Freaky Friday Features

Goodyear–Where Did the Name Come From?

Goodyear, a smaller suburb of the Phoenix Metropolitan area with a population of approximately 65,000 is coming into summer with a cooler than average spring. Normally experiencing the highest average July temperatures of any U.S. metropolitan area, our days in the 70’s are coming to an end. We don’t experience too many cloudy or rainy days. Obviously, it must be time to leave.

Things you never cared to know:

1) Goodyear won the All-American City Award in 2008. There are lots of signs to that effect–and they try very hard to project the image.

2) The city is named after the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. They bought 16,000 acres of land in 1917 to cultivate cotton for their vehicle tire threads. Cotton is still grown here.

3) The abandoned and spooky Phoenix Trotting Park was built in 1965 and closed less than two years later. It still attracts curious stares from I-10 traffic.

4) The Goodyear Ball Park hosts spring training for the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians.

5) The Phoenix-Goodyear Airport “bone-yard” is home to acres of planes that will never fly again.

6) Home to some of the state’s best hiking ventures in Estrella Mountain Park, Skyline Park (the newest), and White Tank Mountains Park (the largest in Maricopa County at approx 30,000 acres). I’ve written about hiking the area’s parks before.

We’ll be moving in May–I’ll really miss Goodyear. But it’s true–dry heat or not–it’s still 115 degrees. ©2016 Virginia Williams