Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Central

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Central

Central’s post office opened in 1886

Most of Central was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1960 on.

1886first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Central began

When was Central founded?

1886

The Central post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 758140 years
Founding year: the first Central post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Central’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Central are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Central’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Central’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Central came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Central.

Read it all →

Central was first homesteaded by the Cluff family in 1880. The Cluffs extended the Central Canal to their lands on the eastern side of Central. Later settlers extended the canal west and north. In 1883, construction began on a one-room white rock building to be used as a church meeting house and school house. By 1884, twenty families, including Cluff, Norton, Shurtz, Bigler, and Webster households resided in Central. In 1978 the streets were named after these early Mormon pioneers. In December 1883, the Central Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized and Joseph Cluff was ordained the first bishop. A new red brick church was built in 1885. It was the first regular meeting house built in this part of Arizona and was also the first home of the LDS Academy from December 1890 to May 1891. A plaque east of Hwy 70 on Central Road commemorates the original home of…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Central on the map, 1960 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Central. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Central on the 1960 USGS mapCentral on the 1985 USGS mapCentral on the 1997 USGS map1960Thatcher sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Central.

Famous people

Famous people close to Central

Nobody well known was born in Central itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Sarah Y. MasonAmerican screenwriter · b. 1896
Melvin JonesAmerican businessman · b. 1879
F
Frank WanlassComputer pioneer · b. 1933
Elliot JohnsonAmerican baseball player · b. 1984
L
Lorna MarshallAmerican anthropologist · b. 1898
D. J. CarrascoAmerican baseball player · b. 1977

Questions about Central’s history

What year was Central founded?

The Central post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.