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History · Yuma Proving Ground

56% of Yuma Proving Ground’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 18 old photos and papers and maps from 1929 on.

0on the National Register
56%homes built before 1940
18old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Yuma Proving Ground’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Yuma Proving Ground’s past

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

A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers, 1975–1994.Old housesHalf of Yuma Proving Ground’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · By decade

Yuma Proving Ground, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1970s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s6 items
ACMR remote unit (1)1975ACMR remote unit (1)ACMR remote unit (2)1975ACMR remote unit (2)ACMR remote unit (3)1975ACMR remote unit (3)ACMR remote unit (4)1975ACMR remote unit (4)ACMR remote unit (5)1975ACMR remote unit (5)V-150 climbing1975V-150 climbing
1980s–1990s12 items
Untitled photo1986Untitled photoOpfor Cobras fly Warsaw Pact-style formations at Yuma1987Opfor Cobras fly Warsaw Pact-style formations at YumaXM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma1994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop YumaBookXM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-11994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-1XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-101994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-10XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-2 (cropped)1994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-2 (cropped)XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-21994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-2XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-31994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-3XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-41994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-4XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-51994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-5XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-61994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-6XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-71994XM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma-7
The story

How Yuma Proving Ground came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Yuma Proving Ground.

Read it all →

The presence of the U.S. Army in Yuma goes back to 1850, when Fort Yuma was constructed on a hill overlooking the important Yuma crossing of the Colorado River. Soldiers at Fort Yuma maintained peace and protected the important Yuma Crossing, which was used by thousands of travelers each year.

The Army constructed a second facility in 1865, the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, to act as a supply base for Army posts throughout Arizona and parts of New Mexico. Supplies were delivered by riverboats and transported from the depot to military outposts by wagon. After Fort Yuma and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot closed in the 1880s, the Army did not return to Yuma on a permanent basis until World War II.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Yuma Proving Ground, 1929 to 1994

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1929On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1975In the archiveACMR remote unit (1)
  4. 1986In the archiveUntitled photo
  5. 1994In the archiveXM8 Armored Gun System airdrop Yuma
On the map

Yuma Proving Ground on the map, 1929 to 1979

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

Yuma Proving Ground on the 1929 USGS mapYuma Proving Ground on the 1943 USGS mapYuma Proving Ground on the 1955 USGS mapYuma Proving Ground on the 1979 USGS map1929Laguna 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 Yuma Proving Ground.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

ACMR remote unit (1)
Retake this viewACMR remote unit (1), 1975

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Yuma Proving Ground’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Yuma Proving Ground

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

See all →
Cesar ChavezMexican-American farm worker, labor leader, and… · b. 1927
Eduardo FrancoAmerican actor · b. 1994
Ryan BedfordAmerican speed skater · b. 1986
Charles BrinleyActor · b. 1880
Curley CulpAmerican football player · b. 1946
R
Regina RomeroAmerican politician · b. 1974
Help out

Finish Yuma Proving Ground’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewACMR remote unit (1): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Yuma Proving Ground’s history

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 Wikimedia Commons (18), Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.