Notes about the public history of ASU’s Polytechnic campus
With the beginning of World War II, a large tract of Arizona desert east of Phoenix was transformed into Williams Field by the United States Army Air Corps. Built to train pilots, the base remained open after World War II, and was in use continuously for more than 50 years. A 1991 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision slated Williams for closure in 1993. The airport facility was placed into service for general aviation as Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, and most of the rest of the base facility was repurposed for higher education – including the opening of ASU-East in 1996, which was renamed ASU Polytechnic in 2005.
- Aerial Photography
- Buildings
- Traces of Williams AFB on ASU’s campus
- Links
Notes about the History of ASU's Polytechnic campus
Aerial Photography of Williams AFB / ASU Poly
Maricopa County has a surprisingly nice GIS resource available to the public, of aerial photography in the Valley. Williams/ASU-Poly appear in some, though not all, of that imagery. The site is available here:
http://gis.maricopa.gov/MapApp/GIO/AerialHistorical/index.html
The base/campus area appear in the following sets of images:
1937 (Jan.-Dec.) – note: base had not yet been constructed 1949 (Feb.-April) 1953 (Mar.-May) – dark, with relatively poor resolution compared to the others 1976 (Feb.
Notes about the History of ASU's Polytechnic campus
External links relating to Williams AFB / ASU Polytechnic
Focusing specifically on Williams AFB history and the built environment of the campus.
Online archive in works for Williams Air Force Base at Chandler-Gilbert college (azcentral.com
Williams AFB in ChandlerpediA
Williams AFB on military.wikia.com