HISTORY

How a 'disastrous' concert in the 1960s spurred Phoenix to add a convention center

Douglas C. Towne
Special for The Republic
The Phoenix Civic Plaza goes under construction in 1969.

In the early 1960s, Phoenix residents complained about living in a desert — a cultural desert, that is. While Tucson, Albuquerque, Denver, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles had impressive performance halls for touring artists and companies, Phoenix could only offer high school auditoriums, opined an article in The Arizona Republic in 1961.

The story noted that the National Orchestra of Holland played outdoors for the first time since 1929 in May at the Encanto Bandshell. "It was disastrous! Of their entire tour of 60 American cities, Phoenix was their only unpleasant experience."

In response, a citizens group developed a plan to build a performing arts auditorium, which morphed into a convention center. In 1963, the nonprofit Phoenix Civic Plaza Building Corp. was created to finance construction.

The announcement to build the Phoenix Convention Center in early 1968 came with a twist: The City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Gazette held a contest to name the new facility. 

“Our $16 million Convention Center Complex is a building in need of a name befitting the architectural grandeur and cultural atmosphere which awaits our cities,” the contest description read. “Names of individuals, living or dead, are excluded from the ‘Name the Convention Contest.’”

The Phoenix Gazette holds a naming contest for the complex in 1968.

Judges submitted their top 10 entries to the Phoenix City Council, which decided the winner. The prize was an expense-paid first-class vacation to Mexico City for two via Aeronaves de Mexico, and a plaque with their name would be featured at the new convention center.

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Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson was supposed to announce the winner on May 28, 1968, but bad weather delayed the first lady's flight to Phoenix. So instead, Mayor Milt Graham announced that the new facility, located between Washington and Monroe streets from Second to Fifth streets, would be named the Phoenix Civic Plaza at the suggestion of Atlee Hites.

A man crosses Monroe Street near Second Street in front of the Phoenix Convention Center on March 16, 2020.

Groundbreaking took place in July 1968; a Dixieland band played as a bulldozer moved the first earth for the construction project. “Completion of the Civic Plaza will be one of the most important happenings that have ever occurred in our Valley,” H.W. Cronrath, president of the Valley of the Sun Convention Bureau, told The Republic.

Phoenix Civic Plaza, which included Phoenix Symphony Hall, was built on 16.5 acres and dedicated in 1972. "The versatility of the Civic Plaza will be demonstrated as tourists and conventioneers join Phoenicians in enjoying the tremendous variety of events that are possible at this cultural and convention center," said Phoenix Mayor John Driggs.

The facility was expanded in 1985, remodeled in the mid-1990s, and rebuilt as the Phoenix Convention Center, which opened in 2008.

Douglas C. Towne is the editor of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, www.arizcc.com.