Arizona may be only the 48th state, but it is a place rich in history.
Arizona officially transitioned from a territory to a state on Feb. 14, 1912. That same year, Dr. Alexander J. Chandler founded a small town southeast of Phoenix named Chandler.
That same year, Chandler also decided to build his dream oasis in the desert, where the rich and famous could flock each year.
That resort would be named San Marcos. According to the resort’s website, “He [Chandler] named the resort San Marcos after Friar Marcos DeNiza, who is said to have visited the Chandler area in 1539 while searching for the mythical ‘Seven Cities of Cibola.’”
An Aug. 23, 1912, article in The Arizona Republican, now The Arizona Republic, announced that work would soon begin on the
resort now that the chief in charge of construction had officially left Los Angeles.
According to that article, the founders “plan to make the Pasadena of the Salt River Valley,” with plans to officially open the resort at the beginning of 1913.
The San Marcos Hotel officially opened on Nov. 22, 1913. In an ad that ran in The Republican on Nov. 30, 1913, the hotel boasted about its “golf grounds, tennis courts, saddle horses, private picnic grounds, and nearness to good hunting offers recreation in abundance to winter sojourners in the sunny Salt River Valley.”
The 100-acre golf course was built in 1913. According to the resort, it was seeded with Bermuda grass, making it “the first grass links in Arizona.”
For years, the San Marcos Hotel was a place for government officials, entertainers and athletes to stay while visiting the Grand Canyon State. According to The San Marcos Resort, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, President Herbert Hoover, Christian Dior and Cher visited the resort at some point.
The hotel has gone through changes and renovations over the years. After facing hardships in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it closed from 1979 to 1986 and reopened to the public in 1987 as a Sheraton hotel.
The San Marcos Hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 29, 1982, and its history has continued to endure.
Katherine Chircus was born and raised in Scottsdale and is a digital operations manager for The Arizona Republic. Send tips on Arizona history items to kfritcke@azcentral.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How this Chandler resort became a desert oasis and home to the state's first grass golf course
