Litchfield Park was selected by APRA

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The City of Litchfield Park is pleased to share that Arizona Parks & Recreation Association (APRA) selected our Centennial Celebration as this year’s Outstanding Community Special Event for populations under 25,000.
100 years

100 Year Celebration coming in 2017

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Litchfield Park has become known for its award winning special events, concerts, festivals, and celebrations that take place over the year. Of the more than twenty events annually the City has been honored for their 25th Anniversary of Incorporation event, Christmas in the Park,
Goodyear Service Station

A Turning Point

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Because of the influence of WWII, Litchfield Park was changed from a small group of labor camps in the desert to a modern village whose inhabitants had most of the conveniences of a larger city.
feed-lot-aerial-1953

Litchfield Park Cattle

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The cattle were kept 100-200 per pen and there were so many pens if they were stretched end to end they would be six miles long. A railroad spur came right up to the pens for ease of delivery and pick up. Their automatic feed system could feed up to 600 cattle at one time.
1937 Litchfield Park Arizona

Scientific Agriculture

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An evolution of farming methods and techniques were underway at this time. The Southwest Cotton Company served as an agriculture laboratory in the trial and development of new types of farm equipment.

Litchfield Park Early Churches

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The Southwest Cotton Company brought many farm laborers into the area to harvest cotton. Over 2,500 men were brought in from Mexico and the surrounding areas. This influx of new families created a need for many new services into the area.

The Wigwam Litchfield Park, Arizona

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The Wigwam opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1929 as a public resort with 13 rooms to accommodate 24 guests. Upon check-in everyone was assigned a horse as it was considered a Dude Ranch.