"The Purtiest Water Hole This Side of Texas." When Jack McRae, then president of the Arizona City Development Corporation decided to develop 2 1/2 acres of land in Arizona City in January of 1959, the driving force behind it was the water. Located in Santa Cruz Valley, south of Casa Grande, and equidistant between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona City boasts one of the purest water sources in the state. Surveys had shown that in certain areas in the Santa Cruz Valley, close to the Sawtooth Mountains, southwest of Arizona City, there existed an abundance of deep water. Its source is the Santa Cruz river, which flows north from Mexico, one of the few in North America that do. Runoff from the local Sawtooth Mountains also help contribute to the pure tasting water. An interview with a local Arizona City resident in 1963 by the Arizona City Daily Star said

this about the water: "Our water is unusually pure and soft. It has very few minerals, just enough to give it a good taste. You'd be surprised at the number of people who remark about the quality of our water as soon as they stop for a drink. Compared with other municipal wells in the area, we are considered to have very sweet water, tasty and pure. Each 14 days we send samples to the state Health Department and their analysis reports come back consistently reading 100 percent pure." (AZ City Daily Star July 1963) Ownership of the town has changed place several times from the Arizona City Development Corporation, to Fuqua Industries, 1972-1978, to Michael Tennenbaum in 1978. Development in the city has created a 48 acre man made lake with a programmed fountain. The first Post Office was established on April 1, 1962 with J. David Knudson as first Postmaster General. Arizona City was first listed on an Arizona State Highway map in 1963 by Rand McNally. ⁴