The city of Peoria, Arizona, located 14 miles northwest of Phoenix, was founded in 1886 near the eastern bank of New River by settlers from Peoria, Illinois. The pioneers used the Arizona Canal to irrigate the surrounding dry desert, turning the town into a farming community. Peoria became a stop along the Santa Fe, Prescott, and Phoenix Railroad in 1895 and boasted its own train station and landmark water tower. A small commercial section developed nearby. Peoria was the last, full-service stop on the way out of the Salt River Valley along U.S. Highway 60 (Grand Avenue) before Wickenburg, 40 miles to the northwest. The town began to take shape as a suburb of Phoenix in the latter half of the 20th century, growing from 600 people in 1920 to over 151,000 in 2007. The city continues to expand by population and land annexation. It now includes the popular recreation area Lake Pleasant and extends into a small portion of Yavapai County. Title: Picture book depicts Peoria's history Author: Marjon Rostami Publisher: The Republic Date: 2/17/2010 Arcadia Publishing company is releasing a book about Peoria's history through pictures next week. "Images of America Peoria" was compiled with photographs from the Peoria Historical Society. ABOUT THE BOOK From an introductory photo of Joseph B. Greenhut, who owned the land that would become Peoria, to recent photos of spring training games at the Peoria Sports Complex, the book encompasses the early agricultural years of the city, the building of Peoria's Old Main High School and community events throughout the years. In one photo, a young Kathy Montoya-Moore sits atop the family's Chevrolet in 1953. Most of the photos were complied from a file cabinet at the Peoria Historical Society, scanned and formatted to fit the publisher's design. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jodey Elsner spent the past two years lugging her scanner to the Peoria Historical Society most weekends. She scanned the photos and researched the background. Elsner is a historian with the Phoenix Historic Preservation Office. She also served six years on the Peoria Historic Preservation Commission, a resident-based group. "I hope it (the book) helps to give Peoria an identity," she said. "I know it's Arizona's ninth-largest city and being another municipality in the Valley, I think it can tend to get ignored or lumped with Glendale or the West Valley. I hope it pulls Peoria out of the group and maybe draws attention to it." BOOK SIGNING Elsner will be at Borders, 7320 W. Bell Road, in Glendale on March 13 from noon to 2 p.m. for a book signing. Copies of the book will be available beginning Monday for $21.99. Historian Jodey Elsner has explored the collections of the Peoria Arizona Historical Society and presented here the best photographs, rarely seen by the public, chronicling the dramatic changes within Peoria over the last 100 years.