Maricopa’s rich past shines through Pat Brock

Ask her about any event, person or date from Maricopa’s past, and Patricia “Pat” Brock will know the answer. 

Brock is synonymous with the history of Maricopa, having chronicled it in three books and spending countless hours researching and conducting personal interviews.

“It’s not about me,” says Brock. “It’s about keeping the history of Maricopa alive.”

Maricopa and its history played an important role in the growth of the Southwest. Rich with cultural diversity, it is the only city in the nation situated between two Native American peoples, the Ak-Chin and the Gila River communities.

From a Butterfield Overland stage stop at Maricopa Wells to Maricopaville’s rail junction, Arizona’s 88^th city, at the site of what was Maricopa Junction, has grown from a sleepy, farming community to a city of more than 43,000 residents.

Brock was raised in Maricopa with 11 siblings. Her father, Jewell Spurlock, came to Scottsdale from the Midwest in 1921 to check out the Wild West, eventually building and operating a Tempe dairy. In 1952, the family decided to move from their farm east of Maricopa to the town itself. The children, including Pat, were not excited, but, “kids did not get a vote in the 1950s,” she recalls.

Maricopa moved at a slower pace then. “Families never locked their houses and they left their keys in their cars. Everyone knew your name, and business agreements were sealed with a handshake. On special occasions we would drive to Casa Grande to see a dime movie.”

Graduating from Maricopa High School in 1961, one of only 12 graduates, Brock married her husband, Harry, later that year.

“In Maricopa you just knew everyone; you weren’t formally introduced. I was interested in seeing Maricopa Wells, and he was the only one who knew where it was,” she jokes.

Harry Brock knew where everything was around Maricopa. He came to town in 1953 after a stint in the U.S. Navy. Originally from Missouri, he was working in Coolidge when he heard post office jobs were available in Maricopa.

“I could be a rural mail carrier or the postmaster. I thought the former would be less confining,” he says.  He began with 70 mailboxes and a 60-mile drive three days each week.  Forty years later, when he retired, he had 400 mailboxes and drove 160 miles five days a week. Retirement has given him time to assist Pat with her research while doing some oral interviews for her books.

The Brocks raised three sons, Samuel, Barry and Rex, who all graduated from Maricopa High School. Barry lives in Plano, Texas, and has three children, Kayla, 24, who was deployed to Korea in November; Clayton, 11; and Carter, 10. Sam and Rex both reside in Chandler.

“For the Brock boys, learning that work is needed to make things happen in their lives came early,” says Pat. They worked for their dad at his used car lot, dug ditches and lifeguarded at the local swimming pool. “Watching my sons grow up in a small, close-knit community where everyone took an active role in expanding their experiences and enriching their lives was most rewarding.”

The Brocks traveled extensively to Europe, Mexico and Canada while the boys were growing up.

“We wanted to broaden their scope and let them experience firsthand the cultures of the world,” she says.

In 1973 Brock, with a degree from Arizona State University, began her 25-year elementary teaching career in Maricopa.

“I can say without reservation that teaching is the most rewarding and wonderful experience a person can have, and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. I lived and taught during the finest of times in Maricopa and with the best of students.” She was also Maricopa K-12 Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction Director from 1999-2004.

Her fourth-grade students in 1982-83 were responsible for the first Maricopa history book, Maricopa Our Town. The Brocks traveled to the capitol in Phoenix and the University of Arizona, bringing back newspaper clippings and accounts of early life in Maricopa. Students constructed a timeline, drew pictures, interviewed residents, wrote articles and constructed a replica of the fort-like town at Maricopa Wells.

Brock’s first book, Reflections on a Desert Town, was written and published a few years later.

In both 1983 and 1991, rains in Tucson inundated the Santa Cruz River, creating devastating flood waters in Maricopa. “There were very few people, if any, who escaped,” says Brock.

After several months of restoration and cleaning, mildew and illness forced her family to tear out the plaster in their home, but the walls’ interiors were black with mold.

The second flood was the catalyst that caused the Brocks to seek higher ground, still on Maricopa Road but about 16 miles north. “We have a Chandler address,” Brock explains, “but our hearts are still in Maricopa.”

In fact, Brock can be found in Maricopa several times a week. She is president of the Maricopa Historical Society, which began as the Friends of the Maricopa Public Library’s history committee. The Friends sponsored the reprinting of the updated Reflections on a Desert Town, Volume II in 2007. It features numerous photos and historical accounts about education, sports, business, social events and daily life in Maricopa, as well as profiles of some of the residents who were active in building the city.

This year, “Images of America: Maricopa” from Arcadia Printing became available. Brock spent a year combining archival photos with the events and people that helped shape Maricopa today.

“The material came from the files of the Maricopa Historical Society’s oral and written history projects, newspapers, magazines and even faded, handwritten letters from someone’s old trunk,” Brock says. 

“Today there are books that tell the story of Maricopa’s rich history, but most of its collections, artifacts and relics are stored in various homes,” Brock explains. “Maricopa needs a museum for these treasures before they are gone. The Maricopa Historical Society is diligently working toward raising money to build a museum to house these wonderful treasures, but they cannot do it alone. We need the help of all Maricopa families and friends.” 

According to Brock, one of the last symbols of Maricopa’s heritage is located in the center of town — the old black water tower. “It once served up water to presidents and rail workers alike and was a lifeline to Arizona travelers and local residents.

“With the involvement and help of Maricopans, we can change that old tower into a symbol of strength and beauty. If every family donates to this cause, it can be restored. Maybe a shiny, black tower with a train zooming across it or a stagecoach with racing horses — the ideas are endless, but time is not,” Brock says. “The time is now, and it ends with us.”

Maricopa Historical Society board member Brent Murphree says Brock has been the driving force behind recording Maricopa’s past for years.

“While many of us know about the richness and importance of Maricopa’s history, Pat has been the one to record it and pull everyone together to make sure it stays front and center,” he says. “It is vitally important to a community like ours which is now home to thousands from outside of the Maricopa area.”

Murphree says much like she did in her classroom at Maricopa Elementary, Brock knows how to encourage those around her to use their skills to bring our history to life.

“She is at the job of maintaining Maricopa’s history on a daily basis,” he says.

Brock is quick to recognize and praise the dedicated members of the Maricopa Historical Society who work diligently to share and preserve Maricopa’s history. She is the voice for their efforts, as well as the chronicler of Maricopa’s past and present.

“As long as Maricopa has people who care, its history will live on.”