HISTORY
HOW BROUGHT TOGETHER THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MARICOPA Mike Ingram
I was real excited to be a part of that deal, the Louis Johnson and John Wayne history behind it and what that means to the whole community down there. And preserving that history, you just don’t have any idea what that means to me.” When El Dorado Holdings had Red River in escrow, Ingram received a call from Louis Johnson, Wayne’s long-time business partner in Maricopa, whose property was in the middle of Red River. Johnson said he wanted to be a partner in Ingram’s real estate plans and set him up with Willard Sparks, one of the largest commodity traders in the nation. Another partner, Dr. James Little, became one of Ingram’s best friends. IT STARTED WITH A ROAD When Ingram began buying farmland around Maricopa, some residents thought he could be key to solving a serious problem: Maricopa Road. Community leaders like Alma Farrell, Jane Askew and Ann Donithan were hosting meetings in their homes to get property owners on board with widening the deadly, two-lane strip. Leading farmers Bill Scott and John Smith reached out to Ingram, getting the ball rolling for the Maricopa Road Association. “He recognized that we needed to have a four-lane highway coming out here,” Smith said. “So, we got together and posted a bond issue. We knew that the county wouldn’t help finance it. So, we voted on it, and it just barely passed.” In 1989, Arizona Department of Trans- portation was ready to accept the road if the association could raise half the money. “The citizens of western Pinal County all had a big, big part in making that happen,” Ingram said. “Alma Farrell was a big part of that. She had many, many meetings, actually gave me a place at Headquarters to work out of in those days. In a room between the bar and the restaurant, that was my little office there in Maricopa. And we went to work on it.” Former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini brought federal money to the table. Pinal and Maricopa counties also came on board. Gila River Indian Community agreed. Property owners around Maricopa voted to tax themselves for the improvement district. “Mike worked hard, a lot harder than I did,” Smith said. In tragic irony, Jane Askew, who had been a passionate voice in widening the dangerous
M ike Ingram is not crazy or stupid. movers and shakers thought he was nuts. Now the chairman of El Dorado Holdings, which he founded in 1992, Ingram became one of the most influential people forming the modern history of Maricopa. After creating Rancho El Dorado and sister subdivisions The Villages and the Lakes, El Dorado Holdings still has thousands of acres in and around Maricopa set for residential and commercial development. It has thousands more acres in other communities it is also developing. That may be obvious to observers now, but 25 years ago, many of Arizona’s most knowledgeable But Maricopa continues to be Ingram’s baby. The work has been a combination of puzzle pieces and chess moves to find the right combination of partners and investors in what others thought was a hair-brained scheme. “I had this vision and plan for a new city there,” said Ingram, 78. “At the time, we had entitlements through Pinal County. There was no city of Maricopa. Maricopa was less than 500 people.” His first deal in real estate was with partner Marty Ortman, with whom he purchased El Dorado, a ranch formerly belonging to John Wayne near Stanfield. That gave their fledgling company its name. Then they purchased other farms in the vicinity in 1992 and became known to other landowners. He still clearly remembers the day Karl Eller called and asked him to lunch at Phoenix Country Club. The late Eller was an advertising mogul and John Wayne fan, who had purchased the Red River Ranch in 1980
Developer Mike Ingram ignored skepticism and followed his vision for Maricopa.
from the late actor’s estate. “I need you to think about buying the Red River from me,” Eller told Ingram. “But I need you to close it in a week.” Eller had a loan with a local savings-and- loan company that had collapsed and been taken over by the U.S. government. He made a deal with Resolution Trust Company, the government’s asset-management company, to pay off the loan. Time was running short. He offered Ingram a fair price. “So, we bought the Red River in ’92,” Ingram said. “I had a love for John Wayne my whole life. When we bought El Dorado Ranch,
16 New Resident & Visitor Guide 2024 • InMaricopa.com/NewResidentGuide
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