Hohokam Stadium

Hohokam Stadium is seen during a spring training baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks Monday, March 2, 2009, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Hohokam Groundbreaking

Sam Lewis, 93, of Payson, who is one of three suriving grandchildren of Elmer and Anna Rebecca Lewis of Mesa, attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Mesa Grande Ruins Visitors Center at 1000 Date Street in Mesa on Tuesday. Lewis still gets emotional when talking about what the 6-acre site with a 27-foot mound meant to him as a boy growing up there in the 1920s. The center, which also will include a walking trail, is scheduled to be completed in early 2013. (Mike Sakal/Tribune)

Hohokam Groundbreaking

Stephanie Wright, co-chair of the Mesa Grande Community Alliance (center), Mesa Mayor Scott Smith (far right) and Dale Marr (left, president of Concord General Contracting) helpd break ground for the Mesa Grande Ruins Visitors Center at 1000 Date Street off near Brown Road in west Mesa on Tuesday. the approximate 1,000-square-foot center is scheduled to be completed in early 2013. (Mike Sakal/Tribune)

Hohokam Groundbreaking

Mesa city officials, historic preservation officials and members of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian community break ground on the Mesa Grande Ruins Visitors Center at 1000 Date Street near Brown Road in west Mesa on Tuesday. (Mike Sakal/Tribune)

Hohokam Groundbreaking

Forthcoming Mesa Grande Ruins Visitors Center: A conceptual drawing of what the Mesa Grande Ruins Visitors Center will look like when it is completed sometime in early 2013. City officials and historic preservation officials broke ground on the approximate 1,000-square-foot cneter at 1000 Date Street in Mesa on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of City of Mesa)

Hohokam Park

Groundskeepers prepare Hohokam Park for a Spring Training game in Mesa, Monday, March 5, 2012. [Tim Hacker/ Tribune]

Hohokam Park

Chicago Cubs fans watch as their team takes on the Arizona Diamondbacks during a spring training game at Hohokam Park.

Hohokam Stadium

Chicago Cubs fans watch as their team takes on the Arizona Diamondbacks during a spring training game at Hohokam Park in Mesa in March 2010.

Lessons from the Hohokam

Hohokam system found in Waveyard study

ANCIENT DISCOVERY: Archeologist Walter Duering stands in an ancient Hohokam canal in 2006 during a years-long excavation of the expansive waterways system near the north end of Dobson Road and Eighth Street in Mesa.

Hohokam system found in Waveyard study

Museum peeks into the lost Hohokam culture

ANCIENT HARDBALL: Artifacts at Phoenix’s Pueblo Grande Museum include this ball, used by Hohokam athletes to play an ancient hybrid of basketball and hockey. At bottom is an excavated stadium where the game was played.

Museum peeks into the lost Hohokam culture

Museum peeks into the lost Hohokam culture

Hohokam site could go public

Hohokam site could go public

Long-awaited: Mesa is looking to make the Mesa Grande ruins on the corner of Date and 10th Street into a public park. The Pima-Maricopa Indian Community has OK’d $150,000 for a project at the ancient Hohokam settlement.