Automobiles

After the introduction of Henry Ford’s inexpensive, mass-produced Model T in 1908, more Phoenix residents could afford to buy a car, and by 1913 the city contained ten automobile dealers. More automobiles meant more residential dispersion and commercial decentralization. A symbol of modernity throughout America, but especially in the oasis cities of the Southwest, where the climate and topography allowed effective use of motor vehicles, the automobile was among the amenities that allowed Phoenicians to reject the more traditional city structure and pursue the good life being offered as a result of incipient sprawl. Annexation proceeded apace, and by 1913 the city encompassed 3.2 square miles, up from .5 in 1870.

^{Source: Luckingham, Bradford. Phoenix: The History of a Southwestern Metropolis. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989. 51.}