Chandler was founded by Arizona Territory's very first veterinary surgeon, Dr. Alexander John Chandler, who came in 1891. As is the case with so many valley suburbs, it began as a sizable ranch and a man with a dream of founding his own town. By 1912, Dr. Chandler's dream was realized as the town site office and the Chandler High School opened. Just one year later Arizona's first golf resort opened, the luxury Hotel San Marcos. Chandler was on its way to becoming more than just another rural town in the desert, it was a vacation destination. Today it is so much more than just another Phoenix suburb, and has so much to offer.
Chandler is an interesting middle class city, as a casual drive around will prove. You will drive by a diary farm with cows eating under fans and misters and just a few miles up the same road you will encounter a communications manufacturing plant or a master planned community. This unique diversity adds to the charm of Chandler and has lured many professional football players active and retired to call it home, including Donovan McNabb, Tank Johnson and Matt Leinart to name just a few.
Major employers such as Intel, Motorola, Microchip, Orbital Sciences, Marvell Technologies, Freescale Semiconductor, Verizon and CDW Corporation are also responsible for bringing many new residents to Chandler. Others yet were drawn to Chandler for the reputation of their school district.
Chandler residents have great places to shop and dine, without having to drive to Scottsdale, such as the very popular Chandler Fashion Center. The mall has the usual popular department store anchors, but also offers upper end boutique stores. The mall is surrounded by great restaurants such as The Keg Steakhouse, PF Chang's China Bistro, Mimi's Cafe, and Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy.
Chandler offers great employment opportunities, great schools, shopping and dining, therefore it must cost a small fortune to live there, right? Not at all, while you can find luxury estates with prices that exceed one million dollars, you can also find many master planned communities that start in the low $200's. You can also choose to live in one of the very clean older neighborhoods in a well built brick or block home. Chandler also offers many older equestrian neighborhoods that are immaculate with beautiful homes on one to five acres.
If this has piqued your interest in Chandler, a visit to the famous Ostrich Festival and a chance to mix with the community's diverse residents having fun while celebrating a facet of the cities interesting history, and you will be hooked. The Ostrich Festival features Ostrich races that have been the subject of many travel articles, that emphatically state it is a must see. This fun festival started in 1989 to celebrate a more colorful part of the city's history. Chandler and Maricopa County were home to the largest Ostrich Ranches in the United States, when Ostrich feathers were popular accents on ladies hats.
The average sales price for a single family home or condo in February 2010 was $199,365. This information is gleaned from MLS data, and while deemed reliable, is not guaranteed.
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