Laveen ( /ləˈviːn/) is a community in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, situated eight miles (13 km) southwest of Downtown Phoenix between South Mountain and the confluence of the Gila and Salt rivers . Parts of Laveen constitute an unincorporated area in Maricopa County, while the remainder falls within the city limits of Phoenix, constituting the city’s “Laveen Village”. Laveen Village is presently a part of Phoenix Council District 7, but currently proposed to split between District 7 and District 8, both notable as minority-majority districts for the city. Although Laveen has been home to “pastoral alfalfa, cotton, and dairy farms” since the 1880s, housing and commercial developments have been increasingly urbanizing the area.
The Laveen area was first settled by farmers and dairymen in 1884. Despite its proximity to Phoenix, the community was isolated from its larger neighbor by the Salt River, which until the Roosevelt Dam was completed in 1911 carried water year-round….