Fountain Hills Arizona
Fountain Hills with an elevation of 1,700 feet is located on the Eastern slope of the McDowell Mountains which is around 500 feet in elevation above Phoenix. Located to its west is the McDowell Mountains, to its east is Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, to its south is the Salt River Indian Reservation and to its north is the McDowell Mountain Regional Park.
The idea for the community of Fountain Hills was started by Robert P. McCulloch the day he purchased the area of nearly 12,000 acres in 1960. The area was part of one of the largest land and cattle holdings in Arizona before 1970. The designer of Disneyland in southern California named Charles Wood Jr. helped in developing Mr. McCulloch’s idea of the community. One of their visions for the community was to have a landmark which was a fountain. That fountain is now internationally recognized as one of the tallest fountains in the world. A 32 acre park surrounds the fountain and uses reclaimed irrigation water not only for the beautification of the park but for the contents of the lake itself. The fountain is three times higher than Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park and almost 10 feet higher than the Washington Monument. It is capable of shooting water as high as 560 feet into the air.
Fountain Hills was officially established on December 15, 1970 and incorporated in 1989. Today, as the community continues to grow, Fountain Hills is considered as a beautiful, thriving “small town” community that presents endless opportunities for the enrichment of both professional and personal quality of life with a population of 22,492 as of US Census 2005.
