The original Encanto Citizens Association was organized in the early 1970’s.  It was the first organization designed to protect a specific geographic area of Phoenix.   

When the “Papago Freeway”, the Inner Loop of I-10, was proposed to slice through town, 100 feet in the air with helicoils devouring residential land at an alarming rate, this neighborhood fought back to insure that it could not happen here.  Over 2,000 homes, dating from the early part of the 20^th Century, were destroyed in the “Moreland Corridor” to make room for the Inner Loop.      

We were the first neighborhood in the city to conceive of becoming listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  At a meeting in the now demolished Band Shell amphitheater in Encanto Park in 1977, the neighborhood agreed that becoming listed on such a prestigious Register would become our goal.   

Seven years of hard work and documentation became reality when we were listed on the Register as the Encanto-Palmcroft Historic District in 1984.   The hyphenated name of the District incorporates the two subdivisions: Palmcroft which was begun in 1927 and Encanto which was begun in 1928.  Two later expansions of the original district took place in 1992 and 1994, insuring that the homes on 7^th Avenue and most of the small apartments on McDowell were included within our boundaries.  Becoming listed on the National Register of Historic Places means that not only is this neighborhood significant in the history of Phoenix and Arizona, but nationally as well.   The Encanto Citizens Association won the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation in 1994.

Other successes of the original Association include retention of the vintage street lights when APS (Arizona Public Service) tried to remove them in 1975, and the replacement of the birdbath fountains and benches in the Triangles at 9^th Avenue and Monte Vista that were lost in 1996.  The Association worked with Willo, Roosevelt and Story to prevent a 9,000 square foot pawnshop on the SE corner of 7^th Avenue and McDowell, and many other neighborhood associations to preclude the installation of a contaminated soil cleansing incinerator at 21^st Avenue and McDowell Road. 

Long standing policies determine action and meetings are held when necessary.  The newsletter is distributed to the neighborhood by volunteers and is published to inform the neighborhood of items of interest and historical significance.