The story behind Osborn Road in Phoenix, Arizona


Like a lot of the roads in Phoenix, like Bell, or Thomas, Osborn Road is named after a farmer. He was John Preston Osborn, and that's his photo at the top of this post. His farm was waaaayyyy north of the Phoenix city limits in the 1800s (the city limits ended at Van Buren, by the way).

Of course, not much is left of the Osborn farm except the name. If you stop for a Starbucks at 7th Street and Osborn, you can see where the original Osborn school was, which was right next to Smith's Chapel, which became Bethel Methodist Church. There have actually been four churches there, and the one from the 1940s, which is still there, is the newest.


The Osborn family had a lot of influence on Phoenix. John's grandson, Sidney, became Governor of Arizona. Sidney's middle name was the same as his grandpa's, which, as a person who enjoys genealogical research, I like. Just to keep the record straight, Sidney's father was Neri.

I've always been fascinated by the names of things, even back when I was a kid. And I learned at an early age to tell whether the grownups were making stuff up to shut me up, so I became cynical. I have a lot of documentation on the Osborn family, and if you're wondering why I do this kind'a stuff, I'm wondering, too? They are no relatives of mine, but they helped to build the city that I love, Phoenix, so that makes them part of my Phoenix family.


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Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 13, 2020 at 2:24 PM

    Sidney was my mother's uncle. Her mama was my grandmother Alma Osborn Caldwell who was one of Sidney's younger sisters. I was brought up with many family stories of what it was like living there in the late 1800s as well as stories about Neri's trek with his family to Arizona.

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    1. UnknownJuly 21, 2021 at 10:47 PM

      Hi my name is Omar Edgar Hernandez Araujo I'm from Phx Az and I would like to say that is amazing part of history further more my mother who is hearing impaired also lives in Phx Az ,she also has a friend by the name of S.J he is a male hearing impaired man who is friends with my mom,SJ mother who lives in MESA ,AZ SJ mom' s father had a school of native Americans in which is now INDIAN SCHOOL Rd is named after SJ grandfather who was a teacher there . God bless and have a nice day.

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