In the series Last Resorts, The Show is looking at the history and future of resorts, and the Valley as a resort community. Visit some of the Valley’s oldest and newest resorts. Hear how they’ve impacted the region — from art and architecture, to how people all over the world view the West.
The Show visited Litchfield Park and the Wigwam Resort. Now it’s a well-known resort, but it didn’t start out that way.
Lisa Hegarty, executive director at the P.W. Litchfield Heritage Center, which focuses on the history of Southwest Valley, talked to The Show about it's impact and history on the West Valley. She says celebrities from Ethel Merman and Frank Sinatra to Jesse Owens and Mickey Mantle would come to stay at the Wigwam over the years. But early on, it was a very specific — and small — group of visitors who would spend time there.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Sitting in a living room, like set up, complete with couch and fireplace. I asked Haggerty to tell me about the room in which we were sitting.
LISA HEGARTY: So we are in the very original portion of the Wigwam Resort. It's an adobe building and it was built in 1918. And when it was built, it was known as the Organization House, and it was built for the purpose of housing, visiting executives from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. And the reason why people from Goodyear Tire and Rubber would have been coming out here is because Goodyear came out to grow long staple cotton as a key component of their rubber tires at the time. And so this area, Litchfield Park, was quite remote from Phoenix. It was an all-day affair to try and get out here. The roads were not in good shape.
So with all the the hardship of making the trip out here, they decided it made sense to build lodging for visiting executives. And originally, it would house, about six people. It was really rustic settings. But this room here has the original adobe fireplace, and it was sort of the living room of the organization house from the beginning.
BRODIE: So at what point did this expand to not just be a living room, but to sort of be a place that people who were not tire and rubber executives would come and stay?
HEGARTY: So it was pretty popular with the executives and their wives. If they brought their, you know, wives and family out, from the get go. And so it would gradually expand initially to house about 24 people within the decade. And by 1929 Goodyear Tire and Rubber decided that they would open the Wigwam to the public. So they opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1929 to the public
BRODIE: Which is not that long after the stock market crash.
HEGARTY: No. Right. It would have been right in the middle of all of that.
BRODIE: Was there demand for something like that back then here?
HEGARTY: You know, I think it was part of a trend. You see that with other resorts around the Valley. And it is kind of in line with that popularization of the West and coming out and experiencing a warmer climate for the winter. But also they were marketing to the very wealthy and probably the people least affected by the Great Depression and the stock market crash.
BRODIE: So, for people who came here in 1929 — let's say in the '30s — what would they do? What else was around here?
HEGARTY: Well, Goodyear Tire and Rubber had farming operations for about 17,000 acres that encompassed this whole area. People would arrive — at one point, there was a railroad depot, a spur, that people could get off the train at the south end of Litchfield Road down by MC 85. And take a ride up Litchfield Road, which was lined with trees, to kind of guide the way to the resort and would take you the four miles up to the Wigwam. And then what people were going to experience was kind of the, the whole western experience. They had horseback rides. They had cookouts, they had wagon rides, they had hay rides. They had at one point an arena, they would hold rodeos. They had singing cowboy entertainers. So people were coming out for the full Western experience. But also there was very luscious and well planted grounds with lots of lawn space for archery, lawn bowling and so forth. And yeah, so it was just really a place for people to be outside and enjoy the outdoors in the winter.
BRODIE: This part of the Aalley at that time I would imagine was maybe even a little more rural than places on the east side of town. Did that play into the ability of, you know, the Wigwam to market itself as a true Western experience.
HEGARTY: I think so. And also another thing that the Wigwam like to promote is its image as an oasis in the desert. And because it was separate from the metro area at the time from Phoenix, that also made it more of a retreat. And actually, we know that a lot of celebrities would choose to stay here to kind of have a quiet getaway. And that the staff would kind of keep their stays here quiet so that they can have that privacy.
BRODIE: So moving forward now into like the '40s, '50s, '60s, did the Wigwam continue just to expand over the over the years?
HEGARTY: They did you have all these periods of expansion over the decades. So opening to the public in 1929 was kind of like the first major expansion. Somewhere along the 1940s, before the war, there might have been some improvement of the golf course. And then-post war is when it's really kind of the= golden age where they really invested in expanding the accommodations. And also really kind of turning the focus more and more towards the resort as being a golf destination and developing that side. But I think the Western experience, that piece was always part of the experience as well. And one of the things that you often hear is that when guests checked into the hotel, they were issued a horse and a towel
BRODIE: Is the western feel still a big part of, of this hotel? I mean, obviously, you know, looking around the decor, you can tell. But is it still part of the experience for people who stay here?
HEGARTY: Yeah, you can definitely see it in the decor, and, you know, the whole aesthetic of the place. But, you know, there's no more cowboy singers ... there's no stable, there's no arena, there's no horseback rides.
BRODIE: You don't get a horse when you check in anymore.
HEGARTY: No, no horses when you check in anymore, yeah, yeah.
BRODIE: What does this resort mean for the community? I mean ... how big of a driver is it? How big of a ... source of pride is it for Litchfield Park and for this part of the Valley?
HEGARTY: It is a huge source of pride. You know, throughout the decades, proms were held here. Goodyear Farms, if they had employee events, they held them here at the Wigwam. It was just a part of everybody's life. Even the grounds were, were open and they still, there is kind of an open feel here. The community can come and have dinner and walk the grounds. And the swimming pools at one point were open to community members to come and swim in. So, yeah, I think for people who have lived here a long time, they have memories of bringing their kids over and ... it is a point of pride for sure.
BRODIE: When you think about the role that the Wigwam has played in sort of showing the Valley and introducing people to Phoenix, where do you think — how do you think it played into that?
HEGARTY: Oh, well, I think originally it really kind of tried to meet those expectations of interacting with the West and getting a sense of what the West of the past was like. And maybe forming a perception for visitors that way. And then I also think they were shaping the perception of this is a garden spot. You know, there is a lot of fertile farmland historically throughout Phoenix and the way they landscaped around here with, you know, the money they would invest in the flowers and the lawns and so forth. So I think those are two perceptions that they would try to highlight is that it was, you know, a place to escape and and be outside and to escape the cold and to enjoy sort of like this oasis garden setting.
BRODIE: So you've been coming here for a long time and you come here a lot. What goes through your mind when you walk through the halls here?
HEGARTY: I look forward to any reason to being here, just because I like the atmosphere. I like the feeling of the place. ... it feels homey, it feels comfortable. And it has that sense of history to it and the, you know, that Southwest aesthetic. It seems genuine, you know. So it's just a lovely space ... it's a human scale and it feels comfortable.
BRODIE: All right. Well, Lisa, thank you so much for meeting me here and thanks for sharing the stories. I appreciate it.
HEGARTY: My pleasure.
