Eloy’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 3 old photos of Eloy. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗In 1880, as tracks were being laid for the Southern Pacific Railroad's Sunset Route, a small number of boxcars were used as a camp for railroad workers. It was discovered that cotton could be grown in the area's climate. In 1902, the Southern Pacific Railroad named the area train stop Eloy, an acronym for "East Line Of Yuma". Alternately, there is a legend that the area was initially called "Eloi", after a railroad employee looked around at the barren desert and said, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Aramaic and Hebrew for "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"). A town called Cotton City was established in 1918. In 1919, the newly established post office rejected that name in favor of Eloy. As part of Pinal County, the city incorporated in 1949.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Eloy’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Eloy’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🗓️Date a photo1 archive item has no date+2 🔁Retake an old viewSchoolBus1940, 1940: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Eloy
See all 4 →
Eloy, decade by decade
1990s
unknown1 item
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as SchoolBus1940 (1940) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (8) and the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.