Paul E. Hayden & Wilford J. Hayden
Wilford & Paul Hayden
Buckeye - Maricopa County
Inducted in 2020
In 1886, true Arizona Pioneers, Wilford and Mittie J. Hayden, moved from their little farm in Mexico, Missouri to the Arizona Territory. They settled just south of what is now Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. They were pursuing farmland made available by the Homestead Act of 1862. Unfortunately, they were washed out by the flood of 1891. So, they moved to Scottsdale, settling north of McDowell Road and east of Scottsdale Road. This is where community development established the road running east and west called Oak Street. The three-mile-long dirt road leading from Oak Street to the Hayden’s 240-acre farm was christened Hayden Road. Wouldn’t Wilford and Mittie be surprised to see Hayden Road today?
Wilford farmed, growing cotton and alfalfa, raised pigs, and started a dairy while Mittie, who was very civic minded, became involved in education, serving on the Scottsdale School Board of Trustees from 1907 to 1910. She was also one of the founding members of the Methodist Church in Scottsdale. In 1912, the year Arizona became a state, Wilford and Mittie built the house where their six children, Augusta, Hugh, Ethel, Wilford (W.E.), Helen, and Ruth were raised, as well as many of their grandchildren. In 1939, Mittie was knocked down by a bull and later that year succumbed to her injuries. Wilford passed away ten years later.
Born in 1897, son, Wilford E. (Boy) Hayden worked on the family farm and dairy. Hoping to become a teacher, he pursued his formal education at Tempe Normal which is now ASU. He was drafted to pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals, but didn’t go because he was the only surviving son (Hugh had passed away earlier) and was needed to run the farm. He later sponsored the Scottsdale Blues semi-pro baseball team.
Wilford married Thelma Violet Cox in June of 1933. That was also the year he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Salt River Project. He continued many years of service on this board and to the surrounding community. Wilford and Thelma resided on the “home place” in Scottsdale for the next 26 years and raised 8 children, Paul, Roberta, Wilford J., Beverly, Sandra, Karen, Everett, and Cynthia. When Motorola moved into the area, they complained about the smell of the dairy. It soon became apparent that they were being crowded out, so in January of 1959, Wilford sold their place that he had inherited from his parents and moved the family to Buckeye. They purchased a farm from Jewell Turner on Turner Road and Southern Avenue. Part of this farm was once owned by Thelma’s parents, John and Violet Cox. Wilford E. (Boy) Hayden passed away in February of 1965. Thelma continued to live on the farm and kept the books well into the 1980’s. She passed away in 1994.
Wilford and Thelma’s sons, Paul and Wilford, both studied agriculture. Paul went to ASU in the fall of 1952 and Wilford attended U of A in the fall of 1958. They came home from college and put that education to good use managing the family farm in Buckeye. It was during this time that they sold the several hundred head of cattle that they had brought with them from Scottsdale to focus on farming. During the mid-1960’s, Paul and Wilford also spent several years farming in Kununurra, West Australia. At that time, Australia was trying to attract farmers to come grow cotton by offering discounted prices on farmland. It was Australia’s goal to develop the Ord River Valley in the Kimberly region. Following their father’s passing, Wilford returned to Buckeye in 1968 and Paul came back in 1973. Hayden Farms incorporated in 1968 and twelve years later, the eight siblings formed a partnership.
Both brothers married and raised families on the Hayden Farms. Wilford married Karen Diann Gustafsson in December 1973. Five children were born of this union: Walter Daniel, Charles Bradley, Kimberly Diann, Wilford Hugh, Bryon Leonard. Paul married Pat A. Hayden in Tempe, Arizona in December 1976. The couple also had five children: Ronald, Jerry, Janet, Paula and Mark.
In the ensuing years, Paul and Wilford expanded Hayden Farms to 1190 acres. The two brothers were successful in farming. They continued to grow cotton, alfalfa, safflower, Durham wheat, and sugar beets. Extremely successful in growing sugar beets, they were routinely recognized for their high yields. Wilford also served on the Arizona Sugar Beets Grower’s Board. When beet sugar was forced out of the market by cane sugar and Spreckels Sugar Company pulled out of the beet market in Arizona, the Hayden brothers increased their efforts in cotton, participating in growing several experimental varieties and utilizing different farming techniques. From 1980 to 1983, Hayden Farms participated in a study with the University of Arizona Ag Extension Office to determine if terminating irrigation earlier in the season could not only reduce costs but also increase cotton yields. Successful, they continued the practice and routinely saw yields of 3.8 to 4 bales per acre.
In December of 1987, and again in 1991, Hayden Farms received the Goodyear Conservation Farmer of the Year Award for the Buckeye – Roosevelt Natural Resource Conservation District. The Goodyear Company recognized them for their outstanding efforts in soil and water conservation. Realizing the need to protect the soil and maintain soil productivity, Paul and Wilford rotated two years cotton/two years grain. They also practiced an irrigation philosophy of small, frequent applications on every other row that saved untold hundreds of acre-feet of water.
In 1995, Paul and Wilford’s youngest sister, Cynthia, took over the bookkeeping for the farm. Paul retired from daily farming activities in 1999 but stayed involved until his passing in December 2017. Wilford continued to operate the farm until the first part of the farm sold in 2017. The final part of the sale was completed on December 9th, two years to the day of Paul’s passing and 2 days before Wilford passed on December 11, 2019. Karen, Wilford’s wife, still lives in the house they built on the land purchased from the farm in 1976. It was here that they raised their five children. Cynthia and her husband, Kenny, purchased, and still live in, the family home on the farm.
Affiliations
Paul E. Hayden
Buckeye Town Council
Buckeye Elks Lodge, founding member
Elks Sponsorship Committee, chairman
Wilford E. Hayden
Arizona National Guard Veteran
Palo Verde Elementary School Board, 8 Years with 1 Year as President
4-H Tractor Club Leader, 2 Years
Arizona Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Club, President
Arizona Sugar Beet Board
Acme Gin Board
