Hightown/Pueblo Alto

A Unique Chandler Neighborhood

When you think about your neighborhood, you might equate it with the idea of “home.” It’s the place you live, and sometimes also includes a school, a park, or a corner store. Whether created by a subdivision developer or a product of an ethnic-based settlement, each neighborhood has its own story.

This exhibit tells the story of one Chandler neighborhood, located near the southeast corner of McClintock Road and Chandler Boulevard, which has maintained a unique identity. Generations of the same Mexican American and Yaqui Indian families have lived here since the 1920s. A majority of the residents living here share a common history, and can trace their roots back several generations to the neighborhood’s original families. Espo’s Restaurant has been a cornerstone of the neighborhood for over 40 years. In spite of urban development on all sides, the neighborhood has retained its cultural identity and aspects of its rural roots.  

From Desert to Farmland

The area around today’s Hightown began as a piece of desert land owned by the federal government, and designated as “school land.” It was part of a section of land (640 acres) that the government could sell after 1854 to finance the construction of schools, when they became necessary to build.

In the early 1900s, W.J. Kingsbury and W.S. Austin bought much of the land in this section, including the area of the future Pueblo Alto. The Austin family arrived in the Chandler area in the 1880s, establishing several ranches in today’s west Chandler region. At that time, the Desert Land Act allowed individuals to buy up to 640 acres from the federal government for $1.25 per acre, as long as they irrigated the land and began farming in three years. Kingsbury and Austin brought their land under cultivation, either by pumping underground water or through irrigation canals extending west from the Consolidated Canal.  

The area of today’s Pueblo Alto was unique. This particular spot was at one time slightly elevated above the surrounding land, as blowing sand from the desert floor accumulated. This made the land less suitable for farming, but a potential place to build a home. 

A Place To Settle

Beginning in 1910, many Mexican citizens fled their homeland, uprooted by the violence of the Revolution. Opportunities in Arizona’s mining, railroad and agriculture industries drew these immigrants northward, into a region that had been Mexican territory until the 1850s. Driven from their lands by the Mexican military, many Yaqui Indians also migrated to the Salt River Valley. They settled throughout the East Valley, with the largest group founding the town of Guadalupe.

These various families settled in town, lived on a local ranch, or joined other families at the scattered settlements that sprang up near canals between farms. One such settlement became today’s Hightown. In the early 1920s, Mexican farm workers and Yaqui Indians settled on this patch of desert land. The two ethnic groups were separated by an irrigation canal. Early residents initially called the area El Chamizo, a reference to the type of desert bushes growing throughout the area.

Prior to the 1940s, El Chamizo was located about 4 miles west of Chandler, and 6 miles south of Tempe. At first, families had no electricity or running water. While they could use the nearby irrigation canal for washing, they needed to travel several miles west to the town of Kyrene to get their drinking water. Sometime during the 1930s, residents dug a well and installed a pump for water. The Salt River Project brought in electricity to the community during the late 1940s.

In the late 1920s Ray and Rose Estrella purchased land west of Pueblo Alto in order to build a small store. Known as the Estrella Market, this store supplied the residents of Hightown as well as farmers from the surrounding area. The Estrella Market became an important fixture in west Chandler, as Indians from the Gila River Reservation stopped by the store to trade mesquite firewood for supplies, and Basque sheepherders bought provisions while grazing their flocks in the area.

This rural neighborhood stayed small for many years, with around twenty families in the area by 1946. 

Becoming Hightown

The neighborhood changed dramatically in 1946, and it officially became known as Pueblo Alto, or in English, Hightown. That year, D.M. and Glena Haws, who were farmers living near Dobson and Chandler Boulevard, purchased and subdivided the land where the residents lived. They designated several short streets and established small lots. Then they told the residents that they needed to purchase the lots for $100 a piece.

This news made many of the residents unhappy, since they had established their own homesteads in the area and had been paying rent for many years. Now they were forced to relocate to conform with new property lines. Mexican American and Yaqui families integrated as they became next door neighbors, and some of the families intermarried. The subdivision of Hightown attracted new residents, drawn by relatively low land prices. 

Many of the families worked at the nearby farms, cultivating, harvesting or helping with irrigation. Most remember picking cotton, since this crop fueled the agricultural economy of Chandler during the first half of the twentieth century.  Residents gradually began to move into other kinds of jobs over time. Some obtained industrial jobs, providing a higher salary than what one could make working in the fields. Others worked in service jobs, or moved into white-collar work as they bettered their education. As families’ incomes increased after the 1960s, families improved their lives and their neighborhood.

Growing Up in Pueblo Alto

The close-knit nature and small size of the community forged a kinship that left happy childhood memories for those who grew up in Pueblo Alto. This kinship was strengthened as some of the neighbors’ sons and daughters married over time. Children played on the two-lane Williams Field Road (later Chandler Boulevard), which had been paved with concrete by the 1940s. They enjoyed splashing in the nearby irrigation ditches or exploring the nearby desert.

Sometimes on Saturday nights, residents blocked off the street known as Calle Primera to open a space for dancing and socializing. The entire neighborhood often turned out for family barbecues and holiday parties. Baseball was a favorite sport among the youth. The Hightown team competed with other local clubs from Chandler, Victory Acres in Tempe, Broad Acres in Phoenix, and Guadalupe.

From the 1920s through the 1970s, most of the children in Pueblo Alto attended the Kyrene School up through the eighth grade. Children waited in front of the Estrella Market to catch the school bus each day. Until the late 1940s, Kyrene School practiced a segregation policy that separated the Spanish-speaking children from the English- speaking children until fourth grade. This occurred not only in the classroom, but also on the playground and in the cafeteria. Many residents of Hightown remember the difficulty of trying to learn a new language while being prohibited from speaking their native Spanish. In the early years, many children did not move on to high school, as they need to work in order to support their families. Today’s Hightown children attend Kyrene de las Brisas Elementary, Aprende Jr. High, and Corona High School. 

Religious Life in Hightown

Religion and spiritual expression is an important part of the identity of Hightown residents. In the past, residents attended St. Mary’s Church in Chandler, which required them to walk or drive several miles to downtown Chandler. At St. Mary’s, residents could socialize with other Chandler families and hold important events like baptisms, first communions, and marriages.

In the early 1930s, families began to raise money to build a chapel in Pueblo Alto. Traveling priests from Tempe’s Mount Carmel Church or from Guadalupe came to hold mass in Hightown. The residents set up a large tent in an empty lot in the middle of the neighborhood for the services.  The Phoenix diocese purchased land in Pueblo Alto where the neighborhood park is presently located, but a church was never constructed.

As is common in the Mexican Catholic tradition, some families expressed their faith by building nichos, or altars, in their home or front yard. Here they displayed saints, crosses, flowers and other religious symbols. 

La Guadalupana

During the 1960s and 1970s the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe (December 12) became a special event in Pueblo Alto. This celebration began when Juana Mori made a manda, or promise, to observe the Guadalupana each year in appreciation for her two sons returning home safely from the military. Juana hosted the first Guadalupana in the early 1960s. Before the celebration, Juana and her family prepared food from both Mexican and Yaqui traditions, including tamales, menudo, two soups—abondigas and wacabaki, red chile con carne, rice, and beans.

The first years of the celebration included only the family. It wasn’t long before word of the event spread, and soon people came from Guadalupe, Chandler, Maricopa, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Casa Grande to enjoy Juana’s cooking, the festivities and socialization. The annual celebration ended in the early 1980s when Juana’s health became too poor to continue the tradition.

Becoming Part of the City

n was incorporated into the City of Chandler in 1970 when the city annexed much of the west Chandler area to the I-10. The City used federal funds to install sewer lines, water lines, and improve streets and homes. In the 1980s, members of the long-time families began moving out of Pueblo Alto, although some stayed. Many who remained improved their homes or built new ones on their family land. The City helped ten families rehabilitate their homes during the 1990s.

The David Espinoza family had been leasing the old Estrella Market since 1967 when they decided to establish a small restaurant on Chandler Boulevard. Espo’s opened in 1974, and for many years this was the only restaurant in the west Chandler area. It became well known for its tasty chorizo andtamales. In 1978, David Espinoza moved out of the old Estrella building and constructed a store next to his restaurant, calling it Espinoza’s Food Center. Here he sold food along with clothing, dry goods, and automobile parts. Like at the earlier Estrella Market, Indians from the Gila River reservation, farm workers, and local farmers often stopped in to purchase items.

In 2000, Hightown had about 65 homes and nearly 200 residents. Pueblo Alto’s earliest residents have passed away, yet the second, third and fourth generations of families continue to live in the community. Many members of Hightown’s early families intermarried, so some neighbors are also relatives. Those who have since left Hightown retain a strong connection to their former home, and many return to visit family and friends.

The area around Hightown has changed dramatically since the 1920s, but the neighborhood’s identity remains the same. Residents of this unique Mexican American and Yaqui neighborhood share a common history, and a strong pride for their home.