Homeowners near Queen Creek struggle with identity crisis

Barb Parsons feels alienated. That’s because where she lives isn’t part of Queen Creek, and she doesn’t feel a strong connection to Pinal County. “We’re an island,” Parsons said. “We’re not really part of anybody.”

Her frustration is shared by many in the area.

Many people living in the booming area that runs south of Queen Creek to east to Florence are having an identity crisis about what their community should be called. It’s often referred to as the San Tan area, San Tan Foothills, Queen Creek and the Hunt Highway Corridor, and even the names of housing developments, such as Johnson Ranch and San Tan Heights, have crept into what people call the area.

“They feel like they’re people with no country,” said Alden “Ros” Rosbrook, who has lived in his home near the San Tan Mountains for 21 years. “They wonder ‘Who are we? Are we the Hunt Corridor, the San Tan Foothills, what are we?’”

Rosbrook, who likes the name “San Tan Foothills,” said with so many people moving in, many newcomers think they live in Queen Creek because of their mailing address — but they aren’t within Queen Creek’s town limits.

Parsons, who lives in San Tan Heights, refers to where she lives by her subdivision name. She said the area is fragmented and that makes her feel helpless.

“We say ‘San Tan Heights.’ Other people say ‘Johnson Ranch,’” she said. “We all refer to our own individual areas. There isn’t one unified voice.”

Parsons said she could see the area being named “San Tan” because “it would make sense” but having a San Tan post office would be a big help. She tells people she doesn’t live in Queen Creek even though she shares the town’s ZIP code.

“People in Queen Creek think we’re hogging their postal service,” she said. “When I go in there to pick up a package, I get a strange, uncomfortable feeling. People make you feel like you don’t belong.”

Rosbrook said he can understand a majority of people would like to say they live in a certain community.

“But where are the boundaries?” he said. “I’m sure that’s a problem for people, too. The more they try to explain where they live, the harder it gets.”

Just as the name is hard to pin down now, so is the historical reference for the name “San Tan,” said Dave Salge, with the San Tan Historical Society in Queen Creek.

“We really don’t know the origin of the name San Tan but we do know the mountain has been called San Tan Mountain on (United States Geological Survey) maps,” Salge said. “People come in all the time wondering the origin of the name San Tan.”

There are a couple of possibilities according to the book “Arizona Place Names,” by Will Barnes. One of those possibilities is that “San Tan” is a corruption of the Pima Indian word “Santa Ana.” The other is that the mountain is named after a postmaster named George Santan from Gila County.

A slew of businesses, shopping centers and even churches have adopted the San Tan name — even the historical society itself.

“We adopted the name because we’re not just one area,” he said. “We were established to collect history in Queen Creek, Combs, Higley and Chandler Heights. For the historical society purposes, San Tan is really all of the communities that fall within the shadow of the mountain.”

Area resident Gordon Brown said the San Tan Mountain is the “unifying thread that provides the identity of the area.”

But unlike newer residents, Brown said longtime residents already have an identity. “We know who we are,” he said.

Terry Palmer, who has lived in Johnson Ranch since 2004, said he has some concerns about using the most commonly used name, San Tan.

“My main objection is that there is already a Santan, Arizona, on the Gila River Indian Reservation,” Palmer said. “Personally I find the name to be too generic. I think we can do a lot better for a name for this area.”

Palmer said there are more than 30 businesses and organizations listed in the phone book that use the name San Tan.

“It’s San Tan this and San Tan that, I’m about San Tanned out,” he said. “I believe we deserve something better than using that name.”

Gene Kilber, a resident for more than 20 years, said that to him, the area has always been called San Tan.

“I suggest people searching for an identity get a hold of the post office and get one out here — then they’d have a San Tan address (instead of Queen Creek),” Kilber said. “Maybe people really need that idea of belonging to a particular name.”