While the area of Tempe was settled before the area of Phoenix, Tempe was incorporated years later and has a much smaller population. However, Tempe is also the home of the oldest and largest campus of Arizona State University. The corporate headquarters of US Airways is also located in Tempe. The city's name is credited to Darrell Duppa, an early pioneer who suggested the name in 1879 after comparing the Salt River Valley (when viewed from the summit of Hayden Butte) to the Vale of Tempe, a location near Mount Olympus in Greece.

The 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature chose Tempe as the site of the Territorial Normal School ( a school for educating school teachers) in 1885. That school evolved over time into Arizona State University. The Maricopa & Phoenix Railroad built a railroad line across the Salt River and into Tempe in 1887. Over the next few years, Tempe boomed as it became the business hub for the surrounding agricultural region.

These days, with companies like US Airways, Insight Enterprises, Lifelock, First Solar, Limelight Networks, Mobile Mini and Fulton Homes headquartered in Tempe, the city has become its own center of commerce and education and not just another suburb of Phoenix.

Tempe, Arizona
The Hayden Ferry Lakeside development, just north of downtown Tempe