The City of Goodyear is a western suburb of Phoenix, in Maricopa County, with a population of a little over 65,000, based on the 2010 census. Goodyear is a short 20-minute drive from downtown Phoenix, and supplies commuters, residents and visitors with magnificent views of the Estrella Mountains, the Sonoran Desertand wide-open spaces. It boasts easy access to golf courses, lakes, parks, and other great places to walk, hike and play. Goodyear is also the spring training base for the Cleveland Indiansand Cincinnati Reds.



Goodyear got its start in 1917. That's when the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Companypurchased 16,000 acres in Maricopa County to be used as cotton farming land. At the time, cotton was used to make rubber tires for airplanes, and was in short supply during World War I. Goodyear's land acquisition took placed after the company discovered that the climate and soil in that part of Arizona was similar to that of its foreign cotton sources.It used to be that Goodyear itself was a well-kept secret. But nowadays the city is on the fast-track as a growing community. Goodyear was the fourth fastest-growing suburb under 100,000 residents in the nation from 2000 to 2006, according to census figures. And in 2008, Goodyear won the National Civic League's All-America City Awardand earned a spot in the top five of the nation's "Most Livable Cities" for communities in its population category.

After the cotton boom of World War I, with less demand, cotton prices fell. But as fate would have it, with World War II came the Litchfield Naval Air Facility, now the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport, on the outskirts of the nearby small city of Litchfield Park. The Goodyear Aircraft Corp. had already been working with the U.S. Government, designing warplanes at a facility in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear went to work creating a manufacturing facility on part of the land it had acquired in Arizona and manufactured more than three million airplane frames during World War II. After the war, Goodyear enjoyed a long history of aerospace and defense programs.

In the 1980's, SunCor Development Company purchased the remaining 10,000 acres of the land originally purchased by Goodyear in 1917 and developed it into a master-planned, mixed-use community, just North of I-10 in Goodyear. The City of Goodyearwas incorporated in 1985. Since gaining cityhood, Goodyear has blossomed into a vibrant, economically strong and aesthetically pleasing community.

Shopping and Dining

• Estrella Mountain Regional Park: This beautiful, multi-use park stretches over nearly 20,000 acres, and the vast majority remains undeveloped, pristine desert land. The land that is developed incorporates a 33-mile trail system, used primarily by mountain bikers, recreational hikers and horseback riders, as well as a professional-level rodeo arena and a golf course.
• White Tank Mountain Regional Park: The biggest of the Maricopa County parks, White Tank has numerous campgrounds, recreational trails and a 10-mile competitive track.