Share Your El Rito Story
Every family has a story. Every photograph holds a memory. Together, they tell the history of El Rito.
The El Rito History Project invites residents, former residents, families, and friends of the community to help us preserve the stories of El Rito for future generations.
We are looking for:
- Family histories and genealogies
- Old photographs and family albums
- Stories about growing up in El Rito
- Memories of local businesses, schools, churches, farms, and ranches
- Stories about community celebrations, traditions, and everyday life
- Letters, diaries, postcards, newspaper clippings, and documents
- Memories of people who helped shape the community
- Stories passed down from parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents
- Photographs of homes, buildings, landscapes, acequias, farms, and historic places
- Anything that helps tell the story of El Rito
You do not have to be a historian or a writer. Your memories are history.
A story about walking to school, working in a family store, cleaning an acequia, attending a fiesta, helping on a farm, gathering with neighbors, or remembering someone who once lived here may preserve a part of El Rito's history that cannot be found in any official record.
Old photographs are especially valuable. Even when the people, places, or dates are uncertain, they may contain important clues about the community's past. Whenever possible, we would like to record the names of the people pictured, the location, the approximate date, and the story behind the photograph.
Help Us Preserve El Rito's History
History is more than dates and important events. It is the story of families, neighbors, traditions, work, celebrations, hardships, faith, friendship, and everyday life.
Many of these stories exist only in family memories and personal collections. If they are not recorded and shared, they may eventually disappear.
By contributing to the El Rito History Project, you can help create a lasting community record—one that allows our children, grandchildren, and generations yet to come to understand the people and experiences that made El Rito the community it is today.
Your family is part of El Rito's history.
Your photographs are part of El Rito's history.
Your memories are part of El Rito's history.
Please Share Them With Us.
Help us preserve the voices, faces, places, and stories of El Rito—
before they are lost, and so they will never be forgotten.
El Rito History Project
Preserving Our Past. Sharing Our Stories. Inspiring Future Generations.