Sunnyslope, Arizona

Sunnyslope founder

Although Sunnyslope is widely known for having been settled by poor tuberculants who spent their last money traveling west for the drier climate and cleaner air, a subdivision called “Sunny Slope” was first platted by healthy architect William R. Norton in 1911.

Reportedly, one of his daughters looked at the sun shining on the area’s rolling Phoenix mountains and exclaimed, "What a pretty, sunny slope!" Inspired by the phrase, Mr. Norton named the area Sunny Slope. The name appeared as two words until after World War II when it was combined into one word.

The Sunny Slope Subdivision’s original boundaries were from Central Avenue on the west, to Dunlap Avenue on the north and from 3rd Street on east to Alice on the south. By 1919, Sunny Slope was a natural desert area with only four or five cottages surrounded by cactus and sagebrush.

With no irrigation north of the Arizona Canal, the Sunny Slope desert was a very dry area and was considered to be a good place to live for people recovering from tuberculosis or asthma. During this period, it was common for people from eastern states, known as “health seekers,” to move to Arizona.

Many of these people built tent houses or small cottages, planning to get well and then return to their former homes. Others, having spent their last dimes to move west in search of health, pitched tents or slept on porches. There were no roads or electricity.

Desert Mission and Angels of the Desert

Marguerite and William Albert Colley were the second permanent residents of Sunny Slope after purchasing five acres for $100 per acre near 3rd Street and Townley.

They had come to the desert in 1919 for their son’s health. Marguerite was a practical nurse and a social worker. She soon began visiting her sick neighbors bringing food and aide to their bedsides. She met Elizabeth Beatty who was also providing help for those suffering from tuberculosis or asthma.

Sunny Slope neighbors looked forward to and welcomed the visits of Elizabeth Beatty and Marguerite Colley and these ladies soon became known as the “Angels of the Desert.”

In 1927, the Desert Mission was established. This was a facility – a comprehensive, faith-based community center — that provided for the medical, social, and religious needs of the people living in the community. In 1936, there were approximately 600 residents in Sunny Slope. There was still much vacant land, covered with vegetation and cacti.

In the late 1940s, after World War II, the population of the community expanded tremendously. Many small businesses, churches and schools were established. The first school, Sunnyslope Elementary School, was opened in 1949, Mountain View Elementary School was opened in 1952, and the third elementary school built in Sunnyslope was Desert View which opened in 1956. Sunnyslope High School opened in 1953.

As the neighborhood grew, the medical functions of the Desert Mission became a separate entity by the 1950s, later known as the John C. Lincoln Health Network, and now known as Honor Health (after a 2013 merger with Scottsdale Healthcare). Its Sunnyslope flagship hospital is now one of eight Level I trauma facilities in Arizona. The Desert Mission remains in operation as a subsidiary of this healthcare group. Through its food bank, children’s dental clinic, community health center, behavioral health clinic and a licensed and accredited child care facility, the Desert Mission continues to respond to the needs of Sunnyslope and North Phoenix.

John C. Lincoln, an Ohio inventor and industrialist who founded Lincoln Electric, relocated to the Sunnyslope district in 1931 with his wife Helen, to treat her tuberculosis; almost immediately, the Lincolns became major financial supporters of Desert Mission and took on key leadership roles in the organization for most of the remainder of their lives. Helen Lincoln lived to the age of 102, after having been given just two more years to live by doctors.

In 1946, Charles and Lillian Stough founded "Sand" a biweekly newspaper. It was Sunnyslope's first newspaper. In 1950, the newspaper was sold and incorporated into the Sunnyslope Journal. In 1956, The Stough family resumed publishing and named their paper "Sage".

The King of Sunnyslope

Dr. Kenneth E. Hall was a native of Oklahoma who lived in Sunnyslope during the 1940s. Hall considered himself the “King of Sunnyslope” and built the biggest house in Sunnyslope. Hall, considered by his peers as controversial, operated the North Mountain Hospital, a 40-bed hospital in Sunnyslope, which he built in 1955. The hospital had a primate zoo located on the hospital grounds. In 1963, he illegally diverted $16,564 in Medicare funds to help in the construction of El Cid Castle, a bowling alley which resembled a Moorish Castle.

Hall had been performing unsanctioned medical operations, and his physician’s license was revoked in 1971 after four patients died during gastric bypass surgery. In 1974, he pleaded guilty to diverting thousands of dollars in Medicare funds to help build the castle. Hall was bankrupt, and in 1982, El Cid Castle bowling alley, which took 20 years to build, closed after only one year of operation. Hall lost the building in order to settle a malpractice suit. Dr. Hall died in 2001. His son, Walter Eugene Hall, was convicted of child molestation and aggravated sexual assault in 2007.

The Sunnyslope Rock Garden

The Sunnyslope Rock Garden was the creation of Grover Cleveland Thompson, a retired heavy-machinery operator, who moved to Sunnyslope in 1952. He purchased a property and had a house built on 13th Place (now 10023 N. 13th Place). Thompson began making his artistic creations using various objects, such as Halloween masks, as molds. Thompson died in 1976 and his residence and garden abandoned until 1979 when Marion Blake, a local teacher purchased it.

Thompson’s creations have been documented and cataloged by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Upon her retirement, Blake gave the garden to the University of Arizona.

Annexation

Sunnyslope attempted to be incorporated as its own town on four occasions but failed each time. In 1959, the City of Phoenix annexed the community of Sunnyslope along with many other valley areas. These areas eventually became part of the City of Phoenix, but Sunnyslope has always retained its identity.

Crime rates

In 2011, Sunnyslope zipcode 85021 had above average risks for automotive theft at 473, 211 for burglary, 167 for personal crime risk and 259 for property crime compared to 100 represented as the national average. Zip code 85020 had 358 for automotive theft, burglary 179, personal crime 170, and 222 for property crime.

Home prices

The median home cost in Sunnyslope area zip code 85021 is $172,200 and in 85020 (zip 85020) is $173,900.

Today

The population of Sunnyslope represents the most diverse socio-economic neighborhoods of Phoenix. Many of the wealthiest and most politically active persons (past mayors, councilmembers, and business leaders) in the valley and many of the most financially vulnerable in the Phoenix area live in Sunnyslope. John C. Lincoln Health Network, a two-hospital network of primary, specialty, ambulatory, and emergency care providers, grew out of the Desert Mission community medical center. (A 2013 merger with Scottsdale Healthcare resulted in the combined entity being known as HonorHealth by 2015.) John C. Lincoln Health Network is the largest employer of Sunnyslope and the surrounding neighborhoods. Desert Mission Services continues to meet the basic needs of the community through the Desert Mission Food Bank, the Desert Mission Children's Dental Clinic, Desert Mission's Marley House Behavioral Health Clinic, Lincoln Learning Center, a nationally accredited child development and learning facility, and Desert Mission Neighborhood Renewal (a neighborhood-based Community Development Corporation).

In April 2011, Sunnyslope was the featured community for the Modern Phoenix Home Tour, shedding light on the number of prominent architects and other creative individuals who have chosen to develop (and live in) properties in the community.