Upon completion of the Arizona canal and its 20 laterals in 1885, four farming families who had arrived here from the Midwest settled the area. They purchased land, platted it and named it Peoria after their hometown in Illinois. These four habitations constituted the visible Peoria settlement located on the old desert freighting road between Phoenix and the town of Seymour on the Hassayampa.
These early settlers either built adobe homes or used large tents. One half of the tent contained a floor and served as the living quarters while the other half housed grain, hay, spare furniture and tools. Rattlesnakes, scorpions and desert rats often sought refuge under the floor from the hot desert sun. Life was even more difficult if floods washed out the canal diversion dam. When this happened, it was a six-mile trek to the Grand Canal for domestic and stock water. Once there, the settlers had to dip water from the canal into barrels. The water trips often occurred every other day and lasted for months to keep up with demands.
With the growth in production
at Vulture Mine came an increase in traffic along this route, and so it
was named Grand Avenue in 1887. By 1888, Peoria was really on the map
with the establishment of a U.S. Post Office for its soaring population
of 27. After the proposed town site had been surveyed and a well dug in
the northwest corner of section 26 the center of Peoria was firmly set
at Washington and Grand Avenue.
To accommodate the expanding community, Central School was built in 1906
and used continuously for the next 70 years. Today it is home to the Peoria
Museum where tantalizing tidbits from the past await you.
Gradually our town was born as entrepreneurial businesses moved in to meet the needs of the growing community. By 1970 the town still only had about 2,500 people. However, it did have all of the shops of a small, self-sufficient and warm-hearted community. Today, with a population of more than 130,000, Peoria continues to grow and prosper.
