The main entrance to Glendale, Arizona in 1915


The image above is the view you would have seen going into Glendale, Arizona in 1915. It's the view up 1st Avenue (now 58th Drive) from Grand Avenue. I've seen this photo mislabelled as Glendale Avenue many times, but it's not. And it took me a long to figure where, exactly, it was, and is, but once you time-travel, it makes perfect sense.

No, you can't turn here off of Grand Avenue anymore, but this little street still exists. Most of the buildings are gone, as you would expect, but the one on the right with the balcony on the second floor is still there. It was Sine Brothers Hardware. If you drive on 58th Drive (not 58th Avenue) a block south of Glendale Avenue, you can see it. There's an historic marker on it.

Let's walk, or ride in a buckboard, up Grand Avenue 100 years ago. We'll be traveling at a walking pace, about 2 miles per hour for people, about 4 miles per hour for horses. Since we're probably coming up from Phoenix, we're heading northwest. And while in the days of cars it would have made sense to overshoot this street and go all of the way to Glendale Avenue and then back, on foot or with a horse, we wouldn't go that way. Once we saw the entrance to the city of Glendale, 1st Avenue, we would have turned to go into town. 1st Avenue was lined with business.


Nowadays 58th Drive is a tiny, rarely used street in Glendale. I've been there many times, but only for history adventuring. There are businesses there, but I have no idea what they do. I stop and look at the Sine Brothers Hardware Building.

The Sine Brothers Hardware Building nowadays

Sine Brothers Hardware, Glendale Arizona

Parked in front of Sine Brother's Hardware
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