F. Q. Story history

History of the F. Q. Story Neighborhood

Francis Quarles Story, for whom the neighborhood was named, was involved in numerous developments in early Phoenix, including the construction of Grand Avenue in 1887 and its subsequent streetcar line. He is also credited with the advertising campaign which made the Sunkist Orange famous.

In 1920, when development of the F. Q. Story neighborhood began, Phoenix had a population of 29,000. It was advertised as a streetcar suburb, being close to the Grand Avenue and Kenilworth carlines. The first houses were clustered by the streetcar line at the eastern edge of the neighborhood. As building proceeded westward and the auto became more common, houses began to feature detached garages and porte cocheres.
The last development phase began in 1927, encompassing eighty acres from 11th to 15th Avenues, between McDowell Road and Roosevelt Street. Development hit its peak in 1930 with the construction of 133 new houses, only to falter as the Depression hit Phoenix. Construction declined, but by 1938, approximately seventy-five percent of the F.Q. Story Addition had been completed.

LIFE ON LYNWOOD

Like many house hunters, Margaret and Preston Brown ranked the local school high on their list of priorities when choosing a home. So when they fell in love with Kenilworth Elementary, it was an easy step to buy a house on Lynwood Street.

That was 68 years ago. The Browns were the second residents of the imposing house at 920 W. Lynwood Street, buying it from the Snell family for $5,200.

Margaret Brown recalled that the house was painted cream when she and her husband moved in during the summer of 1935. Just off the dining room was a screened-in room with a cement floor. Margaret later hired Edna Green, who she said was THE designer of the time, to help her with house renovations. One of those touches included installing French doors from the dining room to the screened-in patio.

The house came with a one-car garage and, typical for the times, no cooling save for a 10-inch fan. Lynwood Street in the mid-1930s was full: Every lot had a house on it, she said.

Margaret and Preston lived in Story for three years, until their growing family prompted them to look for a larger house. Preston Brown, an obstetrician and gynecologist, was president of the Arizona Medical Society and served on the building committee for St. Joseph's hospital. He also was a Phoenix City Council member (long before the district system, Story had its own representative!)

Margaret recalls that dining in was common in the mid-1930s, although she also remembers lots of parties being thrown at the Westward Ho. Popular groceries were the Bayless market on Central Avenue as well as Cobbs Market, also on Central near Willetta.

She shopped at the downtown department stores: Goldwater's, Korrick's, Porter's and Switzer's. By the time the couple's third child arrived in 1938, the Browns were looking for bigger quarters. They traded their Lynwood Street house for a two-story, five-bedroom home in the Alvarado neighborhood, behind what is now the Phoenix Art Museum. Amy and Harry Trittle moved into 920, completing the swap.

Margaret Brown still lives in Phoenix, and granted this interview to Story's Historic Committee, which is researching the early days of the neighborhood.