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In the late 1920s, resident Tucsonan John W. Murphey bought nearly 8,000 acres of federal and state property in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains distant north of Tucson and began to develop them.

A sufficient amount people were living in the foothills by 1931 that several of them banded together and created the Catalina Foothills School District. The first school had nine students and held classes in a garage. In 1939, Murphey sold the district its first school site, 2.2 acres just north of River Road, for $10.

Famous Tucson architect Josias Joesler designed the school and it was built by the federal Work Projects Administration.

In 1929 Murphey built an elite girls school in the center of the foothills that was attended by the daughters of some of the country's wealthiest families, including the Pillsburys, Spaldings and Kelloggs. Though Joseler didn't design the original school buildings, he was the architect on several expansions in the 1930s. In the 1940s the school was transformed into the Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch making it the first of several world-class resorts to be built in the foothills.

In 1936 Joesler and Murphey partnered up again to build St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church, considered by many to be Joesler's master piece, the very archetype of the Spanish Colonial Revival movement he helped start.

While Murphey and Joesler were developing the central foothills, the western edge, closer to Casas Adobes, was first settled by William and Maria Watson in 1912. The Watsons owned a 172-acre ranch near Pima Canyon to the south of Pusch Ridge. In the 1920s the Watsons transformed their working ranch into a guest ranch. It was sold in 1940s and was altered again into the Westward Look Resort. The resort has gone through many changes and owners over the years and astonishingly mixes its territorial rustic roots with world-class resort luxury.

Up through the 1960s the area's hillsides continued to add large luxury homes with incredible views.

In 1963, Skyline Country Club was built, providing a foothills option to the Tucson Country Club farther east, which was built in 1948. The two country clubs were the first of several to be built in the foothills.

In the 1980s two extravagant golf resorts were built, Loews Ventana Canyon and the Westin La Paloma, which have added to the area's status as a wealthy and elite community.

In 1997, an attempt to incorporate was struck down by voters and community members have beat back several attempts by Tucson to annex the region.

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