Glendale/lndel/ is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located about nine miles (14km) northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 226,721.[1] In the late 1800s what is now known as Glendale, Arizona, was all desert. William John Murphy, a native of New Hartford, New York who resided in the town of Flagstaff in what was then known as the territory of Arizona, was in charge of building a 40-mile long Arizona Canal from Granite Reef to New River for the Arizona Canal Company. He completed the canal, which would bring water to the desert land, in 1885.[3] Murphy was deep in debt, since he had agreed to be paid in Arizona Canal Company stock and bonds and land instead of cash.[4]