Why, Arizona
{{short description|Unincorporated community in Pima County, Arizona, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name = Why, Arizona
|official_name =
|settlement_type = Unincorporated town
|nickname =
|motto =
|image_skyline = Why, Arizona.jpg
|imagesize = 267px
|image_caption = Why road sign
|image_flag =
|image_seal =
|pushpin_map = USA Arizona#USA
|pushpin_label = Why
|pushpin_label_position =
|pushpin_map_caption = Location within the state of Arizona
|pushpin_mapsize =
|image_map =
|map_caption = Location within Pima County
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = United States
|subdivision_type1 = State
|subdivision_name1 = Arizona
|subdivision_type2 = County
|subdivision_name2 = Pima
|government_footnotes =
|government_type =
|leader_title =
|leader_name =
|leader_title1 =
|leader_name1 =
|established_title =
|established_date =
|area_footnotes =
|area_magnitude =
|area_total_sq_mi =
|area_land_sq_mi =
|area_water_sq_mi =
|population_as_of = 2020
|population_footnotes =
|population_total = 122
|population_density_sq_mi = auto
|timezone = Mountain (MST)
|utc_offset = -7
|timezone_DST = MST
|utc_offset_DST = -7
|elevation_footnotes = {{Cite GNIS|7544|Feature Detail Report for: Lukeville}}
|elevation_ft =
|elevation_m =
|coordinates = {{coord|32|16|4.20|N|112|44|11.99|W|region:US-AZ_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type = ZIP code
|postal_code = 85321{{cn|date=April 2025}}
|area_code = 520
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
Why{{efn|O'odham: Ban Hi:nk{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}}} is an unincorporated rural community in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It lies near the western border of the Tohono Oʼodham Indian Reservation and due north of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona. It is approximately {{convert|30|mi|km}} north of the Mexican border where Lukeville, Arizona, and Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico, border each other, and {{convert|10|mi}} south of Ajo, Arizona.
The population in Why at the 2020 census was about 122 people.{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=US Census Bureau Publications – Census of Population and Housing|last=Division|first=US Census Bureau Administration and Customer Services|website=www.census.gov|language=EN-US|access-date=November 13, 2019}}
History
The town derives its name from the fact that two major highways, State Routes 85 and 86, originally intersected in a Y-intersection.{{cite web | url=https://www.theactivetimes.com/travel/oddest-named-town-every-state | title=The Oddest Named Town in Every State | publisher=The Active Times | date=April 19, 2018 | access-date=July 3, 2019}} At the time of its naming, state law required all city names to have at least three letters, so the town's founders named the town "Why" as opposed to simply calling it "Y." The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) later removed the old Y-intersection for traffic safety reasons and built the two highways in a conventional intersection south of the original intersection.{{Cite web|url=http://arizonaoddities.com/2014/01/why-why-is-why/|title = Why Why is Why|date = January 25, 2014}}
It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29zh3dIgmv8C&pg=PR12 | title=Welcome to Horneytown, North Carolina, Population: 15: An insider's guide to 201 of the world's weirdest and wildest places | publisher=Adams Media | author=Parker, Quentin | year=2010 | page=xii | isbn=9781440507397 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web | url=http://www.bbcamerica.com/mind-the-gap/2014/01/13/american-place-name-pronunciations-guide-brits/ | title=No, Arkansas Doesn't Sound the Way It Looks: A Guide to Pronouncing U.S. Place Names | publisher=BBC America | date=January 13, 2014 | access-date=July 14, 2014 | author=Hargis, Toni}}
Services
Why is not in a school district. The closest district is the Ajo Unified School District.{{Cite web|url=https://www.schools.pima.gov/schools/unorganized-territories|title=Unorganized Territories - Pima County Schools - Tucson, AZ|website=www.schools.pima.gov}}
Demographics
Education
A portion of Why is in the Indian Oasis-Baboquivari Unified School District,{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st04_az/schooldistrict_maps/c04019_pima/DC20SD_C04019.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Pima County, AZ|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|page=1 (PDF p. 2/3)|access-date=2024-11-07}} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st04_az/schooldistrict_maps/c04019_pima/DC20SD_C04019_SD2MS.txt Text list] while another is not in any school district.{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st04_az/c04019_pima/DC10SD_C04019_000.pdf|title=SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP (2010 CENSUS): Pima County, AZ|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=2024-11-07}} - Page [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st04_az/c04019_pima/DC10SD_C04019_001.pdf 1] - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st04_az/c04019_pima/DC10SD_C04019_SD2MS.txt Text list]: "UNI 99997[...]School District Not Defined" - The [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st04_az/schooldistrict_maps/c04019_pima/DC20SD_C04019.pdf 2020 map] shows no school district label. The Pima County School Superintendent arranges for education of K-12 students living in areas without school districts, and that office arranges for transportation to the Ajo Unified School District to the Why areas not in any school district.{{cite web|url=https://www.schools.pima.gov/schools/unorganized-territories|title=Unorganized Territories|publisher=Pima County|access-date=2024-11-07}}
See also
- {{portal-inline|Arizona}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{reflist|22em}}
{{note|1}} This is the sum of the populations of Blocks 1131–1153, Census Tract 49, Pima County, Arizona according to [https://www.census.gov US Census U.S. Census website].
External links
{{commons category-inline|Why, Arizona}}
{{Pima County, Arizona}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Populated places in the Sonoran Desert
Category:Unincorporated communities in Pima County, Arizona