Gila Bend’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 4 old photos of Gila Bend. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The town of Gila Bend is situated near an ancient Hohokam village. Father Eusebio Francisco Kino was the first European to visit, arriving in 1699 on his first journey of exploration to the Colorado River. The Hohokam site along the fertile banks of the Gila River had been abandoned, and other tribes lived in the vicinity. 132 Pima people lived in a ranchería called Oyadaibuc, or as Kino named it San Felipe y Santiago del Oyadaibuc, near the modern town, and other Pima lived in three rancherias up river to the north mixed with the Cocomaricopa or Opa. During one of his three visits to Gila Bend, Kino counted 960 Opas living in their own rancherias down river to the west of Oyadaibuc as far as a few miles beyond Agua Caliente. The Opa and Pima used the flood waters of the river to irrigate their crops.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Gila Bend’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gila Bend’s history is told.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District …, 1850: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Gila Bend
See all 1 →Gila Bend, decade by decade
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as 1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Arizona - Maricopa County - ED 7-176 (1850) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.