The first recording of habitation in Arizona was the Hohokam with their extensive construction of canals. Following these desert farmers were the Tohono O’odham, thought to be their descendents, who continue to farm its land today.
Groups of religious settlers followed the Spanish missionaries and soldiers who traveled through Arizona in the 1600s-1800s. In 1877, a group of Latter Day Saints, led by Daniel Webster Jones, established a community east of Phoenix called Lehi. A second group of LDS pioneers arrived a year later from Idaho and Utah with orders to settle the Salt River Valley in Arizona, too. These pioneers, “The First Mesa Company” moved south of the Jones group, clearing the old Hohokam canals and planting crops.
In its beginning, Mesa had several names that included Lehi, The First Mesa Company and Mesa City. These names eventually disappeared, and the community became known as Mesa. Dr. Chandler settled in the area and left his mark before moving south to Chandler. In 1895, he enlarged the Mesa Canal with heavy equipment, built the first office complex in Mesa, started an electric power plant and utilized the first evaporative air-cooling system in Arizona.
O. S. Stapley came to Arizona when he was about ten years old. When he was 16, he went to work on a farm and later drove a stage between Mesa and Phoenix to help support his family. He became interested in the hardware business during this time and in 1895 opened his first hardware business in Mesa. Stapley, with a savings of $880, stocked his store with anything that had to do with horses and buggies. This included harnesses, hand-tools, lanterns, blacksmithing and an assortment of household goods.
He married Polly Hunsaker in 1894 and together they raised nine children. Throughout the years of store growth, most of their nine children worked in the stores and carried on the tradition of their father’s honest values and responsible service. Stapley became the first farm equipment distributor in the world when he secured a government contract for supplying all the hardware for the building of Roosevelt Dam which added much to the family’s wealth. He was only 23 when he opened the first store in Mesa. In 1916, he was able to secure the International Harvester franchise for Maricopa and Pinal Counties that proved to be very successful for both parties.
O. S. (Orley Seymour) Stapley became the oldest International Harvester dealer in the West and probably in the country during the next 66 years. In 1917, he opened a second store in Phoenix and in 1919 a third one in Glendale. Stapley opened its Chandler store in 1920, followed by the one in Buckeye in 1929. Later, the company expanded to include Casa Grande and Coolidge in Pinal County, and the eighth store opened at the end of 1955 in Maricopa.
O. S. Stapley, not only worked hard with his business, but gave back to the community that had given so much to him. He served on the Mesa School Board for almost 20 years. In addition, he was a member of the constitutional convention that wrote Arizona’s constitution to gain statehood and served as a state senator from 1916 to 1918.
By the time John E. Smith became part of the Casa Grande business in 1951, it had changed to meet the needs of a different society with products, merchandising and sales techniques not envisioned by the original store in Mesa. Pinal County and the Casa Grande Valley began to grow as one of the important agricultural centers in the state. The emphasis shifted away from retail hardware and there was a greater concentration on machinery sales, service and wholesaling of hardware lines. The store carried most everything needed on the farms and ranches in these areas.
The newly constructed Maricopa Stapley store measured 75 X 150 feet with a large part of it reserved for repairs and services of farm equipment. Farmers could depend upon the store for minor repairs as well as major overhauls of their parts and equipment, available at all times. The store also carried a wide variety of hardware, paints, sporting goods, welding supplies, housewares and large and small appliances. In addition, there was an attractive showroom floor reserved for the display of Harvester tractors and equipment.
The Stapley store was located south of the railroad tracks and on the east side of Maricopa Road (opposite side of Maricopa High School). In celebration of the opening of the Maricopa store, there were numerous door prizes and a surprise visit from Santa Claus and free candy. The store also included a large selection of toys and giftware to accommodate the residents during the upcoming Christmas season.
The manager of the Maricopa store was O. S. Stapley’s grandson, Marvin Scott, who started working for the company in 1942 as a part-time employee. In 1955, he became manager of the Chandler store. Scott graduated from Mesa High School and studied Business Administration at the University of Arizona. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Farm Bureau and the Maricopa Rotary Club in Maricopa. Scott met and married Maricopa High School teacher, Ruth Claridge, whose family was early pioneers in the Safford area. Eventually, the Stapley store closed, and the Scotts, who had become an important part of the Maricopa community, relocated to Casa Grande.
Other employees of the O. S. Stapley store were George Anderson, who was manager of the hardware department, and parts manager, Earl Neuschwander. Tom Davenport was supervisor of the shop, and Eddie Maze took over as the mechanic. The bookkeeper was Edith Baldwin. When the store in Maricopa opened, the general manager of the Stapley firm, L.E. Stapley stated, “We are proud to be a part of this growing Arizona community and hope that we will be able to serve the people well. Suggestions in improvements of services will be gladly accepted at all times, since we want the residents of the Maricopa area to consider Stapley’s as their store.”
Photo courtesy of the Maricopa Historical Society
Editor’s note: Maricopa factoids are a regular feature on InMaricopa.com. They are provided by the Maricopa Historical Society, a branch of the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library. Most information comes from “Reflections of a Desert Town” by author and historical society chairperson Patricia Brock.
Gift Cards are available for Brock’s the new book: “Images of America: Maricopa” along with a short story of Maricopa. Contact Brock at 480-821-0604 or [email protected] to purchase a gift card or to reserve a copy of the book.
