Oyadaibuc The town of Gila Bend is situated near an ancient
Hohokam village. Father
Eusebio Francisco Kino was the first European to visit, arriving in 1699 on his first journey of exploration to the
Colorado River. The Hohokam site along the fertile banks of the
Gila River had been abandoned, and other tribes lived in the vicinity. 132
Pima people lived in a
ranchería called
Oyadaibuc, or as Kino named it
San Felipe y Santiago del Oyadaibuc, near the modern town, and other Pima lived in three rancherias up river to the north mixed with the
Cocomaricopa or Opa. During one of his three visits to Gila Bend, Kino counted 960 Opas living in their own rancherias down river to the west of Oyadaibuc as far as a few miles beyond
Agua Caliente. The Opa and Pima used the flood waters of the river to irrigate their crops. Oyadaibuc was also visited by
Juan Bautista de Anza, commander of the Presidio at
Tubac and founder of the city of
San Francisco, and by Father
Francisco Tomas Garces in 1774. From 1849, what became the
Southern Emigrant Trail passed through the area, which by 1854 had acquired the name
Tezotal or
Tesotal, from the scientific name of the
desert ironwood tree (
Olneya tesota), given it in the botanical report of the Boundary Survey along the Gila River led by
William H. Emory.
Gila Ranch From 1857, the place at was named "Gila Ranch" and was a
stagecoach water and camping stop on the
San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line. In 1858 as "Gila Ranch Station", it was a
stage station on the more famous
Butterfield Overland Mail route to California. Gila Bend Station was located east of
Murderer's Grave Station and west of Maricopa Wells Station across the waterless Forty Mile Desert. In 1859,
Desert Station was established with its own well on
West Prong Waterman Wash, roughly midway across the Forty Mile Desert. Also two tanks were established, one midway between Desert Station and Gila Ranch and the other midway between Desert Station and Maricopa Wells stations, to water the horses. The two riverside stations carried the water to supply these tanks. In 1860 the Gila Ranch station was burned down, but soon rebuilt. In 1861, the Butterfield line shut down, but during the
American Civil War Gila Ranch remained a stop for freighters to and from the riverport of
Arizona City on the
Colorado River, passing travelers, the troops of the
Confederate Army that briefly passed through and then the
California Column of the
Union Army that invaded
Confederate Arizona and occupied
New Mexico Territory in 1862.
Gila Bend After the Civil War, from 1866 other stage routes were established in the
Arizona Territory, and the Gila Ranch Station again was an active stage station. A settlement, Gila Bend, grew up around it from 1865 and acquired a post office at the station on May 1, 1871. Stage and freight routes, especially from the mining camps and
boom towns in central Arizona, converged here especially after the railroad arrived in 1879. In 1880, after wells had been drilled by the railroad near their Gila Bend station (that was located away from the river), the population began to move to settle at a new town south-southwest of the old one near the station. Among the first to move was the postmaster at the old stage station, now postmaster of the new town. The nickname the "Crossroads of the Southwest" stems from the area having been part of an important transportation route in the settling, development and growth of the
American Southwest. Gila Bend was the "center of a wheel", with spokes leading in many directions. On December 14, 2006, Volkswagen of America, Inc., leased of land at a cost of $55 million for 25 years, west of Gila Bend, on which they plan to develop a new automobile proving ground. Gila Bend enjoys a minor notability among tourists and aficionados of
roadside attractions. Besides the quirky welcome sign, the town boasts several roadside sculptures and the Space Age Lodge motel and restaurant (opened in 1963), named for its "Space Age" themed architecture and decor. In 2010
Abengoa Solar secured a US$1.45 billion loan guarantee to build a large 280
megawatt concentrated solar power plant in Gila Bend. It was estimated that the project would employ a peak of 1,500 workers, with an operational permanent employment of approximately 85 workers. The
Solana Generating Station began providing power for
Arizona Public Service in 2013. ==Geography==