History of the Balsz School District

The Balsz name originated with German immigrant David Balsz, an entrepreneurial Arizona pioneer who owned property in Yuma, Arizona and then migrated to the Phoenix area over 100 years ago. The Balsz family bought and sold cattle and sheep. Their 160-acre ranch was known for its fine fruit trees. They are said to have built the first brick house in Phoenix, where homes had previously been made of adobe. In 1891, Mr. Balsz secured the franchise to carry U.S. mail from Phoenix to Prescott; he used horses and buckboard wagons.

". . . with the perseverance for which the early Phoenix pioneers are known, Mrs. Balsz rounded up eleven youngsters in 1890 and again reopened the school, which continues uninterrupted to the present." John Macintosh, ASU College of Design

Video: A Brief History of the Balsz District related by Dr. Smtih