"In T. 8 S., R 8 E. Station on S.P.R.R. about 6 miles
west of Picacho. Station established many years ago. "In the year 1902
the Southern Pacific built a witch here, naming it Eloi, a word taken from
the Syrian language meaning 'My God'. It was soon called Eloy after the
Spanish pronounciation. In 1916, a couple of men came from California,
laid out a town site, promoted the planting of cotton and renamed the town
Cotton City. The Southern Pacific would not accept the new name and carried
all amil for Cotton City on thorugh. After man ydisputes and some litigation
the town became Eloy for good." Letter Mrs. M.M. Fordham, President Woman's
Club, Eloy. Post Office established May 1, 1919, George L. Stronach PM."
Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona
Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1997
P. 144
"Some time between 1905 and 1918 the railroad applied the name Eloy to a section house here.
There was no community until W. L. Bernard, J.E. Myer, and John Alsdorf bought land to raise
cotton, heavily in demand following World War I. The three subdivided their land and proposed to
develop "Cotton City". They applied for a post office to be named "Cotton City", gut the postal
department elected instead to use the name of the railroad section house as that is where the mail would
be dropped.
As for the name Eloy, it is asserted locally that someone connected with the railroad took one
look at the barren desert there and named the place "Eloi," supposedly the Spanish pronounciation
for the Biblical "Eli, Lama Sabachthani?" meaning "My God, My God, why hast thou forsasken me?"
Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona's names : X marks the place
Falconer Pub. Co. : distributed by Treasure Chest Publications, c1983. P. 226
Last Updated: July 16, 2002
If
you would like to know more about the author of this site, Jeffrey Scott,
feel free to visit his homepage. In
addition, if you have any questions about this site or Arizona History,
feel free to e-mail Jeffrey
