Victor I. Corbell
31 Jan 1894 - 11 Feb 1980
diedTempe, Arizona, USA
bornTempe, Arizona, USA
SchooltblData
BiographyFarmer; cotton gin operator; President of Salt River Project, 1954-1971.He grew up on Guadalupe Road, between McClintock and Price, on land that he would eventually develop into a 320-acre ranch. When
he was 16, he attended the 1911 dedication of the Roosevelt Dam. When former president Theodore Roosevelt spotted him among the crowd of spectators, he remarked, "Young man, you will see great things happen in the valley below." He attended the Tempe Normal School for one term, and went to Los Angeles to study at Polytechnic High School. He later returned to Tempe to farm. In 1921 lived on R 2.
He served in the 207th Squadron of the Army Signal Corps, Air Service Branch, during World War I. After his discharge from the Army in 1919, he bought land near Tempe and planted cotton. He came very close to losing everything he owned in the Cotton Crash of 1920, when cotton prices dropped as low as 16 cents a pound. But he held onto his 80 acres, added 80 more acres, and eventually owned much of the land on which the southeast portion of Tempe was built. In 1929 was mgr of Western Cotton Oil Co. Lived in South Tempe.
Shareholder in the Tempe Irrigating Canal Co., 1923.
Owned N2 NW4 and S2 NE4 section 11,
T.1 S.,R.4 E. (144 acres), in 1924.
He was a long-time member of the SRP board of directors, and served two years as Vice President and 16 years as President, 1954-1971. During his tenure, the final payment was made to the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the loan used to construct Roosevelt Dam. He was director of the Arizona State Reclamation Association, the Colorado River Water Users Association, the
Arizona Water Resources Committee, and the Central Arizona Water Project Association. He was an honorary member of the Arizona Water Commission.
He was a director of the First National Bank of Arizona, and President of the Tempe Rotary Club. Tempe Union High School District, Board minutes
Board member, Tempe Union High School District, 1930-1950.
He also served on boards of the Heard Museum, Tempe Community Hospital, and Colorado-Ute Electrical Association. He was also a member of the Governors' Committee to Employ the Handicapped, the Arizona club, and the Arizona Country Club.
In 1968, he was invited to the White House to witness President Lyndon Johnson's signing of the authorization of the Central Arizona Project. In 1984, a 5-acre park at Lakeshore and Chilton drives was named in his honor.
At the time of his death, he was considered to be one of the nation's authorities on water and power resources.
Lived on 6th Street in 1910, R 2 in 1923
BIO-Corbell
Federal census (Tempe), 1900, 1910
OSB 61; TH-231
Tempe Telephone Directory, 1940
Tempe Union High School District, Board minutes
Double Butte Cemetery, Tempe Tempe CD1921, '23, 1929
Person TypeIndividual
