History: Betting the farm

Ed and Tootsie Farrell, along with their children, Edna and Eddie Jay, moved to Maricopa in 1948 to farm cotton. News broke that Maricopa’s land was just right for this enterprise, and Ed Farrell took advantage of it.

Ed Farrell eventually operated a cotton harvesting operation called Farrell & Farrell Cotton-Picking, and later a tillage business with Eddie Jay. He built a warehouse next to the railroad tracks where farmers could store their wheat and vegetables and ship them to the market.

Crops weren’t all Farrell saw in Maricopa’s future. He saw potential economic growth.

Farrell bought the Maricopa Cash Market, renamed Maricopa Mercantile and Mayfair Market, and other businesses including the Chevron Station, Shell Oil Station, an insurance company and Headquarters Bar.

He later sold many of those businesses.

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