South Mountain Park: Lookouts – Phoenix AZ

City:
Phoenix, AZ

Site Type:
Parks and Recreation, Lodges, Ranger Stations and Visitor Centers, Shops and Auxiliary Buildings

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was developed for public recreation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1940.  The best known of the works by the CCC is the large stone shelter at the Dobbins Lookout, which is the popular symbol of the park and famous for its spectacular views of the city of Phoenix. 

Dobbins lookout is accessible by car via Summit Road, which has a large parking area with low stone walls (presumably by the CCC, as well).

There is a small stone shelter not far west of Dobbins Lookout and a platform lookout, with a low wall but no structure, on a point just east of Dobbins Lookout.  Both of those are accessible only by foot.  Another lookout is across from the Big Ramada site. [There may be other lookouts that we did not see on our visit]

There are no dates on these sites, which are constructed of large stones in a romanticized version of indigenous structures around the Southwest.

 

 

Source notes

"The New Deal in Arizona: Connections to Our Historic Landscape," The New Deal in Arizona Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, 2012.
https://content.library.arizona.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/NewDeal/id/195/rec/39

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Mountain_Park

Site originally submitted by Richard Walker on April 9, 2022.
Additional contributions by Joan Greer.

Location Info


End of Summit Road
Phoenix, AZ 85042
Maricopa County

Coordinates: 33.34516, -112.05872

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