Sunnyslope Mountain - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sunnyslope Mountain a.k.a. "S" Mountain is a large, rocky, nearly symmetrical hill in the Sunnyslope section of Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

. It is located near Central Avenue and Hatcher. The southern slope of the mountain is adorned with a 150 foot white majuscule "S". The mountain, in particular the large "S", can be seen from thirty miles away on a clear day, and is distinctly visible to nearby airplane passengers. Although the mountain is part of the Phoenix Mountains

Phoenix Mountains

The Phoenix Mountains are a mountain range located in central Phoenix, Arizona. With the exception of Mummy Mountain, they are part of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve...

, the mountain is most closely associated with Sunnyslope High School

Sunnyslope High School

Sunnyslope High School is in the Glendale Union High School District in Phoenix, Arizona and offers courses for grades 9–12.-School Description:...

. Each year, the freshmen class is assigned the task of hiking up the mountain and giving the "S" a fresh coat of white paint. At the end of the Homecoming football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

game, the "S" is traditionally outlined with red flares which are ignited by members of the freshmen football team. In June 2004, students organized to change the "S" into a "J" in honor of Josh Conard, a member of the Sunnyslope basketball team who was killed by a drunk driver. When the school was remodeled in the mid-1990s, the view of Sunnyslope Mountain from the home football stands was partially obstructed. However, Sunnyslope Mountain remains one of the most visible, artificial features of the northern skyline of the Valley of the Sun.

The mountain lends its name to the Sunnyslope
Sunnyslope, Arizona
The Sunnyslope community is a long-established cohesive neighborhood within the borders of the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The geographic boundaries are 19th Avenue to the west, Cactus Road to the north, 16th Street to the east, and Northern Avenue to the south. This area covers approximately nine...

district of Phoenix that surrounds it. Sunnyslope is generally defined as the area east and south of North Mountain and north of the Arizona Canal

Arizona Canal

The Arizona Canal is a major canal in central Maricopa County that led to the founding of several communities, now among the wealthier neighborhoods of suburban Phoenix, in the late 1880s. Flood irrigation of residential yards is still common in these neighborhoods, using a system of lateral...

. The diverse working-class neighborhood has a small downtown strip along 7th Street (with other commercial development centering around Central Avenue and Dunlap Road, including the John C. Lincoln North Mountain Medical Center) and features some of the city's most distinctive architecture.
The John C. Lincoln healthcare network began in the 1920s as the Desert Mission, a faith-based social services complex which provided medical services (and other services, including a food pantry, child care and a library) to Sunnyslope residents, many of whom relocated to Arizona to recover from tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

in the dry desert climate; as the decades progressed and the neighborhood grew tremendously in population, the medical center became a separate entity, but the Desert Mission continues its social service functions for the Sunnyslope and North Phoenix area to this day as a subsidiary of the John C. Lincoln medical group. John C. Lincoln, an Ohio inventor and industrialist who founded Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric is a company in Euclid, Ohio, United States that manufactures arc welding equipment and consumables, plasma and oxy-fuel cutting equipment and robotic welding systems. They are a worldwide leader in production of welding products and have 39 manufacturing locations, including...

, relocated to the Sunnyslope district in 1931 with his wife Helen, to treat her tuberculosis; almost immediately, the Lincolns became major financial supporters of Desert Mission and took on key leadership roles in the organization for most of the remainder of their lives. Helen Lincoln lived to the age of 102, after initially being given just two more years to live by doctors.

See also