Electrician Services Marana, Arizona

About Marana, Arizona

Archaeologists found evidence of about 4,200 years of continuous human settlement in the vicinity of Marana and in the middle of Santa Cruz Valley. Many significant archaeological sites have been found near Marana. Spanish colonists began to inhabit this area in the 17th and 18th centuries. Over time they intermarried with Native Americans, and a class of mestizo settlers also developed. From the early years, mining and ranching were the chief economic activities. The area became part of the independent Mexican Empire established in 1821 (soon replaced by the Republic of Mexico). More than two decades later, the United States acquired this territory as part of the Gadsden Purchase; it was not part of the Mexican Cession following the defeat in the Mexican-American War, ending in 1848. According to historian David Leighton, Charles B. Anway was the first member of the Anway family in the Tucson area;[citation needed] from the eastern United States, he came because the dry mountain air was thought to be beneficial for people suffering from tuberculosis, as he was. Antibiotics were not yet in general use to treat this disease, which had a high mortality rate and no known cure. In 1919, his brother William and his two children, Louis and Ila, arrived in town, but they decided to settle in an area northwest of Tucson called Postvale, Arizona. In 1920, the longtime widower William Anway married Orpha Ralston. She had been a member for many years of the Postvale Co-operative Women's Club. This group lobbied to have the local post office renamed from Postvale to Marana; in time, the town was also named Marana. Marana did not become developed primarily as an agricultural center, until after World War I. It has produced commodity crops of cotton, wheat, barley, alfalfa, and pecans. During World War II, the Army built facilities here to support the military effort. Before the Air Force was established, the Army built and operated the Marana Airfield (1942–45). It became the largest pilot-training center in the world, training some 10,000 flyers. In the postwar years, five Titan missile sites were constructed in the area as part of a complex of ballistic missile installations built around Tucson. This was during the Cold War when tensions were high with the Soviet Union. In March 1977, the Town incorporated about 10 square miles (26 km2) and in August of that year, the 1,500 residents elected their first town council. In early 1979, the town began to grow through a targeted annexation policy. It now measures a little more than 120 square miles (310 km2) with a population of over 43,000. The southern portion of Marana has grown considerably since the early 1990s, with the addition of businesses and some housing. This is largely due to the annexation of existing unincorporated areas. In 1992, the Marana Town Council voted to annex an area of unincorporated Pima County that was located southeast of the town limits. The area selected was a narrow corridor of land along Interstate 10, to the east along Ina Road, and south along Thornydale Road. These areas were mainly developed as high-density commercial businesses and shopping centers, including large retailers or "big box" stores such as Super KMart (now closed), Costco Wholesale, Target, and Home Depot. Marana chose these areas to annex to increase its revenue from sales taxes. The large residential areas behind these commercial areas, which required support for residents, such as schools and roads, were not annexed. As a result, the city of Tucson filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Pima (City of Tucson v Town of Marana), claiming that Marana illegally annexed the unincorporated areas in violation of existing state laws. However, on April 4, 1994, Judge Lina Rodriguez ruled in favor of Marana, allowing the annexation to stand. Following this suit, the Arizona State annexation laws were changed, forbidding municipalities from annexing small strips of land without taking large surrounding parcels as well. Such "strip annexation" is no longer allowed under Arizona law.