Peoria’s post office opened in 1888, and 4 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns · #47 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it
Most of Peoria was built recently: 0.1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Below: maps from 1927 on and the census since 1910.
The Peoria post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Pratt (1890) and Lake Pleasant (1926), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 300 in 19102020 census: 190,985138 years
How did Peoria get its name?
Peoria was named after Peoria, Illinois.
How historic is Peoria?
C
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Peoria is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #47 of 140 in Arizona. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Peoria’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Peoria ranks #319 on History.
Few Arizona towns list much on the Register (a typical Arizona town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Peoria’s 0.2 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Peoria’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share (±0.1 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Peoria’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Peoria’s post office has been open since 1888. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Peoria
1888–today
Pratt
1890–1895
Lake Pleasant
1926–1928
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Apollo Mobile Home ParkBraemar VIICasa Del Sol Resort East Mobile Home ParkCasa Del Sol Resort West Mobile Home ParkCasa del Sol ResortsCasa del Sol Resorts Number OneChador Mobile Home ParkCottonwood RanchDeer CreekDesert Estates Mobile Home ParkEl San Juan Trailer ParkFairwood VIIIFox GlenHoka Tiki Mobile VillageMcCoy's Mobile Home RanchOlive WestPeacock VillagePensfield PlacePeoria EstatesPeoria Palms Mobile Home ParkPeoria Polynesian VillagePeoria Polynesian Village Mobile Home ParkPioneer Village IISun Grove Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Clementine Mine AirportairportGlendale Municipal AirportairportLake PleasantlocaleLake Pleasant Landing FieldairportPrince MinemineSunrise Relief MinemineWhite Peak Minemine
1cemetery inside Peoria
Garden of Memories Columbarium and Scattering Garden
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Peoria’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Peoria’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Peoria sits in the Salt River Valley and extends into the foothills of the mountains to the north. William John Murphy, who had worked on the Arizona Canal, recruited settlers to begin a community in Arizona, many of them from Peoria, Illinois. Albert J. and Elizabeth Straw were the first to establish residency in November 1886. They were followed by William T. and Sylvia Hanna, James M. and Clara Copes, and James and Ella McMillan, all from Peoria, Illinois. An old desert road connecting Phoenix to the Hassayampa River near present-day Wickenburg was the only major transportation route in the area until 1887, when a new road was laid out. Named Grand Avenue, this road angled through the newly designed town sites of Alhambra, Glendale, and Peoria and became the main route from Phoenix to Vulture Mine. The settlers filed Peoria's plot map with the Maricopa County recorder on May 24, 1897…
The Peoria post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Peoria rank for history?
Peoria is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #47 of 140 in Arizona. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Peoria?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Central School (listed 1982, the first).
How old are the homes in Peoria?
0.1% of Peoria’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1999.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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