photo by gusto

Tempe lies in the center of the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is bordered by the capital city to the west, Scottsdale to the north, Mesa to the east, and Chandler to the south. From its beginnings as Hayden’s Ferry in 1872, it has grown into an urban community of about 164,000 residents. It was renamed in 1878 for ancient Greece’s idyllic Vale of Tempe.

Now it is a manufacturing city, producing semiconductor devices, metals, machinery, communications equipment, and other products. It has also seen the growth of software and bio-tech companies, and financial services.

Each New Year’s Day the city kicks off with the Fiesta Football Classic, one of the nation’s largest college bowl games, held at Arizona State University. The city is also the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, and host to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Anaheim Angels for spring training.

Downtown Tempe, where historic buildings mingle with modern architecture, has become a regional entertainment center with live music, restaurants, boutiques, cafes, theaters, and cinemas. The annual spring and fall Festivals of the Arts, the largest events of their kind in the Southwest, draw thousands to the area.

With more than 44,000 students, Arizona State University in Tempe is the fourth-largest public university in the country.

Its Gammage Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1964, seats 3,000 people.

The University’s Art Museum, in the Nelson Fine Arts Center at 10th Street and Mill Avenue, exhibits American and European prints from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries, and American paintings and sculptures from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The university’s Museum of Geology, in building F near the intersection of University Drive and McAllister Street, has one of the world’s largest meteorite collections.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport provides domestic and international flights. Both rail and bus service are available.