Gila Bend, Arizona
| Gila Bend, Arizona | ||
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| Town | ||
A humorous, numerically outdated sign welcomes people to Gila Bend, Arizona.
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 Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona |
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 Gila Bend, Arizona
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| Coordinates: 32°57′0″N 112°43′29″W / 32.95000°N 112.72472°WCoordinates: 32°57′0″N 112°43′29″W / 32.95000°N 112.72472°W | ||
| Country | United States | |
| State | Arizona | |
| County | Maricopa | |
| Founded | 1872 | |
| Incorporated | 1962 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Ron Henry | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 22.8 sq mi (59.1 km2) | |
| • Land | 22.8 sq mi (59.1 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) | |
| Elevation | 735 ft (224 m) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 1,922 | |
| • Estimate (2014) | 2,001 | |
| • Density | 90.1/sq mi (34.8/km2) | |
| Time zone | MST (no DST) (UTC-7) | |
| ZIP code | 85337 | |
| Area code(s) | 928 | |
| FIPS code | 04-27050 | |
| Website | http://www.gilabendaz.org/ | |
Gila Bend (/ˌhiːlə ˈbɛnd/; O'odham: Hila Wi:n), founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is close to but not precisely at the community's current location. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 1,922.
Just outside the town is the San Lucy district (O'odham: Weco Cekṣanĭ) of the Tohono O'odham Nation, with a tiny settlement, San Lucy (O'odham: Si:l Mek) bordering the town itself.
The town of Gila Bend is situated near an ancient Hohokam village. When Father Eusebio Francisco Kino visited in 1699, the older site along fertile banks of the Gila River had been abandoned and other tribes, lived in the vicinity. 132 Pima people lived in a rancheria 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. Kino's expedition 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. As late as the 1820s Maricopa were living at Gila Bend. After the 1820s, the Maricopa, under relentless pressure from the Yuma and other tribes, and population loss from epidemics, had been compelled to leave the Gila Bend and join the Pima in the Middle Gila region. By the time of the California Gold Rush the Maricopa villages, were all located east of the Sierra Estrella, on the Gila River, below the Pima Villages.
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