HISTORY
The Maricopa Hotel In 1931, after a fire destroyed the entire town — then centered around the railroad tracks — a man named Jack Burkett moved an old barracks building onto a parcel of land just south of the tracks and west of Maricopa Road, according to the Maricopa Historical Society. Burkett and his wife, Clara, renovated the building and transformed it into a hotel, grocery store, post office, restaurant and recreation room. A photograph from the early-to-mid 1900s, shared by the historical society, shows the building as seen from the top of one of Maricopa’s water towers. (At the time, there were three towers; only one remains today.) Clara became Maricopa’s postmaster and served the community until 1943, when Ed Green and his wife, Evelyn, arrived, according to stories Green shared with the historical society. Originally from Hastings, Mich., Ed had worked for General Motors as a diemaker before moving to Arizona. Upon arriving in Maricopa, he worked in Burkett’s grocery store before purchasing it in 1945. He later bought the Maricopa Hotel as well. That same year, Green was appointed postmaster, a role he held until his
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retirement in May 1955. He recalled that when Evelyn and he first arrived in 1943, the local school had just one full-time teacher and one part-time teacher. During his time in Maricopa, Green became a charter member of the Rotary Club, serving as both secretary and treasurer. He also volunteered as secretary for the Salvation Army.
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Missing runaway Maricopa High School student Destinee Cruz, 17, was found alive in Mexico after a desperate, dayslong search by her mother. Closed-circuit TV cameras captured Cruz getting into a vehicle at 3:43 a.m. in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, at the height of COVID-19 pandemic uncertainty. She was later reunited with her mother in a touching moment.
The doors at Sun Life Family Health Center opened its 11,200-square-foot location at 44572 W. Bowlin Drive, just north of the Copper Sky Recreational Complex. Its previous clinic, at 42251 W. Hathaway Ave., was converted into a women’s health center. That OBG/YN closed its doors last month and moved to Sun Life’s Bowlin location.
Gila River police officers working a security detail spotted a white SUV pull off the road on State Route 84. Using night-vision goggles, they observed two people having sex in the vehicle before an argument broke out. The male was later identified as a 14-year-old boy; the woman was Andrea Martinez, 26, a Stanfield Elementary School District teacher and the boy’s former teacher. Martinez, a Casa Grande resident, is now a registered Level 1 sex offender with convictions for molestation and attempted molestation of a child.
Native New Yorker opened. The restaurant best known for its wings gave residents a family dining experience, a separate bar with allowed smoking and a party room. Asked why he decided to open in Maricopa, owner Pat Kieny explained he and his family had been driving through the city since 1985 on the way to visit relatives in San Diego. The restaurant chain rebranded in 2015 when it became Native Grill & Wings.
InMaricopa.com | July 2025
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