Goodyear Arizona Houses Colorful History

Twenty miles West of Phoenix is the city of Goodyear, Arizona. Goodyear has a rich and colorful history. In 1916, during World War I, the Goodyear Rubber Company (headquartered in Akron, Ohio) was searching for a new location to grow cotton to help in the manufacturing of this highly versatile fiber. Their current supply was coming from Egypt and was being slowly destroyed by the boll weevil, which is a cotton-eating insect. Executives from the Goodyear Company had heard that the Arizona real estate and climate was similar to the Egyptian desert, so they sent one of their up-and-coming executives, Paul Litchfield, to scout out the area.

Litchfield, a Boston native and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had helped develop the modern cord tire and was considered an expert in the design and production of tires. Litchfield purchased 36,000 acres of sprawling real estate that stretched from Chandler to the White Tank Mountains horizontally and from the Estrella Mountains to Thunderbird Road vertically. Goodyear moved its headquarters to the area where Litchfield Park (named after Paul Litchfield) is today. Because they were growing Egyptian long-fiber cotton, the town was originally known as Egypt, but the community and cotton ranch soon became known as Goodyear Farms.

During World War II, a division of the Goodyear Rubber Company built the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation next to what had become the Litchfield Naval Air Facility. The company built canopies and other various parts for Navy airplanes, as well as the “air balloons” that led to the famous Goodyear blimps. The Litchfield Naval Air Facility housed 132 Navy blimps that were used for coastal defense, and the blimps were often used as early warning radar stations and also as convoy escorts. After the war, the plant continued to produce blimps and missile components, soon becoming Goodyear Aerospace. Through mergers and divisional sell-offs, Goodyear Aerospace became Loral Defense Systems and eventually evolved into Lockheed Martin.

In 1946, the town of Goodyear, with a population of 1,500, was incorporated adjacent to the Naval Air Facility. By 1980, the population had doubled, and in 1985 the residents voted for their town to become a city. Currently, Goodyear encompasses approximately 130 square miles of prime real estate dotted with a variety of homes and home-styles ranging from middle-income to high-end estates. Right now, over 60,000 people call Goodyear home.

Arizona Houses a Vast Medical System

Arizona houses many state-of-the-art medical facilities, some of which attract people from all over the world who travel here to receive top-notch medical care.

Perhaps the best-known facility is the Mayo Clinic, which is world-renowned for its outstanding level of patient services. Thousands of people every year come to the Mayo Clinic to be treated for a variety of health care ailments ranging from cardiac care to cancer. Some patients are evaluated and treated all in one day and are then sent home, and others require a stay at the Mayo Clinic Hospital, which is on the Phoenix campus.

Additional medical options in Arizona include those found throughout the Banner Healthcare system, in fact, Banner Health hospitals operate over 30 facilities ranging from large hospitals to smaller clinics, some of which are urgent- and same-day locations. Banner Desert in Mesa, Banner Thunderbird in Glendale, Banner Ironwood in Queen Creek (southeast of Phoenix) and Banner Estrella in west Phoenix are four hospitals that offer high quality medical treatments to their patients. Meanwhile, St. Joseph’s Hospital near downtown Phoenix is also extremely well-known for its outstanding healthcare, in fact, U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of top hospitals routinely ranks St. Joseph’s in the top 10 for neurology and neurosurgery. The hospital is home to Barrow Neurological Center, several Centers of Excellence in various specialties, and a busy Trauma Center that handles everything from gunshot wounds to traffic accident victims to drownings/near drownings.

From obstetricians and gynecologists to dermatologists, oncologists and endocrinologists, specialists abound in Arizona, and it is easy to locate a doctor who can help you with a specific health condition. For very focused needs, Cancer Treatment Centers of America recently opened a facility in Goodyear called Western Regional Medical Center. An easy freeway drive from Scottsdale and Phoenix, the facility is known for its leading-edge cancer care.

Children who require intensive or specialized medical treatment will often go to Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Phoenix. The colorful building is staffed with kid-friendly doctors and nurses who do everything they can to make a child’s visit as stress-free and pleasant as possible. Along with its downtown location, the hospital also has two satellite offices that offer follow-up appointments, checkups and urgent care options.

Throughout Arizona, you will also find numerous smaller medical clinics and Urgent Care facilities. In addition, some national chain drug stores like Walgreens and CVS offer walk-in medical clinics located right inside many of their stores.