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.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: We've been looking at Phoenix's past and present as a resort town and the ways in which people were drawn to this fast growing sunny city. Joining me today is The Show's senior producer Sativa Peterson, who dove into Arizona's historic newspapers and documents to talk about another early draw to the Valley — health and wellness. Good morning, Sativa. Hope you're feeling well.
SATIVA PETERSON: So, thank you. Yeah, it turns out, you know, health and wellness played a very important role in Phoenix's origins as a resort town. And of course, climate was a key factor in all of this, which we'll get to in just a second. But first, let's do a quick catch up in this series. We've already mentioned how the construction of the highway system across the United States played an important role in the growing tourism industry in Phoenix
BRODIE: Right. We learned that by the 1930s for example, Van Buren Street in Phoenix was at the crossroads for four federal highways, the U.S. 60, 70 ad 89.
PETERSON: Yeah, that's correct. So even before that, there was an earlier technological achievement that brought waves of visitors to our state and that was the arrival of transcontinental train service in Arizona, which began in the late 1870s and early '80s. And it really didn't take long before there were multiple passenger trains a day passing through Phoenix. You had the Southern Pacific, the M&P — which stood for the Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad — and the Santa Fe.
BRODIE: And Sativa, I imagine these early travelers were anticipating, getting away from the snow and cold of the East and Midwest and heading somewhere where maybe there was some sunshine.
PETERSON: That was a big part of it. And very early on we start to see sunshine being equated with health and wellness. I found a pamphlet published in 1899 called Arizona Health Resorts. It was published by the passenger department of the Santa Fe Railroad
And I'm just going to read it to you. It said: "Are your lungs weak? Have you a troublesome cough? If thus afflicted, try the climate cure, which consists of taking up one's residence in a place where the air is dry, pure and warm. Nature is the best of physicians when conditions are friendly."
Yeah. So weather and good health tied together early on. Now around the same time as transcontinental rail travel is becoming a reality, tuberculosis was hitting the country very hard. It was the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. in 1900. So all across the Midwest and East Coast, you know, hometown doctors are recommending to their patients with lung problems that: "Hey, maybe you should head to Arizona to recover." And so with that and because of the rail service, people start to flock to Phoenix as a therapeutic destination.
BRODIE: Well, so there must have been a need for places for all those people to stay. Was Phoenix set up for that?
PETERSON: Well, yeah, we have some examples of that. So some people if they could afford it stayed in sanitariums. But these were, you know, could be almost luxurious to some extent. So many people were looking for an alternative to that and they started wintering at what were rustic health camps in what is now Scottsdale. One of these was Graves Guest Ranch. This is operating around 1910s. It was low located in the northwest corner of Indian School and Scottsdale roads, and it catered to visitors and folks who had come to the dry Arizona climate to restore their health. And we start seeing mentions of people coming to Arizona and newspapers printed all across the country, you know, from towns in Iowa and Arkansas, North Dakota, Wisconsin.
So at the Graves Guest Ranch, people were staying in structures that were pretty simple, really a wood frame that was covered in canvas. And this was also happening in the Sunnyslope area. There were encampments, more people living in tent houses and rudimentary cottages. And there were so many health seekers, in fact, that that's one of the things that helped Arizona reach its population in order to achieve statehood.
BRODIE: Really?
PETERSON: Yeah. So you start seeing people staying at the Graves Guest Ranch. But, as you can imagine, people afflicted with tuberculosis, they were — it was a highly contagious disease. And you know, to be honest, some of them were not always welcomed here. So I've got an example of how this plays into our resort history.

BRODIE: Let's hear that. What is it?
PETERSON: Well, we see our first real luxury resort in the Phoenix area which is Castle Hot Springs, which opened back in 1896. So this is this long continuum we're going to see of how health and wellness play into our resorts. But it billed itself as a pleasure and a health resort of the highest class, well-known for its hot mineral waters and glorious climate. Ads start appearing for Castle Hot Springs Hotel in the Arizona Republican as early as 1906. And there was some interesting language, one ad claimed: "No cases of tuberculosis or other infectious diseases will be received. This is for the safety of the other guests and because diseases of this class are not benefited by drinking the waters. They're actually injured by taking the baths."
So there's this baked-in tension, you know. We even see class mentioned. And so there's almost this assumption that tuberculosis could be contained, you know, and that they could kind of keep it out.
BRODIE: So Sativa, were you able to find any other examples of health and wellness being used as a draw for people to the Valley?
PETERSON: Yes. Now stay with me because this is going to be a bit of a hard pivot. So eventually, you know, the tuberculosis epidemic does come to an end in the late 1940s and antibiotics are developed. And by the mid-1950s, it's really diminished. So one of my favorite places is the Maine Chance Resort which opened at the southeast base of Camelback Mountain in 1947. The Maine Chance was the second location of the destination spa created by cosmetics and wellness mogul Elizabeth Arden. She first opened a Maine Chance in Mount Vernon, Maine, in 1934. And now this location was going to be, you know, a desert location for the wealthy and glamorous where they could winter. And the Maine Chance was luxurious. It was ladies only. It offered everything from makeup lessons and manicures, to exercise classes and swimming. So this resort promises rest, beauty, weight loss. Most visitors were restricted to a 900-calorie-a-day diet.
So we see this whole trend, this continuation, you know, of people coming to the desert for cures in a sense.
BRODIE: Well, so Sativa, as visitors continue to increase, obviously, so did the number of resorts in the Valley. Spa services are now common amenity ... along with fitness classes and fine dining. Is there a through line there from what you've been talking about to the kinds of amenities that people come to resource for now?
PETERSON: I really think so. I think we can draw a line between people coming out, you know, in the 1880s, 1890s for curative treatments for sun, for health, to even how we see the inclusion of health and wellness treatments at spas today. And it seems like, you know, these ideas around health and wellness were really an essential element of city building here in Phoenix.