Harry Bouton, 1919

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Local farmer, Harry Bouton, feeds an ostrich on Dr. A. J. Chandler's ostrich farm behind the San Marcos Hotel on Christmas Day, 1919

Chandler’s founder, Dr. A.J. Chandler, was among the first to bring ostriches to the Arizona desert.  It is likely that he first encountered ostriches at the Californian Ostrich Farm at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Dr. Chandler visited the Exposition with his brother, Harry, and his family in the fall of 1893. 

If the ostrich exhibit at the Columbian Exposition failed to make an impression on Dr. Chandler, something closer to home almost certainly had an impact on his decision to bring ostriches to Arizona.  Dr. Chandler’s primary residence during the 1890s was Los Angeles, California. Not far from his home via the trolley line, was the world famous Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena. Founded in 1886 by Edwin Cawston, the farm was billed as a tourist attraction. He sold eggs and feathers, as well as ostrich drawn carriage rides, and opportunities for people to sit on the large birds for photo opportunities.

By 1905, Dr. Chandler had a large herd on his ranch in Mesa. His success in raising the big birds led other ranchers to purchase their own herds. By 1906, Chandler was in the process of purchasing between $30,000 and $50,000 worth of ostriches in an attempt to secure the territory’s largest herd. After the San Marcos Hotel opened in 1913, Dr. Chandler moved his ostrich farm immediately west of the hotel grounds to act as a tourist attraction for the guests to enjoy. In 1914, two years after Chandler’s founding, the Chandler Arizonan proclaimed that “Ostriches are all the rage in Chandler, and dot the landscape by the hundreds.” 

Profits from the ostrich industry seemed limitless, until world events intervened. The coming of World War I marked a change in fashions, as women abandoned the popular ostrich plumed hats which made the industry so profitable. Additionally, the big birds were susceptible to the Spanish Influenza which swept the globe after the war killing most of the birds in Chandler. The industry never recovered.