Week 59: John Andersen
- Chandler Museum
Sometimes events in far off countries have a way of impacting our own community. For instance, a war between Germany and Denmark in the 1860s led Dane John Andersen to immigrate to the United States. Andersen eventually settled in what would become Chandler and set about making himself into one of the largest land owners and cattle ranchers in Arizona.
John Andersen was born in Jedsted, Denmark, in 1880. At the time, that area of Denmark was part of  Germany. A law stated that Danish boys had to serve in the German army once they turned 18. Rather than join the German army, Andersen boarded a ship bound for the United States, and arrived in New York City sometime in 1898.
A. J. Petersen was a Danish immigrant living in Tempe. He assisted recently arrived Danish immigrants by giving them a place to live and paying them to work on his ranch. John Andersen was one of those immigrants that Petersen helped. After working for Petersen for several years, he returned to Denmark to get married. In 1909, Andersen and a business partner, Drace Jepsen, purchased 640 acres of land just east of what would become Chandler. Jepsen owned and farmed the east half while Andersen owned and farmed the west half. Andersen continued to buy land, and eventually the Andersen Ranch stretched from Knox Road to Frye Road, and Dobson Road to Arrowhead Drive.
On his ranch, Andersen grew cotton and alfalfa, two staples for this area. But he made his fortune in cattle. A 1915 article in the Chandler Arizonan announced that he had sold 350 head at a profit of over $7,300. In December 1928, he shipped 45 train carloads of cattle to market. At its height, the profitable Andersen Ranch was home to tens of thousands of head of cattle. The ranch operation was so large, in fact, that Andersen employed a chuck wagon and cookie to feed the ranch hands.
Andersen used the money raised at his Chandler ranch to purchase land across the state. Among his acquisitions were the Bar T Bar and H Bar ranches located along what is now Highway 87. The two ranches were so large that it was said he owned everything between Sunflower and Payson.  Perhaps his largest single purchase was the 300,000 acre Chilson Ranch in the Tonto basin. The purchase added considerable land to his already vast empire, and included an additional 6,000 head of cattle.
In addition to his ranching operations, John Andersen was an early land developer in Chandler. He built the Andersen Building on South San Marcos Place, which originally housed Curry & Frye Pool Hall and today is home to Sibley’s West. He and John Dobson built and opened the First National Bank of Chandler in 1919, only the second bank in town. Andersen was hired by Dr. Alexander J. Chandler to level and build the San Marcos Hotel golf course when it moved to its current location behind the hotel in 1926. Because of his high standing in the community, he was elected to serve on the Chandler school board in 1917 and stayed on the board for 17 years.
On June 12, 1941, Andersen was staying in a hotel in Phoenix when an accident occurred in which he lost consciousness. He was rushed to a hospital, but according to his son, John Junior, he never regained consciousness and died the next day.
Despite humble beginnings in the Valley, John Andersen became one of the important pioneers and developers in early Chandler.