North Phoenix

North/Northwest Phoenix is a region in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. While the area with this name has no official separate status, it usually refers to the Urban Villages of Paradise Valley (not to be confused with the independent town of Paradise Valley), North Mountain, Deer Valley, Desert View, and North Gateway.

Camelback Mountain and the Phoenix Mountains contained Native American sacred sites which had been visited for centuries. Fort McDowell Military Road from Fort McDowell to Fort Whipple (Prescott) came through the area in the 1870s.

Mining activity took place in the small town of Union beginning in the 1880s in the area currently referred to as Deer Valley (also near the Union Hills which bear its name). It eventually declined and left only a few ruins, making it a ghost town. The last remnants were bulldozed in the 1990s to make way for new construction.

In the 1890s, parts of this area had been slated for agricultural irrigation with water from the Verde River to its east under the auspices of the Rio Verde Canal Company, although the plan failed. Bell Road and Shea Boulevard in Phoenix are named for two farmers, James A. Shea and Harvey Bell, who later on formed the Paradise Verde Irrigation District in the early 20th century in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain water to irrigate the area.

The old state route that is now Cave Creek Road went between Phoenix and the town of Cave Creek. The small, unincorporated town of Cactus existed near what is now the intersection of Cactus Road and Cave Creek Road until the 1960s, when it was annexed by Phoenix. Other named places nearby included Valley Heights and Montgomery. These locations are now within Phoenix's city limits.

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