Since I had positive feedback on my early-day restaurants column, this week I am starting a multi-week column on the beginning of the business community.

The first business to operate in the community was Cocopah Construction. They opened the first two model homes on Calaveras Avenue in February 1972. The two homes, one a three-bedroom Spanish-style and the other a four-bedroom traditional Arizona ranch-style, were both priced close to $30,000. Both included family rooms, wall-to-wall carpeting, built-in oven and range, disposal and desert landscaping.

The town’s first businessman was Steve Boll, a delivery man for a Shamrock Dairy, who made weekly deliveries of milk and other dairy products to households.

The first business establishment was U-Tote-M Market, which opened in mid-June 1972 on the corner of Saguaro Boulevard and Panorama Drive. The store was part of an Arizona chain of 72 convenience stores that was later bought by the Circle K Corporation. U-Tote-M originally purchased seven sites for stores in Fountain Hills, but they only opened two of them. The other was on the corner of Glenbrook and Fountain Hills boulevards and was the first location to sell gasoline in the community. Both locations were managed by Bob and Abigail Russell. They operated the stores with their five children.

Del Camino Nursery, operated by Pat Riding, was one of the town’s first retail businesses. It opened on Sept. 1, 1972, and sold landscaping and household plants at a location on Enterprise Drive.

Goettl Bros. Metal Products, a pioneer in the home air conditioning field, opened an office on Saguaro Boulevard to serve contractors and private individuals with their heating and cooling needs in October 1972.

Two enterprising farmers from Iowa, Wendell Fugate and Vic Peterson, built a number of similar style rectangular-shaped buildings in the central part of Fountain Hills in the commercial area between Colony Drive and Panorama Drive just north of Saguaro Boulevard. They were started in the summer and fall 1972 and the first businesses opened in them in February 1973.

Fountain Hills LP Gas Company was opened in one of those buildings by Martin Dawson. His firm sold propane for use in heating, cooking, gas barbecues and gas lighting. He sold and serviced customers from a 1,500-gallon truck. He later moved the business to the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, just inside the reservation’s border with Fountain Hills on Grande Boulevard. In 1982, Dawson became president of the Fountain Hills Chamber. He also started the Fountain Hills Jaycees. He remains a Fountain Hills resident and his business has greatly expanded. It is now called Arizona Propane and its offices are located in Fountain Hills on Shea Boulevard near the Beeline Highway intersection.

Larry Ryerson opened Fountain Hills Insurance Agency in the same building as Dawson. He was an agent for Farmers Insurance Group. He also offered a notary service. Ryerson was very active in the community’s early years. He is regarded as the founder and first president of the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce and served on the board of the Civic Association and the Jaycees. He also initiated the July 4th fireworks display that became a community tradition for many years.

Fountain Realty and Investment Company was the third business to open in one of those original office buildings. It was operated by Robert Farrow and was the first independent real estate firm to operate in Fountain Hills.

Farrow opened the first bar and grill in a building built by Peterson on Enterprise Drive. It was originally called the Fountain Mountain In (correct spelling) but for many years it became better known as the Silver Stein.

Next week, I’ll continue our look back at how our business community got its start.