Did you know Maricopa Elementary School briefly carried a different name? In 1953, just before the beginning of the school year, the red brick schoolhouse (built by community members in 1914) was destroyed by fire. According to local historian Patricia Brock, Elton K. Porter died of a heart attack while fighting the fire. Porter farmed cotton in Maricopa and was a member of the school board. When the elementary school was rebuilt on the corner of Honeycutt Avenue and Maricopa Road (now John Wayne Parkway), it was named Elton K. Porter Grade School. Though the name reverted to Maricopa Elementary School in the 1960s, Porter was also remembered with the naming of an important north-south thoroughfare.

Photo courtesy MUSD/Maricopa Historical Society


This item appears in the June issue of InMaricopa.