Scottsdale is a suburb of Phoenix located in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA. Named by the New York Times as "The Beverly Hills of the Desert" and by Travel Channel as one of the most luxurious destinations in the nation, Scottsdale has become internationally recognized and regarded as one of the most expensive and posh areas in the United States and a premiere tourist destination, while maintaining its own identity and culture as "The West's Most Western Town." Its reputation of extravagance and excessive affluence is often seen negatively throughout the Phoenix area and this affluent culture is further perpetuated by shows such as MTV's My Super Sweet 16, which has come to the area to film two episodes.
As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 202,705 (nation's 82nd largest city), while a July 1, 2004 Census estimate put the city's population at 221,130 a 9.1% increase.
Scottsdale was originally inhabited by the ancient civilizations of the Hohokam and the Anasazi, descendents from the ancient Mesoamerican civilizations of the Mayans and the Aztec. From circa 300 BC to 1400 AD, these ancient civilizations farmed the area and built some of the most ingenious irrigation canals the world has ever known. The name Hohokam translates as "vanished," as the civilizations mysteriously disappeared without a trace.
The Hohokam's unbelievable legacy was in their creation of more than 125 miles of canals to provide water for their agricultural needs. The remnants of this ancient irrigation system were adapted and improved upon in 1868 by the first Anglo company to stake a claim in the Valley of the Sun, when Jack Swilling set up the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company.
Twenty years later Scottsdale's future would turn sharply upwards, when a U.S. Army Chaplain, Winfield Scott, paid the paltry sum of $2.50 an acre for a 640 acre stretch of land where the city is now located. Winfield's brother, George Washington Scott, was the first resident of the town that was then known as Orangedale and later changed to Scottsdale in 1894.
