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History · El Nido

El Nido’s post office opened in 1920

Most of El Nido was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: maps from 1918 on.

1920first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
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Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How El Nido began

When was El Nido founded?

1920

The El Nido post office opened in 1920, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 331106 years
Founding year: the first El Nido post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about El Nido’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 El Nido are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19184 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1987. Watch El Nido change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start El Nido’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

El Nido on the map, 1918 to 1987

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

El Nido on the 1918 USGS mapEl Nido on the 1948 USGS mapEl Nido on the 1960 USGS mapEl Nido on the 1987 USGS map1918Lingard sheet · 1:31,680

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

The story

How El Nido came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of El Nido.

Read it all →

El Nido was founded early in the 20th century when the development of irrigation enabled intensified farming of the area. El Nido is Spanish for "the nest", and the name is associated with the early Spanish land grant, Rancho Chowchilla. The El Nido School District was created in 1914, and a school building designed by William Bedesen was built in 1915. The El Nido Irrigation District was organized in 1928 and began supplying water for irrigation in 1932. Cotton was the principal crop in the area and a large gin was built there in 1937.

The US Army built the Potter Auxiliary Field (1942–1945) to train World War II pilots in El Nido.

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.

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Questions about El Nido’s history

What year was El Nido founded?

The El Nido post office opened in 1920, 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 →
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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.