11 Amazing Events In Arizona's History

 Arizona is one of the newer states, but it has been around for a long time. Here are some of the essential things in Arizona's history, from what happened before the Civil War to what powerful politicians did and the tragedies that occurred to Arizonans.


1901: President William McKinley visits

On May 7, 1901, President William McKinley and his Cabinet arrived in the state. Four months later, he was shot and died. One of their stops is in Phoenix, the capital. The another is in Congress, a small town with a gold mine. The rest of the country can see from the visit that the Territory of Arizona did well in business.


1903: The Salt River Water Users' Association was created, and the Roosevelt Dam was built

People from the Valley, led by Dwight Heard and a few other famous people, formed the association in 1903. They worried that summer droughts were hurting the farming economy, so they helped build Roosevelt Dam in 1911. In the winter, the dam could store water from melting snow and rain; in the summer, it could send that water to communities through a network of canals.


1914-20: Cotton craze

Cotton became the state's most important crop, thanks in part to military demands during World War I. A more robust type of long-staple cotton becomes valuable as an industrial fabric.

Because the U.S. military needed it for World War I, cotton became the most important crop in the state. A type of long-staple cotton that is stronger is becoming more valuable as an industrial fabric.


1917: Frank Luke Jr.'s valor during World War I

The United States joined the Allies in 1917, and Frank Luke Jr. of Phoenix joined the military. He won the Medal of Honor as the first airman to do so. Eddie Rickenbacker, who is more well-known, has two more air victories than he does. During the war of 1918, Luke dies. He is remembered at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona.


1919: Grand Canyon was named a national park

The Grand Canyon was known as the Grand Canyon Game Preserve in 1906. Theodore Roosevelt, president at the time, made it a national monument in 1908. The United States made it the 17th national park in 1919. It is now Arizona's biggest and most well-known national park, with close to 5 million visitors a year.


1926: Get your kicks on Route 66

When Arizona finished Route 66 in 1926, it was already a national highway. After ten years, the work is done. The highway and the Santa Fe railroad share the same path. Route 66, known in pop culture, became a significant way for many people to move west. After 60 years, the route would no longer be used because the Interstate Highway System had made it unnecessary.


2003-04: Dying for the country: Lori Piestewa and Pat Tillman

Lori Piestewa, a Hopi who lived in Tuba City, was the first Native American woman to die while working as a soldier for the United States. She dies from wounds she got in a gun battle in Iraq. Phoenix's Piestewa Peak is named after her. In 2004, Pat Tillman played football for ASU and the Arizona Cardinals. He was killed while on a mission for the Army in Afghanistan. Another essential military person had died.


2011: Congresswoman Gabby Giffords shot

Gabrielle Giffords was shot on January 8, 2011, while meeting with her constituents outside Tucson. Six people are slain, including a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl, and a staffer for Giffords. Thirteen people are hurt, but Giffords is the one who is hurt the worst. The person who did it, Jared Loughner, will spend the rest of his life in prison. Later, Giffords quit her job in Congress, and she and her husband, Mark Kelly, worked to make guns safer.


2013: 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots died in Yarnell Hill Fire

The Yarnell Hill Fire started when lightning struck on June 28, 2013. On June 30, the fire got out of hand, and 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots died trying to put it out. The fire was put out for good On July 10. It is the deadliest wildfire in Arizona and the sixth deadliest accident involving a firefighter in the U.S.


2014: Phoenix VA scandal

Insiders who reported wrongdoing at the VA hospital in Phoenix testified before a congressional subcommittee and The Arizona Republic in April 2014 that up to 40 Arizona veterans died while waiting for medical care because top administrators hid a backlog of medical appointments. This makes many people complain about similar problems in other states, and when the inspector general looks into these complaints, he or she finds that most of them are true. Because of the scandal, a few high-level people have to quit their jobs. Sharon Helman, in charge of the Phoenix VA, and Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, are two.

2014: Same-sex marriage

Arizona will start to allow same-sex marriage on October 17, 2014. A state law from 1996 says that same-sex couples can't get married. In 2008, voters changed the direction by making a change to the Constitution. Two lawsuits against the state's policies brought to federal court found that the ban was against the Constitution.


2015: Kayla Mueller dies in ISIS captivity

Kayla Mueller, who worked for an aid group in Prescott and crossed into Syria in 2013, was taken by the Islamic State. For months, they held her. Hostage negotiators told her family, friends, the press, and government officials up to the White House to keep her imprisonment a secret. But when ISIS said on social media in February that the 26-year-old woman had died, her story got a lot of attention worldwide.

Conclusion

Some individuals have the misconception that Arizona is a dull state with not much going on there at all. I disagree, as do the historical accounts published in newspapers and books. The following are a few instances of significant events that took place in Arizona's history.


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