WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - What's in a Name: Phoenix, the City that Rose from the Ashes

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

This week on What's in a Name, host Megan Pidcock gets into the history behind the name of Arizona's capital city, Phoenix.

My name is Megan Pitcock, and you're listening to What's in a Name on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Today we'll be talking about the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, Arizona. Its history starts in 400 AD with the Ho-Hocum people who built an effective irrigation system through canalways in the desert, which still exists in pieces today. It is believed a drought led to their demise in 1400 AD. Its modern history starts in the 19th century, when, in 1867, a Confederate soldier by the name of Jackson, swilling, founded the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company. He moved there to take advantage of what the Ho-Hocum had already built. Because it was a city rising from the ashes of a past civilization, fellow pioneer Daryl Dupa suggested the name Phoenix after the mythical bird who did the same.

Thus, the city of Phoenix was born and officially put on the record on May 4, 1868, now the capital of Arizona, and the fifth most populous city in the United States, its name fittingly pays tribute to both the spirit of Pioneer America and the people of ages past.