Mesa, Arizona

Mesa (/ˈmeɪsə/ MAY-sə) is a city in Maricopa County, in the State of Arizona and is a suburb located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Phoenix. Mesa is the central city of the East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by Tempe on the west, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community on the north, Chandler and Gilbert on the south, and Apache Junction on the east. As of the 2010 Census Mesa became Arizona's center of population.

Mesa is the third-largest city in Arizona, after Phoenix and Tucson, and the 38th-largest city in the US. The city is home to 439,041 people as of 2010 according to the Census Bureau. Mesa is home to numerous higher education facilities including Polytechnic campus of Arizona State University.

History

The history of Mesa dates back at least 2,000 years to the arrival of the Hohokam people. The Hohokam, whose name means "All Used Up" or "The Departed Ones", built the original canal system. The canals were the largest and most sophisticated in the prehistoric New World. Some were up to 90 feet (27 m) wide and ten feet deep at their head gates, extending for as far as 16 miles (26 km) across the desert. By A.D. 1100 water could be delivered to an area over 110,000 acres (450 km²), transforming the Sonoran Desert into an agricultural oasis. By A.D. 1450, the Hohokam had constructed hundreds of miles of canals many of which are still in use today.

Mesa

Mesa (Portuguese and Spanish for table) is the American English term for tableland, an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape. It may also be called a table hill, table-topped hill or table mountain. It is larger than a butte, which it otherwise resembles closely.

It is a characteristic landform of arid environments, particularly the Western and Southwestern United States in badlands and mountainous regions ranging from Washington and California to the Dakotas and Texas. Examples are also found in many other nations including Spain, Sardinia, North and South Africa, Arabia, India, and Australia.

Grand Mesa is a large mesa located in western Colorado in the Southwest United States. Cerro Negro is a mesa in Argentina.

The term mesa is used throughout the United States to describe a flat-topped mountain or hill.

Formation

Mesas form by weathering and erosion of horizontally layered rocks that have been uplifted by tectonic activity. Variations in the ability of different types of rock to resist weathering and erosion cause the weaker types of rocks to be eroded away, leaving the more resistant types of rocks topographically higher than their surroundings. This process is called differential erosion. The most resistant rock types include sandstone, conglomerate, quartzite, basalt, chert, limestone, lava flows and sills. Lava flows and sills, in particular, are very resistant to weathering and erosion, and often form the flat top, or caprock, of a mesa. The less resistant rock layers are mainly made up of shale, a softer rock that weathers and erodes more easily.

Temple (LDS Church)

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time (an "Open House"). During the Open House, the church conducts tours of the temple with missionaries and members from the local area serving as tour guides, and all rooms of the temple are open to the public. The temple is then dedicated as a "House of the Lord", after which only members who are deemed worthy are permitted entrance. Thus, they are not churches (meetinghouses) but rather places of worship. The church is a prolific builder of temples as they hold a key place in LDS theology. There are 149 operating temples (which includes 4 previously dedicated, but closed for renovation), 16 under construction, and 8 announced (not yet under construction). At present, there are temples in many U.S. states, as well as in many countries across the world. Several temples are at sacred sites of the LDS Church, such as Nauvoo, Illinois and Palmyra, New York. The importance of temples is often emphasized in weekly meetings, and regular participation in temple work is strongly encouraged for all Latter-day Saints (LDS).

Fiesta Mall

Fiesta Mall is a regional shopping center in the U.S. city of Mesa, Arizona (part of the Phoenix metropolitan area). Fiesta Mall is located west of Alma School Road, between Southern Avenue and the US 60 (Superstition) freeway.

History

Fiesta Mall was originally developed by the Homart Development Company, which at the time of the opening of Fiesta Mall in 1979 was the real estate division of Sears, Roebuck and Company and was engaged in development of several shopping centers nationwide, anchored by Sears retail locations. In 1995, Homart Development Company and its mall properties were sold to General Growth Properties. Fiesta Mall was acquired by Macerich in 2004 for $135 million.

Fiesta Mall opened with four anchor department stores, Goldwaters (which became Robinsons-May in 1989 and changed to Macy's in 2006. It was announced on January 8, 2014 that the store would be closed in the spring of 2014. Diamond's (now Dillard's), The Broadway (which became Macy's in 1996, and closed in 2006 with the location knocked down for a Best Buy and Dick's Sporting Goods, and Sears. It was one of the first major malls to be built in Mesa, which has traditionally been one of the nation's fastest growing areas. There are 116 stores in the mall with a total area of 9,226,325 sq ft (857,153.6 m²).