Chandler: A Family Portrait
Centennial Banner Exhibit
BANNER 1 – CHANDLERPEDIA
ChandlerpediA & general information
BANNER 2 – ROOTS IN COATICOOK
The Chandler family had its roots in Coaticook, Quebec, Canada, a village near the New
Hampshire/Vermont border. Mary Ann Lorimer was born in Scotland, and her family immigrated to
Coaticook when she was a toddler. At age 34, she met Reverend Joseph Chandler, a Baptist minister
and widower. They married in 1850 and ultimately had seven children: George, Isabel, James, John
Alexander (later known as Dr. Alexander John Chandler), Harry, Priscilla, and Joseph. They also raised
Hannah, Joseph’s daughter from his first marriage. The family lived on a forty acre farm where they had
a garden, a few cows, hogs, chickens, and a fruit orchard. As Dr. Chandler once noted, it was hard going
for the family in a parsonage home. Rev. Chandler, originally trained as a tailor, made suits to
supplement the family’s meager income.
BANNER 3 – DR. ALEXANDER J. CHANDLER
Dr. Chandler was born in 1859. He attended Montreal’s McGill University to study veterinary
medicine. In 1887, after starting a successful practice in Detroit, representatives from Arizona Territory
offered him the position of territorial veterinary surgeon. Chandler and his Detroit partners saw
opportunities for investment in Arizona, so he accepted the post. Arriving during a severe drought, he
resigned with the intention of going to California. A monsoon storm demonstrated that the key to
desert development was controlling water. With capital from his Detroit partners and a scheme to
exploit the Desert Land Act, Chandler went about building a network of canals and accumulating 18,000
acres of land south of the Salt River. To expand his investment opportunities, he created the San
Marcos Hotel, experimented with solar energy, built a hydro-electric plant, and was the first person to
grow long staple cotton in Arizona. Dr. Chandler passed away in 1950.
BANNER 4 – DR. CHANDLER’S WIVES
Dr. Chandler was married three different times; however, he never had any children.
Julia Pope was Dr. Chandler's first wife. Born in 1868 in Georgia, Julia was the daughter of one of
Chandler’s Detroit business partners. They married in 1890 in Phoenix and resided in Los Angeles while
Chandler developed. Julia left Dr. Chandler in 1914 for William Loftus, the interior decorator of the San
Marcos Hotel.
Charlotte Boyd Eldridge, a popular stage singer who led the effort to sell war bonds for World War I,
married Dr. Chandler in 1920. Unfortunately, Charlotte suffered from severe health problems, and
passed away after 16 years of marriage.
Rosa Bell Bowling, the daughter of a prominent Southern family, married Chandler in 1941. They settled
into a bungalow on the grounds of the San Marcos, where they lived until his death in 1950. She passed
away in 1989 at the age of 91.
BANNER 5 – HARRY AND BERTHA CHANDLER
Harry Chandler, Dr. Chandler’s younger brother, was born in 1863. He moved to Saginaw, Michigan, at
the age of 20 before following his brother to Arizona in 1891. At first he operated a shoe store in
Phoenix. Later, he established an electric utility which ultimately grew to become the Southside Gas and
Electric Company and sold electricity to Mesa, Tempe, and, Chandler.
Bertha Trowbridge, Harry’s wife, grew up in Saginaw. She met Harry at a Chautauqua meeting, and they
married in 1891. Their first home was in Phoenix, and they later moved into a house on Center Street in
Mesa. Bertha and Harry had two daughters – Marian, born in 1893, and Louise, born in 1895. Both girls
attended the University of California at Berkley. Marian became a nurse and served as the family’s
historian. Louise married Arthur Price, Chandler’s first city attorney.
BANNER 6 – ARTHUR PRICE, JACK AND SUZANNE PROPSTRA
Arthur Price began to work for Dr. Chandler in 1913, serving as legal counsel for his farming and
irrigation empire. Despite plans to continue his career in Los Angeles, Price became enamored with Dr.
Chandler’s plans for his city. He stayed and served as Chandler’s first city attorney, organized the
Chandler Chamber of Commerce, and drew up the town’s incorporation papers. During this period he
met Louise Chandler, and they married in 1918. In 1930, Arthur started farming nearly 1,000 acres in
West Chandler. They had three children– Harriet, Suzanne, and Arthur. After a brief relationship with
John F. Kennedy, Harriet married James Fullerton of Pasadena, a wealthy investor. Arthur was killed in
an airplane crash in Utah in 1947. Suzanne married Jack Propstra, a successful jewelry and menswear
entrepreneur. Suzanne donated the McCullough-Price House to the City of Chandler in 2001 as a lasting
legacy to the Chandler-Price-Prosptra Family.