A junction point, this town was named by Wallace Wiley in 1910 for his father, Hugh Wiley, pioneer, upon whose homestead the town was built. In 1871, Hugh Wiley homesteaded there. His son Wallace named the town Wiley City in 1910, when he platted a town site on the Wiley homestead. The name was later shortened to its present form, when the chances of its becoming a city were remote. For a period of time, Wallace Wiley and his brother James owned 6,000 acres of range land and 700 acres of farm land.