Tempe, city in central Arizona, in Maricopa County and the Phoenix metropolitan area, on the Salt River. A residential and industrial city, Tempe is the seat of Arizona State University (1885). While the university is central to the city's economy, Tempe also is an industrial city, with firms producing electronics, semiconductors, computers, and computer software. The Arizona Cardinals, a National Football League team, play their home games at the university's 73,500-seat stadium, also the site of the annual Fiesta Bowl football game. A historical museum and the Gammage Center for the Performing Arts, one of the last commissions of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, are also located in the city.
The community was founded in the early 1870s when a flour mill and ferry crossing were established on the Salt River. Originally named Hayden's Ferry after town founder Charles Trumbull Hayden, residents in 1879 renamed it Tempe based on a suggested resemblance of its location with the Vale of Témbi (or Tempe) near Mount Olympus in Greece. The city developed as a farming settlement, and its main growth began in the 1950s.
