Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, Arizona


About a year ago, a former student of mine was kind enough to recommend me to a client who needed some illustration work. The client was at Grand Canyon University.

As a Phoenix old-timer, of course I knew where the school was. I had to learn to say University, not College, but otherwise I felt pretty comfortable going over there. It's on Camelback at 35th Avenue, and it has been for as long as I can remember, and since I like Phoenix history, I found some old photos of it in the 1950s and 60s.

When I arrived there, I was absolutely blown away. If you haven't been there lately, you gotta see this! And as amazing as that was, what I saw yesterday was even more so. When my friend said, *you can tell we're getting close to Grand Canyon when you can see the construction cranes*. And as we got closer, going south on 35th Avenue towards Missouri, it just got more and more amazing.

Grand Canyon College in the 1960s
No, Grand Canyon University isn't paying me anything to say this. And they don't need to. They are building as quickly as they can, and they are turning away qualified students for lack of room. Yeah, I think they're gonna be just fine without my personal recommendation!

I'm fascinated with Phoenix. It's alive, it grows. And it's been doing it since it began in 1870. And as near as I can tell, it's always been an amazing city to watch grow. Of course, I know that the old-timers grumbled when the old corral was torn down, or something, and I guess I'm in that category, surprised at seeing just about every other corner around me having a brand new Walgreens!

I'm a time traveler, not a historian, which I think confuses a lot of people who imagine that I only like old buildings, and dislike new ones. But I would have loved to have been there in 1932 when the Professional Building opened in downtown Phoenix at Central and Monroe! And since I got to see all of the construction around Grand Canyon University I can say when I'm older that I saw it when it was all brand new.

No, I didn't take any photos of the construction when I visited yesterday, and all they would have looked like would have been fences, and bricks. But experiencing it in real life was tremendous. They've already done so much, and so much will be done in the future. If you're a time-traveler, I highly recommend taking a look. The best view is along Missouri, which is a half block north of Camelback. Don't worry about Little Canyon Park, GCU will be preserving that.

Go 'Lopes!

The campus of Grand Canyon College in the 1950s

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