This black-and-white photograph shows members of the Kortsen family of Stanfield, one of the few surviving visual records of a family whose name is tied to a consequential chapter in western Pinal County’s growth. 

The Kortsens have been part of Stanfield since at least 1940, working as farmers and operating businesses in the area. Over time, members of the family also took on leadership roles in the community, becoming involved in local decisions that carried lasting consequences. 

The most significant of those decisions involved transportation. 

“James Kortsen Sr. was instrumental in getting Highway 347 built and paved from Stanfield and Maricopa to Phoenix,” according to a 2016 Stanfield School Hall of Fame program. The route followed the abandoned Eastern Arizona Railroad bed between Maricopa and Tempe and created the first direct connection between western Pinal County and Phoenix. 

That road, its terminus at State Route 84 near Stanfield, is the reason Maricopa exists in its modern form. 

Pinal County formally recognized the Kortsen family’s role by dedicating West Pinal Park along SR 84 as Kortsen Park. The 160-acre park, about 4 miles west of SR 347, carries the family name and remains a major public space in the area.

The family’s involvement in Stanfield also included local governance. 

Jack Elmer “Pop” Kortsen Sr., who died in 1998, was a longtime Stanfield farmer who served as president of the Stanfield Elementary School District board and on the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service board. Those positions placed him directly in decisions affecting education and agriculture in the area. 

Another generation remained tied to Stanfield farming. 

Jack Kortsen Jr., a grandson of James Kortsen Sr., was raised on a cotton farm in Stanfield and later returned to work that land. He was also involved locally with young people through team roping and school sports. He died in 2020 at age 62.