area, about 20 miles from downtown. The closest freeway is a few miles away and the trek from Phoenix proper to here takes a good 45 minutes or so, depending on traffic; fifty years ago it must have been an even longer drive. The city was founded in 1929 (but not incorporated until 1960) by Homer C. Ludden who named the burg after his hometown of Surprise, Nebraska. (Homer must have been one of the original Arizona "Snow Birds").
Over 100,000 souls (average age of 36) live in Surprise today while 44,000 "active adults" (average age 73) inhabit "Sun City" which is touted as the first development of its kind in the whole, wide world. (More than 100,000 people showed up to view the five original model homes the first weekend that "Sun City" opened to the public a half century ago).
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