October 1, 2018 / Updated January 15, 2026
C is for Climate: A Quick History of Tourism in Arizona
Written by Heather Roberts, Research Historian
Historically, Arizona had five economic drivers, and if you went to elementary school here, you know what they were – copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and climate, otherwise known as the 5 Cs. Each of these were important to Arizona’s growth, but it was really our climate that made all the other ones possible. The combination of sunshine, low altitude, dry air, and temperate winters were attractive to miners, farmers and ranchers, but it also drew an entire population of people who came to Arizona just for the climate.
The Climate Cure
“Here is a region where… health welcomes the afflicted and where strength awaits the weak and debilitated. There is no spot in North America with a climate so conducive to the curing of lung diseases.”
– 1895 Phoenix City Directory
Arizona tourism postcard, circa 1939.
Arizona Health Resorts brochure, published in 1899.
At the end of the 19th century, people with respiratory diseases like asthma, bronchitis, influenza, and tuberculosis would sometimes spend time at a sanitarium or health resort in search of a cure, where basic treatment for the disease included sleeping on screened porches, eating wholesome foods, and taking part in outdoor activities with plenty of fresh air and sunlight. Though the first resorts were opened out east in New York and North Carolina in the 1880s, many more were built in southwestern United States, where the low relative humidity was also deemed beneficial, including in right here in Arizona.
By the turn of the century, patients who traveled to the state could convalesce in private homes, health resorts, and tubercular hospitals that were advertised in newspapers as well as health tourism brochures. The poorest of those lived in tent cities, like the one pictured here from Phoenix in 1903 (courtesy of PBS The Forgotten Plague: TB in America). The Sisters of Mercy opened St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1895, in what is now downtown Phoenix at 4th and Polk, in a house they rented to care for tubercular patients.
Even the Rosson House was touched by health tourism. In November 1895, the Rossons rented their home to Whitelaw Reid. At that time, Reid – owner of the New York Tribune, former Ambassador to France, one-time Vice Presidential candidate, and future Ambassador to Great Britain – suffered from bronchitis, and had recently returned from a trip to the Middle East that his doctors hoped would improve his condition. When it did not, his doctors suggested the American southwest, and most particularly Arizona, to have a rest cure.
He and his family rented the Square’s most iconic home for two winters (1895-96, and 1896-97), and his health improved. In the couple of years after his stay there, he was quoted in an Arizona health resort brochure, extolling the territory’s sunny weather, mild temperatures, and dry air, as well as the availability of cheap, nutritious food. The brochure even featured a photograph of Reid’s “winter home” in Phoenix, i.e. Rosson House!
Tent encampment outside of Phoenix, AZ, for “lungers”, or people who were suffering from tuberculosis, circa 1903. From the Arizona Historical Society Library and Archives.
Soaking up the Sun
“If you are weary of the hurry of the big city, or of the cold climate of the north, a winter vacation in the Arizona desert is a pleasant contrast.”
– Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1950
People also visited to just relax and enjoy Arizona’s warm, dry climate – with average high temperatures ranging from 60 to 80 during the cooler months of the year, the state was (and still is!) a beacon for people looking to escape cold and snowy winter weather elsewhere. Railroads made the territory more accessible to tourists, and cheap excursion fares were promoted in newspapers and magazines across the country.
Chicago Sunday Tribune, January 1, 1950.
A postcard promoting Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Monument, circa 1965.
Out-of-state travelers were lured to Arizona with images of swimming pools (which existed in Phoenix as early as 1885) and lush gardens, and eventually with golf courses, tennis courts, hiking and riding trails, and themed resort hotels and dude ranches. And having breathtaking scenery, not to mention one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, didn’t hurt.
The Grand Canyon was a huge draw to the state, attracting visitors who at first had to endure a bumpy and dusty ride in a stagecoach for hours before arriving at the South Rim. Luckily for the tourists, the railroad reached the Grand Canyon in 1901, and the first automobile a year later. During the Great Depression, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects further expanded access to the park and improved park trails and facilities. The National Park Service began recording yearly visitors to the Grand Canyon the year it officially became a National Park (1919) – that year they counted 37,745; in 2024 that number was over 4.9 million.
After the end of World War II, automobile production increased and millions of people hit the road, many of them taking the iconic Route 66 when they did so. Families traveled to and through Arizona, not only visiting the Grand Canyon, but also other unique landmarks like Monument Valley and Petrified Forest National Park, and quirky tourist attractions like Jack Adam’s Alligator Farm in Mesa and the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. Short-stay accommodations sprang up along the famous road, as well as in tourist towns and the city of Phoenix, which billed itself as, “the Motor Court Capital of the World”. Over 200 motels and motor courts lined Van Buren Street alone in Phoenix. They were family friendly, and featured eye-catching neon signs, swimming pools, palm trees, activity areas, and themed décor – and a few, like the Log Cabin Motel, pictured here, were located just a stone’s throw from the Square.
Though times have changed, travel to the Grand Canyon State has kept increasing over the decades – aided, no doubt, by the prevalence of air conditioning. When this article was first written in 2018, we shared the Arizona Office of Tourism report stating 43.9 million people visited Arizona in 2017, spending $22.7 billion here. In 2024, those numbers had grown to 46.3 million and $33.1 billion, respectively. Sounds like Arizona’s historic economic driver, Climate, is still going strong!
A family enjoying the water wheel featured at the Log Cabin Motel, located just over a block from Rosson House, circa 1953.
Author’s Note: The above photo at the Log Cabin Motel is of my mom, her brother, and my grandma (with my grandpa taking the picture), on a road trip from Albuquerque, NM. I think it’s exciting to know they were so close to the Square, albeit about six decades before I started working there!
Reference List
Information for this article was found in the digital newspaper archives of the Library of Congress (Chronicling America) and Newspapers.com, as well as:
- “All about Route 66 in Arizona.” Historic 66 AZ, www.historic66az.com/all-about-66/.
- “Arizona’s Route 66.” Visit Arizona, www.visitarizona.com/places/route-66#.
- “Before 1926: The Origins of Route 66.” US National Park Service, 2020, www.nps.gov/articles/before-1926-the-origins-of-route-66.htm.
- “Building the National Park.” Grand Canyon National Park, US National Park Service, www.nps.gov/grca/learn/historyculture/building-the-national-park.htm.
- “Economic Impact.” Arizona Office of Tourism, tourism.az.gov/economic-impact/.
- “Grand Canyon National Park Stats Report.” US National Park Service, irma.nps.gov/Stats/SSRSReports/Park%20Specific%20Reports/Annual%20Park%20Recreation%20Visitation%20(1904%20-%20Last%20Calendar%20Year)?Park=GRCA.
- “Grand Canyon Village Improvements – Grand Canyon Village AZ.” Living New Deal, 6 May 2022, livingnewdeal.org/sites/grand-canyon-village-improvements-grand-canyon-village-az/.
- Hudson, Hitsati. “The Log Cabin Motel.” Salt River Stories, 5 Dec. 2019, saltriverstories.org/items/show/396.
- Jaffe, Matt, and Keith Whitney. “Greetings from Phoenix.” Arizona Highways, 30 Sept. 2021, www.arizonahighways.com/article/greetings-phoenix.
- Mark, Jay. “Gilbert Road Station.” Salt River Stories, 20 Mar. 2017, saltriverstories.org/items/show/253?tour=24&index=0. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
- Pena, Angel, and Mark Tebeau . “Tourist Auto Courts.” Salt River Stories, 21 Mar. 2017, saltriverstories.org/items/show/260.
- “Rails and Roads.” Grand Canyon National Park, US National Park Service, 2023, www.nps.gov/grca/learn/historyculture/rails-and-roads.htm.
- Towne, Douglas C. “Phoenix History: The Disappearance of van Buren Motels.” The Arizona Republic, 4 Feb. 2016, www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/contributor/2016/02/04/phoenix-history-disappearance-van-buren-motels/79134392/.
- —. “Van Buren: The Street Where Phoenix Shined Brightest | Downtown Phoenix.” Dtphx.org, 22 Apr. 2022, dtphx.org/post/van-buren-the-street-where-phoenix-shined-brightest.
- Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation. “Tucson Health Seekers: Design, Planning, and Architecture in Tucson for the Treatment of Tuberculosis.” Aug. 2012.
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