Casa Grande, Arizona, United States

🇺🇸 Casa Grande is a city in Pinal County in the U.S. state of Arizona. According to U.S. It is named after the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, which is actually located in Coolidge. "Casa Grande" is Spanish for "big house". Among resident English speakers, there is no consensus on how to pronounce the city's name.

History Casa Grande was founded in 1879 during the Arizona mining boom, specifically due to the presence of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In January 1880, the community of Terminus, meaning "end-of-the-line", was established despite consisting of just five residents and three buildings. In September 1880, railroad executives renamed the settlement Casa Grande, after the Hohokam ruins at the nearby Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Casa Grande grew slowly, and suffered several setbacks both in 1886 and 1893, when fires ravaged the town, destroying all wooden housing structures within it. When the mining boom slowed in the 1890s, the town was nearly abandoned, but with the advent of agriculture, the town remained alive and well, and was eventually incorporated in 1915.

One of the founding fathers of Casa Grande was Thompson Rodney Peart. Peart Road, Peart Park, and the Peart Center, all of which are notable fixtures of Casa Grande, are named after him.

Casa Grande was home to a collective farm society which was part of the Farm Security Administration.

According to historian David Leighton, during World War II, from 1942 to 1945, a Japanese-American relocation camp was set up outside of Casa Grande, known as the Gila River War Relocation Center. Two notable people that were interned there were future actor Pat Morita and baseball player Kenichi Zenimura, who constructed a baseball field and set up a league in the relocation camp.

Casa Grande is home to Francisco Grande Hotel & Golf Resort, former spring training location for the San Francisco Giants. Then owner, Horace Stoneham, began developing the property in 1959. The first exhibition game was played in Casa Grande in 1961, with Willie Mays hitting a 375-foot (114 m) home run. The San Francisco Giants no longer play at Francisco Grande, but the pool in a baseball bat and ball shape remains in memory of the past ballgames.

During the Cold War, Casa Grande was the location of the Casa Grande Photogrammetric Test Range. These targets consisted of concrete arrows located in and to the south of the city, which calibrated aerial cartographic cameras.

Casa Grande has also played a prominent role in semi-pro and collegiate baseball. The Casa Grande Cotton Kings, who were founded in 1948, qualified to play in the National Baseball Congress World Series ten straight times by winning Arizona state championships in the 1940s and 1950s, and were reactivated in the 2000s. They are now members of the Pacific Southwest Baseball League.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, Casa Grande has a total area of 112.01 square miles (290.1 km²), all land.

Economy The economy of Casa Grande was historically based on rural, agricultural industries, such as cotton and dairy farms. Over time, the city has become home to many Phoenix or Tucson urbanites who own homes in Casa Grande. Most residents either commute north to work in the Phoenix metropolitan area, or to the south, to work in Tucson. This trend has contributed to growth in the service industry of Casa Grande. Many new businesses such as restaurants, gas stations, and retail outlets are opening throughout the city in order to keep up with demand from the growing population.

A retail shopping mall operates in southern Casa Grande. Phase one of The Promenade at Casa Grande opened on November 16, 2007. Built by Westcor and the Pederson Group, it is similar to Desert Ridge Marketplace (an outdoor shopping centre in north-east Phoenix). The Promenade at Casa Grande is an outdoor mall, built on a 100-acre (0.40 km²) patch of desert, and contains nearly a million square feet. An additional $11 million was spent by the city to fund the reconstruction of the Florence Blvd./I-10 freeway overpass.

Ehrmann Commonwealth Dairy operates a major dairy processing facility in the town that opened in 2013 and employs about 110 people.

Economy: Top Employers According to Casa Grande's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city include:b

1 Casa Grande Elementary School District; 2 Walmart Distribution Center; 3 Hexcel Corporation; 4 Banner Casa Grande Medical Center; 5 U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Casa Grande Station; 6 Abbott Laboratories/Ross Products; 7 City of Casa Grande; 8 Tractor Supply Company Distribution Center; 9 Casa Grande Union High School District; 10 Frito-Lay, Inc.; 10 Fry's Food and Drug.

Electric Cars On November 29, 2016, officials from the state and the Lucid Motors car company announced a $700 million manufacturing plant would be constructed in Casa Grande that would employ up to 2,000 workers by 2022. The Lucid car manufacturing plant opened in November 2020.

Media • Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc.

Fire Department The Casa Grande Fire Department (CGFD), ISO Class 2, provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the City of Casa Grande The Casa Grande Fire Department operates out of 4 Fire Stations and an Administrative Headquarters at the Public Safety Building.

CGFD is serving 109.65 square miles with over 60,000 residents.

Library The Casa Grande Public Library provides the standard services of access to reading materials, as well as some special services, including a volunteer reading club for elementary school, internet access, and a talking book program. The main library is 16,000 square feet (1,500 m²), provides 75,000 volumes, and provides 38 public access computers with internet access. The Vista Grande Public Library, a branch of the Casa Grande Library System, opened in the summer of 2009.

City Court The Casa Grande Municipal Court is the judicial branch of Casa Grande City government and accepted 6,609 filings, conducted 2,486 arraignments and held 156 civil, criminal and jury trials in Fiscal Year 2006–2007.

Education Most of Casa Grande is in the Casa Grande Elementary School District, while a portion is in the Toltec Elementary School District. All of Casa Grande is in the Casa Grande Union High School District.

The following schools are located in Casa Grande.

Public Elementary • Cottonwood Elementary School • Saguaro Elementary School • Evergreen Elementary School • Ironwood Elementary School • Cholla Elementary School • Palo Verde Elementary School • Mesquite Elementary School • Desert Willow Elementary School • McCartney Ranch Elementary School

Public Middle School • Casa Grande Middle School • Cactus Middle School • Villago Middle School Public High School • Casa Grande Union High School • Desert Winds High School • Vista Grande High School

Charter High School • Pinnacle Charter High School • Casa Verde High School • ASU Preparatory Academy, Casa Grande • Mission Heights Preparatory High School • PPEP TEC High School

Charter Schools • Grande Innovation Academy • Legacy Traditional School

Private • St Anthony of Padua Catholic School (Private) • Logos Christian Academy (Private)

Colleges • Central Arizona College • Northern Arizona University (Extended Learning Campus)

Transport These highways serve Casa Grande. • Interstate 8 • Interstate 10 • the proposed Interstate 11 would begin in Casa Grande and end in Las Vegas, Nevada • Arizona State Route 287 • Arizona State Route 84 • Arizona State Route 387

The City of Coolidge operates Central Arizona Regional Transit (CART), which provides transportation between Florence, Coolidge, Central Arizona College and Casa Grande. Greyhound serves Casa Grande from a stop in Eloy.

The closest major airports to Casa Grande are Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Tucson International Airport. Casa Grande Shuttle provides an airport shuttle to Sky Harbor.