PEOPLE: Youngtown – A Vision of Arizona Pioneers Where Visionaries and Entrepreneurs Formed a Senior Community to the Good Life
AGN.News Team
April 25, 2024
YOUNGTOWN, Arizona (AGN.News) – Youngtown’s original advertising slogan back in the early 1950s was “Live Here and Be Forever Young”. As a trailblazing active senior community, Youngtown led the way in caring for low income retirees. Youngtown became “A Trip to the Good Life” in 1954.
The idea of a United States retirement community for seniors began when an area realtor went to a retirement home to visit an elderly friend. Upon visiting, the realtor, “Big Ben” Schleifer saw the unbelievable restrictions placed upon the residents there. Innovation and creativity led “Big Ben” to have a vision of a retirement community where retirees, living in their own homes, could maintain their dignity with positivity.
Youngtown led the way in the United States
The Town of Youngtown began to take shape in the early 1950s when Mr. Schleifer partnered with Mrs. Frances Greer, whose husband passed away in 1949, was the owner of a 320-acre cattle ranch. Schleifer, the ranch manager Elmer Jones, and Mrs. Greer teamed up to create the very first U.S. town dedicated to providing homes for retirees on that land.
In 1955, the group had built 125 homes with more to come. The area became known as Youngtown, Arizona. Retirees could purchase a 750 square feet home for just $8,000. By 1959, 1400 people called Youngtown home. Only seniors were allowed to become residents.
This was the very first retirement town in the United States inhabited only by senior citizens. Mrs. Greer’s home became the community clubhouse where seniors could come and enjoy social activities like card games, dancing, and some outdoor games like shuffleboard.
They created a man-made lake for swimming and fishing. Later, there was a shopping center with a variety of local businesses – including an ice cream shop.
If you were a retiree or soon to be a retiree, Youngtown was the place to be. As the population grew, the word spread about this futuristic community of seniors, living in their own homes, disconnected from restrictions placed on seniors in retirement homes. Now, seniors could live in an active retirement community where fun and excitement along with people just like them could enjoy their lives.
Youngtown became a model community
Soon, other entrepreneurs saw the value of a retirement community like Youngtown where you could – “Live Here and Be Forever Young” like Youngtown, as the advertising slogan says. A lot of people traveled to Arizona to see Youngtown. Many made Youngtown their future home.
Youngtown was easy to find on a map. They came southeast on Grand Avenue heading towards Phoenix and past the cities of Surprise and El Mirage to 111th Avenue, turning right and proceeded south and there is Youngtown. You can almost feel the joy of those seniors when they found a new place to call home.
In 1986, families looking for low cost housing saw Youngtown as an option compared to Phoenix. However, the idea of a community requiring its residents to be seniors became an issue. After several court challenges, the state ruled the town would be a multi-generational community.
From its inception in 1954 and incorporation in 1960 much has changed. Today, Youngtown is a community of mostly pre-retirement families with apartment complexes and single-family homes. Local businesses can be found along 111th Avenue and along Grand Avenue.
Youngtown and AARP Chapter One
There are more than 2,100 AARP independent chapters the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Do you know which community was the very first to host an AARP chapter? Well, its Youngtown, Arizona. The local AARP chapter was founded in 1960. As a new community, residents found AARP to be a great place to discuss and learn about concerns affecting seniors.
AARP was founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus (September 21, 1884 – July 13, 1967), who was the first female principal in California and an elder rights activist, and Leonard Davis. Within two years the Youngtown community of seniors became the first to establish a chapter to learn and share best practices while bringing rewarding experiences to Youngtown in 1960. AARP became a great place to meet new people, share common experiences, and to give back to the community while having fun.
Today, 64 years later, the Youngtown AARP chapter is still going strong. Monthly meetings are still a place to learn, share, and have fun. Youngtown was and still is a place where seniors find joy and happiness as a growing historic community of leaders.
Sun City Retirement Communities
Soon, Delbert Eugene “Del” Webb, a U.S. real estate developer who was also co-owner of the New York Yankees, took note of this trending idea of a retirement community for seniors. He went to work to develop a community on the east side of 111th Avenue called Sun City in 1960. Sun City brought economic development to the area. Youngtown grew as a result, expanding north and south from the community clubhouse.
Webb created a construction company called Del E. Webb Construction Company to build Sun City. Later other Sun City communities came online from Arizona to Las Vegas, to California and Florida. The concept of an active retirement community for seniors was and continues to be a very popular place to live.
Local Residents Enjoy Life in Youngtown
Youngtown is a debt-free town with the best interest of the community at its core. Its Town Council is made up of a Mayor, a Vice Mayor, and five Councilmembers who sets policy and a Town Manager who ensures those policies are implemented.
Youngtown’s Courthouse Square has a fully-staffed library, Council Chamber, and other town government agencies and offices. Families enjoy the city parks, like Greer Park, which is named for owners of the land upon which much of Youngtown is built.
Other businesses in Youngtown include a motel on Grand Avenue, restaurants, rehabilitation centers, healthcare facilities, furniture store, auto mechanics, and a whole lot more five star businesses.
Local entrepreneurs find Youngtown a great place to do business with residents who love to shop local in support of local businesses. Youngtown has rolled out the welcome mat to anyone who wants to start a new business here in Youngtown. You can learn more by going here
Today, realtor “Big Ben” Schleifer, Elmer Jones, and especially Mrs. Frances Greer, whose original home still stands in Courthouse Square and used as a part of Youngtown government and as civic use spaces, would be proud to see their vision grow into a place where all are welcome and “A Trip to the Good Life”. Thanks to these visionaries and entrepreneurs local residents of Youngtown have a beautiful place to call home.
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