Sun City  –  since  1960

On January 1, 1960, the Del E. Webb Development Company (DEVCO) began selling homes in its first active adult retirement community, Sun City. Located west of Phoenix, Arizona, Sun City was the first community of its kind in the nation—the first of its kind in the world, for that matter. Although based in Phoenix, the Del Webb Company was already well known throughout the nation.

In addition to constructing many of Arizona’s most famous buildings and properties (including Luke Air Force Base), the company had a major hand in building hotels, resorts, and casinos in Las Vegas and other parts of the country. A sports enthusiast, Del Webb’s fame and fortune allowed him to sponsor Indianapolis 500 and Daytona race cars as well as own the famed New York Yankees for a period of time.

But build an entire community for a specific group of people? That was an entirely new concept altogether. The Webb Company was spurred on by the early success of Youngtown, established in 1955 and created for retirees living on minimal fixed incomes. However, Youngtown’s homes were small and amenities were nonexistent. Webb Company officials developed the idea of taking the “retirement” community concept to the next level and creating a self-sustaining community that would be all encompassing with affordable housing and recreation.

The work began in the late 1950s when the company acquired 20,000 acres of land adjacent to Youngtown. The land, owned by the Boswell Company, was part of a town once known as Marinette and used primarily for farming cotton.

In 1959 DEVCO began work on the then-unnamed community. First to be built was a shopping center at 107th and Grand Avenues, now known at the Grand Shopping Center. Soon after followed a recreation center, then known as the Civic Association but today called Oakmont, and five new model homes. Behind the recreation center was North Golf Course. That simple pattern (small neighborhoods built close to recreational and shopping amenities) would set the stage for all master-planned retirement communities to follow.

The community didn’t get its name until about a month prior to its January 1, 1960, grand opening. The new project was called the “Marinette Retirement Community” until a new name could be found. A nationwide contest was held to name the community and, as legend has it, Del Webb himself selected the winning name after seeing it among the thousands of entries.

Opening Day Success

Despite a massive nationwide advertising blitz prior to the opening, company officials still had their doubts about the eventual success of their newest project. Would anyone show up on opening day?  By early morning thousands of cars were lined up along Grand Avenue to view this new creation. A traffic jam starting at 107th Avenue continued east all the way back into the little town of Peoria.

According to DEVCO records, over 100,000 visitors toured the new model homes during the first three days of the grand opening. Incredibly, 237 homes were sold during that first three-day weekend. Sun City was an immediate and overwhelming success! The community grew quickly. By the end of the first month, the company had sold all 400 of the homes scheduled to be built in the first year. A second phase consisting of 675 homes was quickly put together. The company had planned to sell 1,700 homes in its first three years of marketing Sun City. By the end of 1960, a total of 2,000 homes had been purchased.

Sun City’s initial success earned national attention. The community was highlighted in newspaper and magazine articles throughout the country, featured on the national news, and profiled on TV shows. Del Webb was even featured on a 1962 cover of Time magazine. The positive publicity showered on the community certainly attributed to its continual popularity, but word of mouth played a key role in Sun City’s success. Those who purchased homes after 1960 were often friends of those already living in Sun City. Friends told their friends who in turn told their friends about this new and exciting lifestyle.

Many of the remaining pioneers, in fact, fondly recall how close-knit the community was back in the early 1960s. Friendship, socializing, recreation, and fun were—and continue to be—the main staples of living in Sun City. Various social and arts-related clubs began to organize. Neighbors and friends gathered at the recreation center to celebrate special occasions and holidays.

Early pioneers recall the first Easter Sunrise Service (a tradition that remains to this day), Chow Night at the recreation center, weekly “songfests,” newcomer coffees, and a minstrel show comprised of residents. A theater for residents to entertain each other—and to be entertained—began with the construction of the community’s second recreation center, Town Hall Recreation Center (known today as Fairway Recreation Center). The new facility boasted an outdoor Greek theater (later replaced by the Sun Bowl) that hosted such big-name stars as Lawrence Welk, Rich Little, Rosemary Clooney, Guy Lombardo, and Bob Hope.

The Community Grows

DEVCO added recreation centers, golf courses and shopping facilities as Sun City grew.  By 1968, the company had constructed three recreation centers in Sun City: Oakmont, Fairway, and the new Mountain View Center. The three recreation centers were separate entities controlled by three separate boards. DEVCO was quick to turn over ownership of its recreation centers to the residents, but the original recreation centers were assigned to specific units or neighborhoods. At one point, residents living in one Sun City neighborhood were restricted to using one specific recreation center and prohibited from using another center.

All that changed in 1968 when the community voted to bring all three existing recreational centers under one non-profit organization. That organization would later become the Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc. The unification also brought about another novel concept that would eventually be adopted by every other builder of master-planned communities: an assessment on all residents to help pay for the recreational amenities.

By the late 1960s DEVCO began building homes north of Grand Avenue. Lakeview Recreation Center opened in 1970 and within three years the company had begun work on Sundial and Bell Recreation Centers. A final facility, Marinette Recreation Center, would open in 1979.

Commercial Growth

As the population grew, so did the need for a variety of services, such as shopping, medical, dining, and long-term care. The community’s first church was the United Church of Sun City. Its first retirement home was Sun Valley Lodge. Its first hotel was the Hi-way House, which also served as a restaurant and an apartment for those waiting for their homes to be built (not to mention the Sun City headquarters for Del Webb). As the population grew, so did the need for a major health care facility. The nearest hospital was in Glendale, which was a bit too far for a community consisting entirely of senior citizens.

A committee to examine the idea of building a Sun City hospital was established in 1966. A community fund drive capped off by a $1.2 million donation from the James G. Boswell Foundation (named after the man who once owned the land where Sun City now existed) allowed for the creation of Boswell Hospital. Ground was broken in 1969 and the facility’s first two towers were opened in 1970.

The success of Sun City prompted the Webb Company to quickly build Sun Cities in California and Florida. In 1978 the company purchased more land west of Sun City and began working on Sun City West. Since then, additional “Sun City” communities have been created by the Webb Corporation in Arizona, Nevada, Texas, South Carolina, and Illinois.

“City of Volunteers”

All these years later, Sun City is still best known for its volunteer spirit. The community remains unincorporated and has always depended on its own citizens for required services. Most of the needed health care facilities in the community were built with funds donated by residents. Sun Valley Lodge, the community’s first retirement home, was and still is primarily funded by resident donations.

Residents oversee the community’s leadership organizations—the Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc and the Home Owners Association. As other needs for services arose over the years, Sun City residents have been quick to organize and find solutions.

The Sun City Prides keep the streets clean and tidy. The Sheriff’s Posse of Sun City helps the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office patrol the community’s streets and plays a major role in maintaining one of the lowest crime rates in the nation.

Boswell Hospital and its parent, the Sun Health Corporation, maintain one of largest volunteer forces in the nation to help with day-to-day operations, saving the health care institution millions of dollars each year.

Sun and fun may have been the initial attraction to Sun City many years ago, but the strength of Sun City’s residents and their enduring ability to take care of one another may be the key to the community’s continued success—and the primary difference between it and all those since that have tried to imitate Del Webb’s vision.