Ahwatukee, Phoenix

Coordinates: 33°20′30.3″N 111°59′2.5″W / 33.341750°N 111.984028°W / 33.341750; -111.984028

Ahwatukee is a triangular shaped urban village of the City of Phoenix, Arizona bordered on the north by South Mountain Park and Guadalupe Road, on the east by Interstate 10 and the cities of Chandler, Guadalupe, and Tempe, and on the south and west by the Gila River Indian Community. It is the southernmost of the city's 15 urban villages. As of 2010, the 35.8 square-mile (92.7 km²) neighborhood has a population of 77,249.

Although annexed by the city of Phoenix between 1982 and 1987, before substantial residential growth, many of Ahwatukee's residents do not strongly associate their region with the rest of the city, due in part to its geographic isolation (South Mountain and South Mountain Park separate Ahwatukee from the other 14 urban villages of Phoenix, which lie to the north).

History

Legend has it that in 1921, Dr. and Mrs. W.V.B. Ames built a house on approximately 2,000 acres (810 ha) on the southeast side of South Mountain. They gave the area its original Spanish name, Casa de Sueños, which in English means "House of Dreams". Dr. Ames died within just three months of moving into the house, and after Mrs. Ames' death, in 1933, the house and most of the land was willed to St. Luke's Hospital.