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History · Gila

Gila’s post office opened in 1875, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Gila was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1960. Its Register listing is the L. C. Ranch Headquarters. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1959 on.

1875first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Gila’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Gila began

When was Gila founded?

1875

The Gila post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1884.

2020 census: 285151 years
Founding year: the first Gila post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1884.The full story ↓

What stands out about Gila’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Gila’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gila’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewL. C. Ranch Headquarters: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Gila came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gila.

Read it all →

The Gila River valley was attractive for human settlement because the river was one of the few dependable water sources in the arid southwestern United States. In the 18th and 19th century, the Gila valley near the present day town was the homeland of the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache. One of the birthplaces proposed for the Apache warrior Geronimo is Turkey Creek Hot Springs in the Mogollon Mountains, 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of present day Gila and within the Gila Wilderness. In 1792, the Spanish rulers of Mexico established a rancheria at Gila, one of a chain of settlements in northern Mexico designed to keep peace with the Apache. The Spanish built a ten room adobe building on the site. About 1829 American mountain men built a "frontier hacienda" at Gila for trade with the Apache and fur trapping. The hacienda they built (presumably with Apache help) was substantial,…

ChaptersLyons & Campbell Ranch

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gila, 1848 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848BuiltL. C. Ranch Headquarters is built
  3. 1875Post officeThe Gila post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Gila, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
L. C. Ranch HeadquartersDate?L. C. Ranch Headquarters
Today4 recent
Saloon Portal2020Saloon PortalCalifornia Poppies Gila River Bird Habitat Gila NM 2018-08-18 11-06-092018California Poppies Gila River Bird Habitat Gila NM 20…ICP2012ICPICP2012ICP
On the map

Gila on the map, 1959 to 1990

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

Gila on the 1959 USGS mapGila on the 1990 USGS map1959Cliff 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 Gila.

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.

L. C. Ranch Headquarters
Retake this viewL. C. Ranch Headquarters

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Gila

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
L. C. Ranch Headquarters
L. C. Ranch Headquarters, built 1848
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Victorian1
L. C. Ranch HeadquartersVictorian · Built 1848

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Gila

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

See all →
Paul BenedictAmerican actor · b. 1938
Elisa QuintanaAmerican astronomer · b. 1973
James TenneyAmerican composer and music theorist · b. 1934
L
Leslie GravesAmerican actress · b. 1959
Karen ShepherdUnited States Congresswoman from Utah · b. 1940
Howie MoralesLieutenant Governor of New Mexico since 2019 · b. 1973
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Gila’s post office has been open since 1875.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Riverside
Gone or out of use
Fort Westmilitary
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Gila
Cliff GilaCliff Gila Mesa

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

CliffIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Gila’s history

What year was Gila founded?

The Gila post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1884.

What is on the National Register in Gila?

One place: the L. C. Ranch Headquarters (listed 1978).

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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.