Some milestones in Rillito history
The railroad established Rillito as a place for steam locomotives to pick up water.
On April 17, 1905, Rillito got its first postmaster, Catherine Langhorne.
In the 1940s and '50s, blacks from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas came to Rillito to pick cotton.
By 1960, cotton-picking machinery was in the fields, and the humans were encouraged to go home, according to the PPEP documentary. Some did; many didn't.
In 1963, Interstate 10 reached Rillito.
By 1967, Rillito had running water. Residents no longer had to haul water from the railroad well to their homes.
1976 brought sewers and paved streets under a federal grant.
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1978 marked the opening of the Rillito Recreation Center.
In 1998, the area got an economic shot in the arm when Arizona Portland Cement got a permit to expand its operation.
