Chandler [chand-ler, chahnd-]

Chandler

[chand-ler, chahnd-]
Chandler, family of American real estate developers and publishers. Harry Chandler, 1864-1944, b. Landaff, N.H., moved to Los Angeles and during the early 20th cent. was very largely responsible for transforming it from a town of 12,000 into a metropolis of nearly 2 million. Investing in property throughout the area, he became Los Angeles's largest landowner and developed such areas as the San Fernando Valley and the Hollywood Hills, in the process amassing a fortune. In 1917 he succeeded his father-in-law, Harrison Gray Otis (1837-1917), as publisher of the Los Angeles Times, which continued under his stewardship as a politically very conservative views and relatively minor paper.

His son Norman Chandler, 1899-1973, b. Los Angeles, joined the Times as his father's secretary and became general manager (1936) and publisher (1945). Under his leadership the paper changed and expanded; it became one of the leading newspapers in the region, led the city in circulation beginning in the late 1940s, and also achieved national stature. Norman Chandler also moderated the paper's conservatism some. He also headed the Times Mirror Company, the newpaper's parent company, which became the publisher of reference books, bibles, and other books as well as additional newspapers. Dorothy Buffum Chandler, 1901-97, b. Lafayette, Ill., married Norman Chandler in 1922 and became one of Los Angeles's civic and cultural leaders. She spearheaded the fundraising that led to the building of a new home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a general rejuvenation of the city's performing arts.

Their son, Otis Chandler, 1927-2006, b. Los Angeles, began at the Times as an assistant pressman on the late-night shift, worked as a reporter and an executive, and became the publisher in 1960. Hiring the best available reporters and editors, increasing the paper's coverage, and greatly moderating its generally conservative stance, he made the Times a journalistic force on par with the New York Times and the Washington Post. Chandler retired as publisher in 1980, but his influence on the family media empire remained strong until the Times Mirror Co. was sold in 2000.

See D. Halberstam, The Powers That Be (1979, repr. 2000); D. Alef, Harry Chandler: Man with the Midas Touch (2009); D. McDougal, Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L. A. Times Dynasty (2001).

Chandler, Dorothy Buffum: see under Chandler, family.
Chandler, Harry: see under Chandler, family.
Chandler, Norman: see under Chandler, family.
Chandler, Otis: see under Chandler, family.
Chandler, Raymond Thornton, 1888-1959, American author, b. Chicago, educated in England. After World War I, he entered the oil business in California. Bankrupt during the Depression, he published his first of many detective stories in The Black Mask magazine (1933). His novels include The Big Sleep (1939), Farewell My Lovely (1940), The High Window (1942), and Playback (1958). Well plotted and brutally realistic, Chandler's novels depict the seedy lowlife of Los Angeles. They all feature Philip Marlowe, a hard-boiled yet honorable private detective with a brash sense of humor who became the prototype for the tough guy private eye of many subsequent American detective novels. Chandler also wrote screenplays and essays.

See his collected early works, ed. by M. J. Bruccoli, Chandler before Marlowe (2d ed. 1973); Stories and Early Novels (1995) and Later Novels and Other Writings (1995), both ed. by F. MacShane; his letters, ed. by F. MacShane (1981), The Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters and Nonfiction, 1909-1959 (2001), ed. by T. Hiney and F. MacShane; biographies by F. MacShane (1976, repr. 1986) and T. Hiney (1997); studies by J. Speir (1981) and W. Marling (1986).

Chandler, Zachariah, 1813-79, U.S. Senator from Michigan (1857-75, 1879) and Secretary of the Interior (1875-77), b. Bedford, N.H. He moved to Detroit in 1833 and through merchandising, land speculation, and banking became a millionaire. Mayor of Detroit (1851-52), he helped organize and was long the boss of the Republican party in Michigan. Old Zack, as he was called, was an able and uncompromising abolitionist. A leading radical Republican, most closely associated with Benjamin F. Wade, he was a member of the congressional committee on the conduct of the war, and he violently opposed Lincoln's Reconstruction program. Chandler remained a powerful figure in the Senate until he was turned out by the Democratic landslide of 1874. He then entered the cabinet of President Grant and was also chairman of the Republican National Committee in the disputed election of 1876.

See biographies by W. C. Harris (1917) and M. K. George (1969); T. H. Williams, Lincoln and the Radicals (1941).

Chandler, city (1990 pop. 90,533), Maricopa co., S central Ariz., in the Salt River valley; inc. 1920. It is both a residential community and a center for research and technology. Tourism is also important, and the San Marcos Golf Resort is in Chandler. Many of Chandler's citizens work in nearby Phoenix.

(born Dec. 17, 1796, Windsor, Nova Scotia—died Aug. 27, 1865, Isleworth, Middlesex, Eng.) Canadian writer. He served in the legislature of his native Nova Scotia and later served as a judge of the Supreme Court (1841–54), where he maintained the strong conservatism that informs his writings. He moved to England in 1856 and was a member of Parliament from 1859 until his death. He is best known for creating the character Sam Slick, a Yankee clock peddler and cracker-barrel philosopher whose escapades first appeared in the newspaper Nova Scotian and were later published in The Clockmaker (1836, 1838, 1840) and other volumes.

Learn more about Haliburton, Thomas Chandler with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 23, 1888, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died March 26, 1959, La Jolla, Calif.) U.S. writer of detective fiction. Chandler worked as an oil-company executive in California before turning to writing during the Great Depression. Early short stories were followed by screenplays, including Double Indemnity (1944), The Blue Dahlia (1946), and Strangers on a Train (1951). His character Philip Marlowe, a hard-boiled private detective working in the Los Angeles underworld, appears in all seven of his novels, including The Big Sleep (1939; film, 1946 and 1978), Farewell, My Lovely (1940; film Murder, My Sweet, 1944, and Farewell, My Lovely, 1975), and The Long Good-Bye (1953; film, 1973). Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are regarded as the classic authors of the hard-boiled genre.

Learn more about Chandler, Raymond (Thornton) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 9, 1848, Eatonton, Ga., U.S.—died July 3, 1908, Atlanta, Ga.) U.S. writer. He became known as a humorist in his pieces for various newspapers, including (1876–1900) the Atlanta Constitution. He created a vogue for a distinct type of dialect literature with “Tar-Baby” (1879) and later stories that drew on folklore and featured the character Uncle Remus, a wise, genial old black man who weaves his philosophy of life into tales about Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and other animals.

Learn more about Harris, Joel Chandler with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 9, 1848, Eatonton, Ga., U.S.—died July 3, 1908, Atlanta, Ga.) U.S. writer. He became known as a humorist in his pieces for various newspapers, including (1876–1900) the Atlanta Constitution. He created a vogue for a distinct type of dialect literature with “Tar-Baby” (1879) and later stories that drew on folklore and featured the character Uncle Remus, a wise, genial old black man who weaves his philosophy of life into tales about Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and other animals.

Learn more about Harris, Joel Chandler with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 17, 1796, Windsor, Nova Scotia—died Aug. 27, 1865, Isleworth, Middlesex, Eng.) Canadian writer. He served in the legislature of his native Nova Scotia and later served as a judge of the Supreme Court (1841–54), where he maintained the strong conservatism that informs his writings. He moved to England in 1856 and was a member of Parliament from 1859 until his death. He is best known for creating the character Sam Slick, a Yankee clock peddler and cracker-barrel philosopher whose escapades first appeared in the newspaper Nova Scotian and were later published in The Clockmaker (1836, 1838, 1840) and other volumes.

Learn more about Haliburton, Thomas Chandler with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 23, 1888, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died March 26, 1959, La Jolla, Calif.) U.S. writer of detective fiction. Chandler worked as an oil-company executive in California before turning to writing during the Great Depression. Early short stories were followed by screenplays, including Double Indemnity (1944), The Blue Dahlia (1946), and Strangers on a Train (1951). His character Philip Marlowe, a hard-boiled private detective working in the Los Angeles underworld, appears in all seven of his novels, including The Big Sleep (1939; film, 1946 and 1978), Farewell, My Lovely (1940; film Murder, My Sweet, 1944, and Farewell, My Lovely, 1975), and The Long Good-Bye (1953; film, 1973). Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are regarded as the classic authors of the hard-boiled genre.

Learn more about Chandler, Raymond (Thornton) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

{{Infobox Settlement |official_name = City of Chandler, Arizona |settlement_type = City |image_skyline = Chandler AZ downtown.jpg |imagesize = 200px |image_caption = Downtown area of Chandler |image_seal = Chandleraz seal.png |seal_size = Fuke
=
|image_map = Maricopa_County_Incorporated_and_Planning_areas_Chandler_highlighted.svg |mapsize = |map_caption = Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_name1 = Arizona |subdivision_name2 = Maricopa |government_type = |leader_title = Mayor |leader_name = Boyd W. Dunn (R) |established_date = |area_magnitude = 1 E8 |area_total_km2 = 150.2 |area_total_sq_mi = 58.0 |area_land_km2 = 149.9 |area_land_sq_mi = 57.9 |area_water_km2 = 0.3 |area_water_sq_mi = 0.1 |elevation_ft = 1214 |elevation_m = 370 |population_as_of = 2007 |population_footnotes = |population_total = 246399 |population_metro = |population_density_km2 = 1622.7 |population_density_sq_mi = 4202.2 |timezone = MST (no DST) |utc_offset = -7 |latd = 33 |latm = 18 |lats = 12 |latNS = N |longd = 111 |longm = 50 |longs = 29 |longEW = W |website = http://www.chandleraz.gov |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |postal_code_type = |postal_code = |area_code = 480 |GNIS_id = 2748 |blank_name = FIPS code |blank_info = 04-12000 |blank1_name = |blank1_info = |footnotes = }} Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, and is a prominent suburb of the Phoenix Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It is bordered to the north and west by Tempe, to the north by Mesa, to the west by Phoenix, to the south by the Gila River Indian Reservation, and to the east by Gilbert. The population was 240,595 according to the Census Bureau's 2006 estimate. The city contains a large amount of modest tract homes. It also has satellite locations for the technology companies Intel and Orbital Sciences Corporation.

History

In 1891, Dr. Alexander John Chandler, the first veterinary surgeon in Arizona Territory, settled on a ranch south of Mesa, studying irrigation engineering. By 1900, he had acquired 18,000 acres (73 km²) of land, and began drawing up plans for a townsite on what was then known as the Chandler Ranch. The townsite office opened on May 17, 1912, the same year that Chandler High School was established. By 1913, a town center had become established, featuring the luxurious Hotel San Marcos, the first golf resort in the state.

Most of Chandler's economy was successfully sustained during the Great Depression (a second San Marcos hotel was canceled due to the Depression however), but the cotton crash a few years later had a much deeper impact on the city's residents. Later, the founding of Williams Air Force Base in 1941 led to a small surge in population, but Chandler still only held 3,800 people by 1950. By 1980, it had grown to 30,000, and it has since paced the Phoenix metropolitan area's high rate of growth, with vast suburban residential areas swallowing former agricultural plots. Some of this growth was fueled by the establishment of manufacturing plants for communications and computing firms such as Motorola and Intel, but despite the inclusion of many large businesses, Chandler is often considered a bedroom community for the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.

Geography

Chandler is located at (33.303237, -111.841328).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 58.0 square miles (150.2 km²), of which, 57.9 square miles (149.9 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (0.17%) is water.

Chandler has reached its physical limits save for some remaining county islands and cannot expand outward anymore due to being bound in by the Gila River Indian Community, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, and Phoenix.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 176,581 people, 62,377 households, and 45,410 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,050.5 people per square mile (1,177.7/km²). There were 66,592 housing units at an average density of 1,150.4/sq mi (444.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 76.19% White, 3.48% Black or African American, 1.20% Native American, 4.22% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 10.76% from other races, and 3.01% from two or more races. 21.99% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Following the 2000 census, Chandler has remained one of the fastest growing cities in America, reaching population growth above 20% since this time. Growth is expected to subside within the next ten years due to fixed borders with Pinal County and the Gila River Indian Reservation to the south, Mesa and Tempe to the north, Phoenix to the west, and Gilbert to the northeast.

There were 62,377 households out of which 41.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.5% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. 19.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.8% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 38.0% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 5.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $68,416, and the median income for a family was $82,720. Males had a median income of $44,578 versus $31,763 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,904. About 4.6% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.7% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Elected officials

Chandler is represented by a mayor, a vice mayor and council members. The vice mayor is elected by the city council from among its members. The mayor, vice mayor and council members represent the entire city and are not elected from districts or wards.

Mayor: Boyd Dunn
Vice Mayor: Lowell Huggins
Council Members

  • Bob Caccamo
  • Trinity Donovan
  • Matt Orlando
  • Martìn Sepulveda (currently on Military leave. Office is held in the interim by Kevin Hartke.)
  • Jeff Weninger

Culture

Chandler is noted for its annual Ostrich Festival Initially, agriculture was the primary business in Chandler, based on cotton, corn, and alfalfa. During the 1910s, there were ostrich farms in the area, catering to the demand for plumes used in women's hats of the era. This demand ebbed with the increasing popularity of the automobile, but the legacy of the ostrich farms would be commemorated by the Ostrich Festival. The Chandler Center for the Arts, a 1,500-seat regional performing arts venue, is located downtown, and the Arizona Railway Museum is at Tumbleweed Park.

Economy

Computer chip manufacturer Intel has an influential role in city growth strategies with four locations in the municipal area, including its first factory to be designated "environmentally sustainable" under current Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design criteria. Other high-technology manufacturing firms have partnerships with the local government, their operations employing approximately twenty-five percent of non-government workers in 2007. Although per capita employment growth in the sector has been in decline in Arizona since 2000, semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing was largely unaffected; a series of customized grants for the training of net new employees, incorporating the Phoenix urbanized area (twenty-seven thousand workers now commute to work in other communities), resulted in a larger market share of (Californian) industry.

Since 2003, more than 2,900 jobs and investments totalling $3 billion have been created along the Price and Santan freeways, between Arizona Avenue and Gilbert Road in the so-called South Arizona Avenue Corridor. Three shopping malls provide a "strong attraction" to such an open-ended, high exposure trade area: the 1.3 million square-foot Chandler Fashion Center, opened in 2001, has spurred on several courts and laneway developments. In the southern end of the Corridor, Wal-Mart is expected to draw business from as far south as the Hunt Highway, bringing with it a "large consumer population" which will improve "the image and perception of the area" in the mindset of many Greater Phoenix residents and state commercial retailers. The northern portion is "attractive [enough] and possesses the historic character" for success, which "can be grown to the south".

Education

Elementary and secondary

Most of Chandler is served by the Chandler Unified School District. Chandler west of Loop 101 is served by the Kyrene Elementary School District and the Tempe Union High School District. The area east of Loop 101 and north of Warner Road is served by Mesa Public Schools. The San Vincente neighborhood in Chandler is served by Gilbert Public Schools.

Education alternatives include charter schools, Christian schools, parochial schools, magnet schools, as well as "traditional" academies.

Post-secondary

The two-year Chandler-Gilbert Community College, serving 13,000 students, is located in the east of the city near the Gilbert border. Private educational institutions Western International University and Apollo Group subsidiary University of Phoenix have locations here. Arizona State University is located from downtown in Tempe.

Chandler Public Library

The Chandler Public Library (CPL) serves Chandler and the greater Phoenix East Valley. The main branch is located in downtown Chandler, with three additional branches located throughout the city: Sunset, Basha High School, and Hamilton High School. Basha and Hamilton branches are shared-use facilities located on high school campuses.

As part of a family literacy project to encourage literacy and library use among families who live in public housing, the Chandler Public Library visited three public housing locations to offer a four-week series of programs at each.

Chandler Community Services

The Chandler Community Services Department serves Chandler residents in a variety of ways by providing recreation, fitness, cultural, artistic and educational opportunities along with classes, programs and special events. The Community Services Department, located in Old Downtown Chandler, operates the community center, senior center, dozens of local neighborhood and community parks, two recreation centers and six aquatic centers.

Chandler's recreational offerings provide residents and visitors with different interests and skill levels with the facilities to participate in many sports, activities and hobbies. The department publishes a quarterly recreation magazine called Break Time that is distributed free at many city facilities, through a free subscription service and at five Fry's Food and Drug in Chandler.

A sampling of programs available through the City of Chandler Community Services Department and its Recreation and Aquatics Divisions include: swim lessons; Arizona Travel Series; junior tennis clinics and leagues; youth classes and programs; youth sports; after-school teen recreation centers; summer youth sports camps and arts camps; fitness classes; group aerobics and dance classes; nature and sustainable living courses; adult classes, sports leagues and outdoor recreation programs; senior adult classes and programs; therapeutic recreation and Special Olympics programs for disabled youths and adults.

The City's regional Tumbleweed Park hosts a variety of special events throughout the year, including the annual Ostrich Festival, the Fourth of July Fireworks Festival and the second annual Day of Play presented by Coyotes Athletic Centers that will be held Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

On Sept. 6, 2008, the national non-profit organiztiona Kaboom! based in Washington, D.C. announced that Chandler was a 2008 Playful City USA community. There were 67 cities selected nationwide and Chandler was one of 26 to repeat the honor from last year. Chandler was recognized for taking an innovative approaches to make play a priority throughout the city with its many recreational amenities, parks and aquatic centers.

The Environmental Education Center at the Chandler Heights Community Facilities, a shared-use site with the Municipal Utilities Division and the Chandler Police Department, recently won Valley Forward's prestigious Environmental Excellence Award in the category of "Site Development and Landscape for Parks."

A list of the City of Chandler's Recreation facilities includes:

  • Community Center
  • Senior Center
  • Snedigar Recreation Center
  • Tumbleweed Recreation Center
  • Tumbleweed Park
  • Six Aquatic Centers, pools and spray pads
  • Environmental Education Center at Veterans Oasis Park
  • McCullough-Price House
  • Three teen centers
  • Tennis Center
  • Golf course at Bear Creek
  • Neigborhood and community parks
  • Three bark parks for dog walking
  • A bike park
  • A skate park

Transportation

Addressing

Most incorporated portions of Chandler, along with other East Valley cities Gilbert, Mesa, and Tempe have their own addressing system distinct from Phoenix and greater Maricopa County. The north-south meridian is Arizona Avenue, also known as State Route 87. Commonwealth Avenue, two blocks south of Chandler Boulevard is the east-west baseline. With the significant exception of the stretch of the city from Chandler Boulevard to Ray Road, address numbers follow in mile-long increments of 1000 along the grid. Modern remnants of county addressing from the city's rural agrarian days can be found in some neighborhood street names (90th Place, 132nd Street) and county islands surrounded by the city proper.

Airports

Chandler Municipal Airport is a two-runway general aviation facility located in the heart of the city south of Loop 202. Memorial Airfield in the Gila River Indian Community may serve the city in the future. The city is jockeying for membership in the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport Authority, several miles to the east, which as of 2007 only offers limited service to Chicago and Las Vegas, Nevada. Most area residents continue to use Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport from downtown Chandler.

City bus

Chandler has very limited bus service compared with other Valley Metro cities of similar size. Most local routes dead end a few miles from the city or have further limited service within its borders. Currently, two express bus routes leave from the city near downtown, and a new park and ride facility was recently completed further south. Faced with increasing congestion, the land-locked city is pursuing transportation alternatives including enhancement of the local bus system. This goal has partially been achieved through Proposition 400, which converts transit funding from city-based to county-based. The result has been increased frequencies on routes 72 , 96 (since July 28, 2008), and 156, as well as Sunday bus service on these three routes. However, other routes have yet to be converted to "supergrid" status.

Freeways

Chandler is served by three limited access highways:

  • Loop 202, the Santan Freeway, completed through the city in 2006, cuts through the midsection of the city along the Pecos Rd alignment.
  • Loop 101, the Price Freeway, was completed in 2001, dividing West Chandler from the rest of the city. A majority of the city's employment, over 10,000 people as of 2007 , are along the city's Price Road Corridor. Air Products' industrial pipelines located there are unique to the metropolitan area. South of Pecos, the freeway borders the Gila River Indian Community.
  • Interstate 10 is the city's westernmost border. On the other side is located the Phoenix neighborhood of Ahwatukee.

Railroads

Heavy rail

Chandler is served by two single-track branch lines of the Union Pacific Railroad. One generally traverses the Kyrene Road alignment and currently dead-ends at the Lone Butte Industrial Park. The other runs east of Arizona Avenue and dead-ends near the location of the former World War II company town of Goodyear. Commuter rail service on these lines is under study as of 2007.

Light rail

No light rail lines have been approved in the city, although high-capacity corridors including light rail have been identified in other regional and local plans. City officials joined the regional light rail authority, Valley Metro Rail, in 2007, expecting service perhaps in 2020. The initial route through the city will most likely be the Tempe South light rail line on Rural Road.

Radio and television licenses

Chandler has only one radio license: KMLE.

Famous people associated with Chandler, Arizona

2008 4-X World Champion 2008 U.S. National DH and 4X Champion 2007 U.S. National Dual Slalom Champion 2005 U.S. National DH Champion

Miscellanea

  • The street signs in Chandler are brown-colored instead of the more traditional green (similar to Berkeley, California).
  • Chandler has two In-N-Out Burgers with a third one under construction and soon to be open. It is one of 18 cities outside of California where In-N-Out has located.
  • Chandler was the spring training home of the Milwaukee Brewers from 1986 to 1997; the stadium (Compadre Stadium), built in 1985, still stands as of 2008, unused and in a state of disrepair after only being used for twelve seasons.

References

External links

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