EARLY SCOTTSDALE: JOHN CURRY AND DON PABLO The names John Curry and Don Pablo may not mean much today to many residents of North Scottsdale, but they were instrumental in the growth of the area around Pinnacle Peak and Scottsdale Roads. Curry was a grizzled fellow who arrived on the scene with three other guys in the early 1930s when homesteads ranging from a few acres to as large as 640 acres were available at a small cost from the federal government. The only stipulation was that one had to live on the land and make some improvements within a reasonable time. Curry and his pals were determined souls. They built a “road” stretching east from today’s Cave Creek Road using primarily hand tools and a lot of determination. The road would eventually become Pinnacle Peak Road and would extend to Boulder Pass near Pinnacle Peak. Three hundred twenty acres of the land belonged to Curry, and in 1933, he erected a sign announcing that he would soon be opening a grocery store at the location that would someday become the southeast corner of Pinnacle Peak and Scottsdale Roads. Although Curry finally built the store and a couple of gas pumps, Curry’s Corner was not what one would call a corner store. There were no crossroads or corners until after Curry’s death in the early 1940s, about six months before the military expanded Scottsdale Road north to Pinnacle Peak Road to accommodate
62
Scottsdale
Ima g e s A Z . c o m J une 2 0 1 4
Writer Jim McAllister