07. Goodyear: A Company Town
- Chandler Museum
he image at left, which looks southeast from the center of Goodyear, shows a parade on the main street in Goodyear, now Basha Road. Palm trees lined the irrigation canal, which divided north and south traffic on the street. The cotton fields, which started on the edge of town, extended several miles in every direction. The photo at right shows the Goodyear school. The school was made up of four one room school houses that served the children of the families working the Goodyear cotton fields.
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Like company towns across the nation, Goodyear intended to provide all services for its employees. In the picture at left, the building in the center is actually two buildings divided by a breezeway. The building on the right is a pool hall and the one on the left is a grocery. The Bashas’ grocery chain was later begun in this building, which now houses the corporation’s headquarters. In the distance at the far left a movie theater is barely visible behind the trees. The photo at right shows the Goodyear hospital.
Goodyear provided housing for its employees. Executives and managers were provided housing in neighborhoods with cement sidewalks, well manicured lawns, and beautifully landscaped yards like the one pictured to the left. Mexican and Yaqui laborers who came to Goodyear to work in the cotton fields were provided with low slung adobe barracks like those pictured at right.
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