Tempe

About Tempe

Tempe is a lively college city in Arizona's Valley of the Sun, set along the Salt River between Phoenix and Mesa, beneath the rocky outline of Tempe Butte. The Hohokam people farmed the area with an extensive canal system centuries ago, and in the 1870s Charles Trumbull Hayden built a flour mill and ferry at the river crossing, founding the settlement then known as Hayden's Ferry. The town was renamed Tempe, after the Vale of Tempe in Greece, and in 1885 became home to the school that grew into Arizona State University.

Today Tempe has about 185,000 residents and one of the largest university campuses in the country, giving it a young, energetic character. Mill Avenue, the city's historic main street, is lined with restaurants, bars, shops and music venues, and the old Hayden Flour Mill still stands at its northern end. ASU's Gammage Auditorium, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's last major designs, hosts Broadway tours, and Sun Devil Stadium sits in the shadow of the butte.

The heart of outdoor life is Tempe Town Lake, a two-mile lake created on the dry Salt River bed, with paths for walking and cycling, boat rentals, paddleboarding and festivals throughout the year. Visitors can hike to the top of Tempe Butte, also called A Mountain, for views across the Valley, explore Papago Park's red sandstone buttes and the Desert Botanical Garden just across the border in Phoenix, and visit the Tempe History Museum and the Arizona Historical Society Museum.