Downtown Phoenix directions: If you hit Taft Street, you’ve gone too far
Joseph Garcia
February 14, 2018
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Or should I say, Happy Statehood Day.
It was on this day – 106 years ago on Feb. 14, 1912 – when President William Howard Taft made an honest woman out of the Arizona Territory by making her the 48th state.
Admittedly, it took a long time. For 49 years, Arizona was subjugated to being just a territory and often was looked upon as little more than New Mexico Territory’s ugly stepsister. The Land of Enchantment became a state on Jan. 6, 1912, with Arizona the forgotten bridesmaid and not the bride until the following month, when Arizona was finally given some lasting love and commitment by the relunctant President Taft.
Another star was added to the Stars and Stripes.
So, thank you, President Taft. Your name shall always be forever and fondly remembered in downtown Phoenix near the state Capitol, with streets named after fellow presidents Van Buren, Polk, Taylor, Filmore, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Monroe, Adams, Washington, Jefferson and Central.
Wait a minute: There’s no president named Central. And come to think of it, there’s no downtown street named Taft either.
How can that be?
The pen that signed the bill making Arizona a state is on display at the AZ Heritage Center, home of the Centennial Museum, at Papago Park. It’s a real nice pen; if you get the chance, go see it. But if you’re looking to have lunch, enjoy some arts & culture, maybe catch a ballgame or just sue somebody, you won’t find any such action on Taft Street in downtown Phoenix. Taft Street doesn’t exist.
W-w-what? Why? How could “Taft” become a four-letter word for persona non grata?
David R. Berman, a professor emeritus at Arizona State University and a longtime contributor at Morrison Institute, is among those who might not see it as a mere coincidence:
Berman on Arizona Horizon: Arizona’s Progressive Constitution
In a nutshell: Arizona Territory was pushing one of the most progressive constitutions that included three ballot tools of direct democracy: the citizens’ initiative, which allows voters to bypass the Legislature and adopt their own laws or constitutional amendments; the referendum, which gives voters an opportunity to approve or reject measures passed by the Legislature; and the recall, which gives voters a mechanism to remove officials from office prior to their terms expiring – including judges.
Taft, who went on to become Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after his presidency, took offense at the idea of recalling judges. So, instead of making Arizona a state along with New Mexico, the president made Arizona wait a month until changes were made to the constitution to his satisfaction. And changes were made, allowing Arizona to become a state, and soon afterward changes were made to change it back after she became a state. No love was lost between Arizona and Taft.
Arizona is but a handful of states that has direct democracy still today (although that liberty is constantly under attack and challenged by the Arizona Legislature). We just don’t have any Taft street signs – at least not in downtown Phoenix -- and perhaps that's not by accident, if I'm reading the contrails correctly.
"That's probably an urban myth I started," Berman professes when asked whether Phoenix was dissing Taft with its presidential street names. He points out there is no rhyme or reason to their order or placement; he simply noticed there is no Taft Street so he played the "maybe" card in jest.
Besides, there is a “Taft Street” in Phoenix, but you’d have to drive way north and way east from downtown, near West Camelback Road and North 107th Avenue, to get there. There you will find Taft Street, a rather nondescript and small neighborhood roadway, just north of West Coolidge Street. Somehow, that seems appropriate.
By the way, for many years Arizona was known as the Baby State. That’s because Arizona was the last of the contiguous states admitted to the union. (Alaska didn’t become the 49th state until Jan. 3, 1959 and Hawaii the 50th state on Aug. 21, 1959 – some 47 years after Arizona became the Grand Canyon State.)
Whether you call it the Valentine State or Baby State is of no matter, since one indeed can lead to the other.
The important thing is to celebrate our state’s birthday – her natural beauty, her promising future, her engaged leaders and citizens. And let us not forget the 27th president of the United States: William Howard Taft.
“The truth is that in my present life, I don’t remember that I ever was president,” Taft once said. Surely that quote is printed on a sign somewhere on some lonely street without any name and without much purpose, perhaps on purpose.
As Taft said in leaving the White House in 1913: “I’m glad to be going. This is the loneliest place in the world.”
By the way, Taft did visit Arizona on an Oct. 13, 1909 whistle stop … in Tempe, not Phoenix. Coincidence?