F.Q. Story Historic District

This is a gorgeous historic neighborhood, diverse in its types of architecture and similar to nearby districts Willo and Encanto-Palmcroft. Like the Palmcroft subdivisions in Encanto, you’ll find palm tree-lined streets and vintage street lighting. You will also find the narrow, rectangular street grid and architectural diversity that you see in Willo. It is like having the best of both worlds, for lower sales prices.

The F.Q. Story Historic District was built on land purchased by Frances Quarles Story in 1887. Although most of the residential development did not occur until decades later, Story played a pivotal role in the development of local agriculture and the townsite. He is infamous for the construction of Grand Avenue, which connected the central city to the agricultural lands in Glendale and Peoria to the northwest of town.

Story was also instrumental in the expansion of the streetcar line that came west to Grand Avenue, which paved the way to making F.Q. Story a “streetcar suburb,” much like the now called Garfield and Coronado districts on the east side of downtown. He did make a somewhat failed attempt to develop the land he purchased near Grand Ave (now F.Q. Story) and eventually sold it in 1919.

In 1920 when development began, the Phoenix population had grown to 29,000 and there was high demand for residential development. Narrow and long lots were sold on the east side of F.Q. Story, much like the lots in the Dennis and Brill Additions (now the Garfield Historic District). It was the proliferation of the automobile in the mid-1920s that drove expansion of the neighborhood to the western side of the neighborhood; however, until the Cave Creek Dam was erected in 1923, this expansion was slow. This was due to the fact most of the western tract was in the direct floodway of Cave Creek, which a few years earlier caused major catastrophic flooding, including at the state capital. This caused would be homeowners to cautious, so the original plan to sell every lot in 1921 fell by the wayside. Given the size of the tract, that was ambitious for the time anyway.

In 1924, the entire F.Q. Story addition was sold to the Dwight B. Heard Investment Company. You’ll recognize this name as person responsible for the original Palmcroft neighborhoods to the north and west as well as the Los Olivos neighborhood where Dwight B. Heard himself lived. Heard formed several partnerships, and from 1924 to 1927 several subdivisions opened, bringing additional homes to the land.

In 1926, 113 homes were built between 7th Ave & 9th Ave from McDowell to Roosevelt. These homes, like the Palmcroft neighborhoods, had minimum building costs of $5,000 per lot, which meant that most of the homes were built by affluent professionals and the business middle class. In 1927, “New Story” opened, a development of 80 acres to the west between 11th and 15th Avenue. These homesites came with lower minimum cost requirements and allowed for more multi-family units to be built. Immediately following this, “West Story” (west of 15th Ave) was under development by a separate development company. It was originally known as the Franklin Addition, named for the nearby school. Building cost requirements were lowest here, and therefore the area was inhabited by more of the working class of the time.

Development peak around the end of the 1920s and was halted by the Great Depression. By 1938, 75% of what is now considered F.Q. Story had been developed.  F.Q. Story saw rapid development in the 1920s. With most of the homes being built during this time, you will find many beloved architecture types of the times like the craftsman bungalow and classic revivals, such the English Tudor and Spanish Colonial. With that said, it is a diverse neighborhood that is noticeable as you move from east to west.