Downtown Nogales is right next to the international border. It is typical of most downtown areas of border towns. That is, the majority of the signs are in Spanish and most store owners have tables set up on the sidewalk in front of their stores to lure passersby to purchase their products. The downtown businesses in Nogales line Morley Avenue, Grand Avenue and Arroyo Boulevard, right next to the international border. The former train station in Nogales is now the Pimeria Alta Historical Museum. This is a great museum that displays the history of this area that was called "Pimeria Alta" by the Spanish government when this entire area was a colony of Spain. What is now Nogales was the major entry point for explorers, traders and anyone else who ventured into this area. There was literally a plethora of missions and presidios that were established in this area beginning in the 16th century. Nogales and its accompanying county, Santa Cruz, is a vital part of Arizona's history and any history book about Arizona focuses on this area.
The Pimeria Alta, or "upper land of the Pimas." was named for the Pima Indians and their close relatives, the Sobaipuri and the O'odham, who resided in this area when the Spanish
explorers arrived.
Nogales has about 22,000 people and is one of the busiest border crossing points on the entire United States/Mexico border. In fact, there are four border crossings connecting Nogales, Arizona with Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The crossing at the end of South Grand Avenue, called the
Grand Avenue Gate, is the busiest. In very close proximity to this crossing is the Morley Gate, which, I believe, is the only pedestrian only crossing on the entire Mexican border. This pedestrian crossing lies two blocks east of the Grand Avenue Gate between the ends of South Morley Avenue, in the United States and Calle Plutarco Elias Calles in Mexico. Between the Grand Avenue Gate and the Morley Gate is a railroad crossing. A movable gate usually lies across the multiple railroad tracks that cross the border here. On the west side of town, in a very rural area, is the Mariposa Gate, which is mostly used by trucks. There is alot of truck traffic in Nogales. It is a major point for cross-border trucking traffic and trucking companies are located all over town.
As I said in the last blog post, Nogales is a rather pleasant town and I like it. It is a very hilly town(though not as hilly as its counterpart south of the border) and there are quite a few streets in town that are very steep. the southern part of town definitely has the look and feel of being in Mexico, but that is typical of most border towns in the United States.
