Phoenix Then and Now® (Then and Now)Phoenix Then and Now takes 70 vintage photos of the city sustained by the Salt River and compares them with the same view today Phoenixs origins date back to 700 AD, when the area, named Pueblo Grande by the Spanish, was home to a progressive agricultural community who constructed canal irrigation systems that fed off the Salt River. The U. S. military sparked the redevelopment of Phoenix and other towns in the Salt River valley by establishing Fort