Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Mission Trail, part 2

Shortly before I entered Santa Cruz County, in the town of Arivaca Junction, is a store where customers enter the store through a giant cow skull, fake of course.
Five miles south of Arivaca Junction is the town of Tubac (pronounced too-bach).
In the past few years the population has jumped from 925 to 2,428 with the opening of a new housing development on the south side of town. All of the houses are finished in stucco, which resembles adobe. So now the majority of the town's residences consist of Pueblo-style architecture lining streets with Spanish names. Sounds like New Mexico, particularly Santa or Taos. Tubac has alot of artists, writers and retirees living in town, but it is becoming more and more of a bedroom community for Tucson. Tubac is the oldest Eurupean-settled town in Arizona. That is, it is the oldest town in Arizona that is not located on an Indian Reservation. It was settled by the Spanish in 1691. Tubac was established as a mission farm and ranch after the Tumacacori Mission was established 4 1/2 miles to the south. This area was part of Spain at the time. After a Pueblo Indian revolt in 1751, the Presidio San Ignacio de Tubac was established a year later. It was a fifty-soldier military post and it was meant to protect the residents of Tubac and also the nearby Tumacacori Mission.
The presidio was abandoned and recommissioned several times over the years. In the late 1850s, after this area became part of the United States, Charles Poston moved into the abandoned house of the presidio commandant and established the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company. He also purchased a printing press and, in 1859, started Arizona's first newspaper. In 1860, Tubac was the largest town in Arizona, but due to Apache raids, that distinction did not last. In 1863, a visitor wrote
"Tubac is now a city of ruins and desolation." Today Tubac is a charming, historic town that is on the verge of exploding in population. In the heart of town is a small 13 acre state park, Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, on the site of the
Spanish presidio that was built in 1752. It is the oldest state park in Arizona, having been established in 1957. In fact, Arizona's first three state parks were historic parks--Tubac, Tombstone Courthouse and Yuma Territorial Prison.
This is where I will start the next installment of this blog.

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