Del Webb
Encyclopedia
Delbert Eugene Webb was an American
construction
magnate, real estate developer and sports-team owner, who is most significant for founding and developing the retirement community
of Sun City
, Arizona
.
, California
, the son of Ernest G Webb, a fruit farmer, and Henrietta S Webb. Webb dropped out of high school to become a carpenter's apprentice. In 1919 or 1920, Webb married Hazel Lenora Church, a graduate nurse. In 1920, Webb was a ship fitter, and they were living with his parents and two younger brothers in Placer County, California
. At the age of 28, he suffered typhoid fever
, and as a result moved to Phoenix
, Arizona
, to recover.
, including the construction of the Poston War Relocation Center
near Parker, Arizona
. Poston interned over 17,000 Japanese-Americans and at the time was the third largest “city” in Arizona.
He was associated with Howard Hughes
and golfed with Hughes, Bing Crosby
, Bob Hope
, and Robert
and Barry Goldwater
.
A lifelong baseball fan, in 1945
Webb and partners Dan Topping
and Larry MacPhail
purchased the New York Yankees
team in Major League Baseball
for US$2.8 million. After buying out MacPhail in October 1947
, Webb and Topping would remain owners of the Yankees until selling the club to CBS
during the 1964
season.
In 1948, in Tucson
, Arizona, Webb was contracted to build 600 houses and a shopping center called Pueblo Gardens. This was a prelude to Sun City
, Arizona, which was launched January 1, 1960, with five models, a shopping center, recreation center and golf course. The opening weekend drew 100,000 people, ten times more than expected, and resulted in a Time
magazine cover story.
Webb also developed a chain of motor hotels under the “Hiway House
” name, 'formal' hotels called "Del Webb's Towne House", and built the Las Vegas
Flamingo
hotel for Bugsy Siegel
. He later owned his own casinos, the Sahara and The Mint
in Las Vegas, and the Sahara Tahoe at Stateline, NV. Del Webb Middle School, in Henderson
, Nevada
, opened in 2005.
Webb was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame
in 2000.
Webb died at age 75 in Rochester
, Minnesota
, following surgery for lung cancer
, less than two months after Topping’s death.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
magnate, real estate developer and sports-team owner, who is most significant for founding and developing the retirement community
Retirement community
A retirement community, or active adult community, is a very broad, generic term that covers many varieties of housing for retirees and seniors - especially designed or geared for people who no longer work, or restricted to those over a certain age . It differs from a retirement home which is a...
of Sun City
Sun City, Arizona
Sun City is a census-designated place and unincorporated town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 38,309 at the 2000 census...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
Early life
He was born in FresnoFresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, the son of Ernest G Webb, a fruit farmer, and Henrietta S Webb. Webb dropped out of high school to become a carpenter's apprentice. In 1919 or 1920, Webb married Hazel Lenora Church, a graduate nurse. In 1920, Webb was a ship fitter, and they were living with his parents and two younger brothers in Placer County, California
Placer County, California
Placer County is a county located in both the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada regions of the U.S. state of California, in what is known as the Gold Country. It stretches from the suburbs of Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border. Because of the expansion of the Greater Sacramento,...
. At the age of 28, he suffered typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
, and as a result moved to Phoenix
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...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, to recover.
Career
In 1928, he began his namesake company which was a construction contractor. He received many military contracts during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, including the construction of the Poston War Relocation Center
Poston War Relocation Center
The Poston War Relocation Center, located in Yuma County of southwestern Arizona, was the largest of the ten American internment camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II....
near Parker, Arizona
Parker, Arizona
Parker is a town in and the county seat of La Paz County, Arizona, United States, on the Colorado River in Parker Valley. The population was 3,140 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. Poston interned over 17,000 Japanese-Americans and at the time was the third largest “city” in Arizona.
He was associated with Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
and golfed with Hughes, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, and Robert
Robert Goldwater
Robert Goldwater was an art historian, African arts scholar and the first director of the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, from 1957 to 1973. He was married to the late French-born American artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.Born in New York City, Goldwater received his BA in 1929 from...
and Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
.
A lifelong baseball fan, in 1945
1945 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: Detroit Tigers over Chicago Cubs *All-Star Game cancelled due to flight restrictions. However, inter-league games were played during the All-Star break.-Other champions:...
Webb and partners Dan Topping
Dan Topping
Daniel Reid Topping was a part owner and president of the New York Yankees baseball team from 1945 to 1964. Daniel Reid Topping was the son of Rhea Reid and Henry J. Topping. Rhea Reid, the daughter of Daniel G. Reid, known as the "Tinplate King" for his vast wealth in the tin industry, was the...
and Larry MacPhail
Larry MacPhail
Leland Stanford "Larry" MacPhail, Sr. was an American lawyer, and an executive and innovator in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
purchased the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
team in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
for US$2.8 million. After buying out MacPhail in October 1947
1947 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Brooklyn Dodgers *All-Star Game, July 8 at Wrigley Field: American League, 2-1-Other champions:*First College World Series: California...
, Webb and Topping would remain owners of the Yankees until selling the club to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
during the 1964
1964 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: St. Louis Cardinals over New York Yankees ; Bob Gibson, MVP*All-Star Game, July 7 at Shea Stadium: National League, 7–4; Johnny Callison, MVP-Other champions:*College World Series: Minnesota...
season.
In 1948, in Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Arizona, Webb was contracted to build 600 houses and a shopping center called Pueblo Gardens. This was a prelude to Sun City
Sun City, Arizona
Sun City is a census-designated place and unincorporated town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 38,309 at the 2000 census...
, Arizona, which was launched January 1, 1960, with five models, a shopping center, recreation center and golf course. The opening weekend drew 100,000 people, ten times more than expected, and resulted in a Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine cover story.
Webb also developed a chain of motor hotels under the “Hiway House
Hiway House
Hiway House was a motor hotel chain founded in 1956 at Phoenix, Arizona, by the late Del Webb, a construction magnate who owned the New York Yankees baseball team and later created the Sun City retirement communities. A remnant of the old Hiway House chain is still in operation at Albuquerque, New...
” name, 'formal' hotels called "Del Webb's Towne House", and built the Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
Flamingo
Flamingo Las Vegas
The Flamingo Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada and is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp.. The property offers a casino along with 3,626 hotel rooms...
hotel for Bugsy Siegel
Bugsy Siegel
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American gangster who was involved with the Genovese crime family...
. He later owned his own casinos, the Sahara and The Mint
The Mint Las Vegas
The Mint Las Vegas was a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Opened in 1957, a 26-story hotel tower was added in 1965. In 1988, The Mint was sold and became part of Binion's Horseshoe....
in Las Vegas, and the Sahara Tahoe at Stateline, NV. Del Webb Middle School, in Henderson
Henderson, Nevada
-Demographics:According to the 2000 census, there were 175,381 people, 66,331 households, and 47,095 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,200.8 people per square mile . There were 71,149 housing units at an average density of 892.8 per square mile...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, opened in 2005.
Webb was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame
Gaming Hall of Fame
The Gaming Hall of Fame was established in 1989 to recognize individuals who have played a significant role in the gaming-entertainment industry....
in 2000.
Webb died at age 75 in Rochester
Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, following surgery for lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, less than two months after Topping’s death.
Personal life
In 1919, Webb married his childhood sweetheart, Hazel Lenora Church. They divorced in 1952. In 1961, Webb married Toni Ince (aged 41) a buyer for Bullock's-Wilshire department store, Los Angeles. Toni Ince Webb (January 24, 1921-July 10, 2008) lived in Beverly Hills, California until her death.See also
- Sun City Palm Desert, California
- Sun City Summerlin, NevadaSun City Summerlin, NevadaSun City Summerlin is an age-restricted community. Completed in 1999, this was Del Webb's first foray into Southern Nevada active-retirement developments. Sun City is located in Clark County, Nevada...
- Sun City Anthem Florence, ArizonaFlorence, Arizona-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,054 people, 2,226 households, and 1,540 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,056.2 people per square mile . There were 3,216 housing units at an average density of 387.7 per square mile...
- Sun City TexasSun City TexasSun City Texas is a age-restricted community located in Georgetown, Texas , a city 35 miles north of Austin off I-35. It is part of the chain of Sun City communities started by Del Webb.|...
Georgetown, TexasGeorgetown, TexasGeorgetown is a city and also the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States with a population of 47,400 at the 2010 census. Southwestern University, founded in 1840, is the oldest university in Texas and is located in Georgetown, about 1/2 mile east of the historic square... - Sun City Vistoso Tucson/Oro Valley, Arizona