The Hohokam people for centuries farmed the region around Mesa, developing an extensive irrigation system. The city’s modern history began with the arrival in 1878 of Mormon settlers from Utah and Idaho, who employed the irrigation system earlier abandoned by the Hokokam. The Spanish name for “table” was chosen as the community’s name because of its location on a plateau overlooking the Salt River valley. Mesa incorporated in 1883. Long an agricultural community, the city’s economy diversified with tourism and industry beginning in the 1960s, and in the 1980s and 1990s Mesa was among the fastest growing in the nation.

Cultural institutions include the Mesa Southwest Museum, with cultural displays on Native American civilizations, and the Arizona Museum for Youth. The east campus of Arizona State University (1885) is in the city at the site of the former Williams Air Force Base, and the city has a community and junior college. The Mormon Temple is a principal landmark, and its annual display of Christmas lights is a noted attraction. Dominating the skyline to the east are the Superstition Mountains, in the Tonto National Forest.

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