Mid-decade, and the pattern held. Scottsdale in 1935 was still a farm town of a couple of thousand, still unincorporated, still quiet in the record — but the winter season was becoming an industry rather than a sideline. The Jokake Inn had expanded, the roster of guest ranches kept growing, and the town’s three reliable imports — health seekers, dudes, and artists — kept Main Street’s stores trading through years that flattened farm towns elsewhere.
Bigger arrivals were queued up just offstage. The Camelback Inn would open the next year astride the Scottsdale–Phoenix line, and Frank Lloyd Wright — wintering in Arizona since his Biltmore consulting days — was two years from buying his 600 acres at the foot of the McDowells. The decade’s second act starts at 1936.