El Rio History

I was reading about our town's founding and was surprised to learn that El Rio was originally named New Jerusalem back in 1875 by the owner of the general store. The town's name was later changed to El Rio around 1900, which translates to "The River" in Spanish, likely due to its location near the Santa Clara River. Do you know how the name change came about or what you think the town would be like if it had kept its original name?