William Henry Robinson Collection

William Henry Robinson, Phoenix businessman and author, was born to Henry Martyn and Anna Adaline (Fulwiler) Robinson in Lexington, Illinois on September 24, 1867. He attended preparatory school in Parkville (Missouri?) in 1885. He arrived in Phoenix in 1886, where he served as timekeeper for the construction of the head of the Arizona Canal, a project supervised by his uncle W. D. Fulwiler.

In 1888, after completing the program at the Woodbury Commercial School in Los Angeles, Robinson returned to Phoenix to serve as private secretary to William J. Murphy, president of the Arizona Canal and Improvement Company. He married Grace Perley (1870-1945) in 1894 and they raised two children, Dorothy Fulwiler (1895-1990) and Bruce Perley (1899-1981), in Phoenix and Chandler. After retiring from the business because of lung hemorrhages, Robinson supervised the construction of the Ingelside Club on behalf of William J. Murphy. Grace Perley Robinson became the club's manager. The Robinsons later moved to Chandler to serve in similar capacities at the San Marcos Hotel. Once settled in Chandler, William Robinson began writing substantial works of history and fiction, including Under Turquoise Skies. Robinson died in 1939.