I want to apologize for leaving off a business in my list of those firms that opened for business in Fountain Hills in 1972 in my last column.
Stan’s Beef ‘N’ Burgers had a groundbreaking ceremony, and construction began on Fountain Hills’ first restaurant in December 1972.
Located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Shea and Saguaro boulevards, the restaurant’s menu had a variety of hamburgers, sandwiches, salads and breakfast items.
The business was later sold to Omer Appelwick. He changed the menu and added a second dining room with a fine dining menu and second floor to the building with more fine dining and views. Appelwick’s became a popular restaurant that attracted customers from Scottsdale.
Appelwick died of a heart attack while doing the second-floor addition. His wife sold the business, and it went through several changes in ownership before the building was destroyed in an early morning spectacular fire in April 1986.
Before I start on the 1973 businesses, I have to tell you a story about the formation of the School District that I found to be amazing.
At the end of 1972, the school board, consisting of President Robert Hendrix, Carol Hendrix and Elmo Robinson, hired a consultant by the name of Dr. Douglas Vance to be the district’s consultant for development of the Fountain Hills school system.
He came to Fountain Hills while serving as executive director of elementary education for the Mesa School District.
My eighth-grade math teacher and basketball coach was a Doug Vance. Could they be one in the same?
Sure enough, Bob Hendrix made the appointment for me to meet with Vance. I remembered that he was one of those guys with a heavy beard that always appeared to have a three-day growth.
When he saw me, he smiled and said, “Cruikshank!”
I couldn’t believe he remembered my name after 12 years and teaching an unknown number of students.
I told him how I graduated from Clarendon Middle School, then I went on to West High and graduated from ASU with a degree in advertising.
I asked him what he did after leaving Clarendon, where he was a very popular teacher, and he said he went to ASU to complete his requirements for his masters and obtained his doctorate. He went back to teaching initially in the Phoenix school system. From there he was hired as a principal in the Mesa district.
As the Education Consultant for the Fountain Hills board, he assisted them in the planning of school facilities, administrative appointments, mapping of the district and advising district officials in regard to growth needs and legal procedures. His first duty as consultant was to assist in setting up procedures for the recently approved school bond election.
1972 was just the beginning for Fountain Hills. But it was nothing compared to the progress we saw in 1973.
Based on the success of condominium unit sales in Fontana, Dell Trailor announced in January he would be building Phase Two of the condo portion of Fontana. It was originally called Fontana II. It was later changed to Saguaro Woods.
Also, in January, plans were announced for McCuloch to build a Model Home Center where an increasing number of Phoenix-area builders could display elevations and brochures of homes they could build in Fountain Hills. They also had to join the newly formed Fountain Hills Builders Association.
A model home tour was created that started and ended at the Model Home Center that was located on Saguaro Boulevard at Rand Drive.
That will be the focus of my next column. See you then.
