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Murphy's Bridle Path - Phoenix Hiking Trails5953Murphy's Bridle Path - Phoenix Hiking Trailstext/html; charset=utf-8 PHX11Videohttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/toT8ZeCHrcE/hqdefault.jpgMurphy's Bridle Path - Phoenix Hiking Trails0360640<iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/toT8ZeCHrcE' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0'></iframe>https://i.ytimg.com/vi/toT8ZeCHrcE/hqdefault.jpg360640The Murphy's Bridle Path begins at the intersection of Central Ave. and Bethany Home Road and ends two and half miles north at the Arizona Canal. This particular landscape or streetscape history is significant in telling the story of how Phoenix developed in the late 1880s and the early years of the 20th century. William John Murphy, who moved from Illinois to Phoenix in 1883, built the Arizona Canal and established the Valley citrus industry in the northern extension of Central Avenue in 1895. The roadway cut through the Orangewood subdivision he developed and was first paved in 1920. The earliest reference to the Murphy Bridle Path that the city's historic preservation office discovered was in 1948 when the bridle path was dedicated by the "Arizona Horse Lover's Club." The North Central Avenue streetscape is now on the Phoenix Historic Property Register and has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.