If you called Scottsdale’s Indian Bend Wash a “sweet spot” in the early 1960s or earlier, you’d get a sarcastic laugh and a “yeah, right.”
The 11-mile stretch was an oft-flooded, weedy eyesore that meandered between McKellips Road to the south and beyond Indian Bend Road to the north — through the heart of growing Scottsdale.
Old-timers remember catastrophic floods of the unimproved Indian Bend Wash that stranded residents, students and employees and damaged properties during heavy rainstorms. The past 40 years, however, “The Wash” has been an award-winning, park- and recreation-filled point of pride. So, let’s celebrate! May has been designated as Indian Bend Wash Month in Scottsdale.
Here is the backstory of the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt Flood Control Project:
• In early Scottsdale (1900-1940s), the area was called “the slough” (pronounced “slew”) and was a low-lying, flood-prone tangle of desert brush and weeds. When not flooded by seasonal rains, it was a popular spot for hunting rabbits and quail. The area of the wash that is now Eldorado Park was nicknamed “The Mesquites” for its wild-growing plants, weeds and trees. Legend says it was an out-of-the-way place for boys to “settle their differences.”
• As Scottsdale grew in size and population after World War II, annual flooding of the Indian Bend Wash became a nuisance after Scottsdale incorporated in 1951.
• Beginning in 1959, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maricopa County Flood Control District held public meetings to fact-find about IBW flooding issues. Their solution? Build a miles-long, north-south concrete channel to contain flood waters. Although a concrete channel would contain seasonal flood waters, it would also create a permanent visual blemish to an area that Scottsdale and its visitors found aesthetically pleasing.
• Scottsdale resident and professional landscape architect Bill Walton suggested — in a Feb. 8, 1964, Scottsdale Daily Progress editorial — an innovative “Scottsdale-style solution” to counter the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ concrete channel concept. He proposed the city create a grass-lined system of parks and recreational facilities that would channel flood waters when necessary and encourage private landowners to build above the low-lying wash area. Scottsdale appointed Walton to chair an Indian Bend Wash task force, which recommended to Scottsdale City Council that the city create a greenbelt of parks rather than the concrete box channel recommended by the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control. This launched the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt Flood Control Project. Great idea; but it was going to be costly.
• While funding the IBW Greenbelt Flood Control was in the works, Scottsdale’s then-new Parks and Recreation Department, with enthusiastic support from residents involved in the Scottsdale Town Enrichment Program (STEP), began to acquire land for future parks. In 1964 — when Walton made his proposal and the STEP committees first met to envision city infrastructure needs — there was only one park in Scottsdale (the former community center, or Civic Center Park). In 1964, voters approved a $1.438 million bond for parkland acquisition. Several future parks would be in the wash.
• Private developers owned some of the land in and adjacent to the wash and opened golf courses in flood-prone areas while building townhomes on land overlooking the wash. Villa Monterey Golf Course, an 18-hole layout that included a clubhouse, was dedicated circa 1962. It spanned an area between Camelback and Chaparral (before Hayden Road went through the area). Villa Monterey golf course was cited as an example of how the Wash could be used for recreation, closed only during the seasonal floods. After Hayden Road was completed through the golf course, Villa Monterey shrunk to nine holes on the east side of Hayden and operated until closing in 2004. The former course is now the city’s Camelback Park.
• Coronado Golf Course opened in 1965 at Miller and Thomas roads in the wash, designed by Milt Coggins Sr. and head professional Tom Lambie. It is an affordable golf option for area players, as is the Continental Golf Course. It opened in the late 1970s on the west side of Hayden Road between Thomas and Indian School roads, designed by Greg Nash and Jeff Hardin.
• Scottsdale voters defeated bond funding for IBW flood control in 1966. Perhaps spurred to reconsider after major floods of the Indian Bend Wash in 1967 and 1972, voters finally approved a $19 million bond in 1973 for flood control and water/sewer construction. The IBW Greenbelt Flood Control Project was now a “go,” with funds available for flood control as well as city park expansion.
• In 1966 the city of Scottsdale acquired 55 acres on Miller Road for a future park (originally called Coronado Park). The new park included a locker room (the park’s swimming pool bath house) and ballfields for the Chicago Cubs (which held Spring Training in Scottsdale, 1967-78) and its minor league affiliate. In 1967, 600 Scottsdale school children entered a contest to name the new park. “Eldorado” was chosen, and the winner/runners-up received yearly passes for the park’s swimming pool.
• Saguaro High School opened for the 1966-67 school year adjacent to the northern Indian Bend Wash area. Until the IBW flood control project was completed, the school’s athletic field was subject to flooding. Before the school was built, some of the land was the Searles family’s Circle S Ranch.
• In May 1968, the Junior Women’s Club of Scottsdale established an honor grove of trees at Eldorado Park. They urged other Scottsdale residents and organizations to donate trees for the grove as living memorials to service members who had died in the nation’s service. The Scottsdale Welcome Wagon and the Village Tillers Garden Club donated funds and helped plant additional trees in the grove.
• In 1970, the city of Scottsdale’s Neighborhood Development Program received money from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Agency to build new homes for qualified residents of the Vista Del Camino area neighborhood who were being relocated for their safety (due to annual IBW floods) and the planned construction of the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt Flood Control Project.
• McKellips and Vista Del Camino were established as community parks in 1971, both in the Indian Bend Wash’s southern area. Vista Del Camino Park officially opened in 1975, including a bridge over the Indian Bend Wash and a fishing lake.
• Scottsdale City Council authorized the renaming of Jackrabbit Park (then under construction) to Chaparral Park in 1971. Chaparral Lake was filled in July 1973; the park’s aquatic center opened Labor Day weekend 1974.
• The Chaparral Branch of the Scottsdale Boys Club on Jackrabbit Drive was dedicated on Nov. 1, 1974. The clubhouse would later become the Scottsdale Jaycees’ Herb Drinkwater Clubhouse in the 1990s and the city of Scottsdale’s Adaptive Services Center circa 2010.
• “Mighty Mud Mania” began in 1976 as the “Shout It Out Decathlon,” a promotional gimmick for Johnson’s Wax Shout spray prewash. This summer activity for children was held in Chaparral Park; the Johnson’s Wax Company provided 300 white T-shirts for participants. The city of Scottsdale continued to operate the event after Johnson’s Shout promotion ended. Renamed “Mighty Mud Mania,” the activity was held annually through 2019.
• Indian School Park was established in 1978 as a 60-acre community park; official dedication was held Jan. 19, 1980, featuring U.S. Rep. John J. Rhodes as speaker. The Indian Bend Wash Visitors Center was included in the park.
• In 1979, construction was completed on the Indian Bend Wash McDowell Exhibit Plaza within Eldorado Park. It featured a water cascade fountain monolith inscribed with designs from Hohokam Native American pottery.
• Scottsdale officially dedicated the $54 million Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt Flood Control Project April 26 to April 28, 1985, nearly 20 years after Eldorado, the first park in the IBW, opened. “Days of Celebration” took place at Indian School Park, located within the wash; Arizona Rep. John J. Rhodes spoke.
• Mayor Herb Drinkwater dedicated new facilities for Club SAR (Social, Athletic, Recreation) at Indian School Park on March 20, 1986, as a full-fledged fitness center.
• In 2008, the former Villa Monterey Golf Course in the Indian Bend Wash was dedicated as the city of Scottsdale’s Camelback Park.
• The Indian Bend Wash now contains five city parks — Vista del Camino, Eldorado, Indian School, Camelback and Chaparral — and three golf courses — Coronado, Continental and Silverado (which opened in 1999 as Scottsdale Links; redone/renamed).
A few interesting facts about recreational facilities in the Indian Bend Wash:
• After the Arizona Game and Fish Department stocked Eldorado Lake in 1967, a monster-sized fish was allegedly dwelling in its waters. In 1968, the Scottsdale Daily Progress sponsored a youth fishing contest to see if someone could catch the “monster.” A local insurance agent offered to “protect” the city from liability in case the “monster fish” ate a child. Slow news day?
• A pond on the southwest corner of Indian School and Hayden Road was informally called Lind Lake (for its former pre-World War II property owner). The pond was part of the dairy farm owned by the Schrader family, circa 1942, and was renamed Schrader’s Pond by the city to honor former Mayor Bill Schrader.
• The former Villa Monterey Golf Course clubhouse became the classrooms and dining room of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in the 1990s and early 2000s before it was razed for site redevelopment.
• Vista Del Camino Park features a disc golf course, where players use Frisbees, instead of golf balls, and throw at nets along the course. It was partially funded by a resident’s donation in honor of his daughter.
• In the mid-1990s, Scottsdale youth lobbied the city to give them a hassle-free area in which to skateboard. The Wedge Skate Park at Eldorado was a result.
• Chaparral Park has been the site of community events such as Mighty Mud Mania, Circus Flora and Health Adventures in the Park. Its swimming pool hosted annual Wet & Wild and Wacky Wednesday events during the summer. When Chaparral Aquatic Center opened in 1974, it was the largest free-form pool in Arizona. A wheelchair-accessible exercise course opened at the park in 1988, and the city’s first dog park opened circa 2007.
• Indian School Park was dedicated in 1980 and provided upgraded facilities for Major League Baseball teams doing Spring Training in Scottsdale. The adjacent Club SAR facility was also used by Spring Training teams. Indian School Park includes sand volleyball courts. The park hosted the 1987 Arizona Senior Olympics and the 1996 San Francisco Giants Fantasy Baseball Camp.
• Many of the fir trees at Indian School and Chaparral Parks were former Christmas trees donated by residents.
• In 1998, students at Saguaro High School created a nature park in the northern part of the Indian Bend Wash at Hayden and Indian Bend roads.
• In 2004, the Arizona Chapter of the American Public Works Association named the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt Flood Control Project among the Top 10 Projects of the 20th century.
• Public Art installations in the Indian Bend Wash include: “Connections”/Eldorado Community Center; “Swale”/Thomas Road IBW bridge; “Floating World”/Eldorado Aquatic & Fitness Center; “The Bell, the Flower and the Wash”/Eldorado Park; “Michael’s Dream”/Club SAR Fitness Center; “Water Mark”/Indian Bend Wash between Scottsdale and Hayden Roads; and “Terraced Cascade”/Chaparral Park.
Stroll, bike or drive to Scottsdale’s Indian Bend Wash and savor its many amenities, from public art, to the Chaparral Dog Park and its Books2Go mini-library box, to picnic ramadas, spray pads, soccer and baseball fields, basketball and pickleball courts, urban fishing and so much more. But stay away during the brief period of seasonal floods; there are major safety issues and hefty fines levied by the so-called “stupid motorist laws.”
