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Tubac Presidio State Historic Park
P.O. Box 1296
Tubac, Arizona 85646
Phone: (520) 398-2252
The park is located 45 miles south of Tucson on
Interstate 19.
The church and the military were the vanguards of
Spanish frontier expansion throughout New Spain. The Jesuit, Eusebio
Francisco Kino, established missions from 1687 to 1711 to
Christianize and control Native Americans in the area. He
established nearby Tumacacori in 1691, and Tubac, then a small Piman
village, became a mission farm and ranch. Spanish Colonists began to
settle here during the 1730s, irrigating and farming the lands along
the river and raising cattle, sheep and goats on the northern
frontier of Spain's New World empire.
Luis of Saric, a Pima chief stirred by many
grievances, led a bloody revolt late in 1751, destroying the small
settlement at Tubac. Following a major battle, and subsequent
surrender of the Pimans, the Presidio San Ignacio de Tubac was
founded in June of 1752. The fifty cavalrymen garrisoned at this
remote military post were to prevent further rebellion, protect
colonists and the mission, and further explore the Southwest.
Juan Bautista de Anza II, second commander of the
presidio, led two overland expeditions to the Pacific, resulting in
the founding of San Francisco, in 1776. Several hundred colonists
from the provinces of Sinaloa and Sonora, along with sixty from
Tubac, made the trip.
Tubac's population steadily grew until, in 1860,
it was the largest town in Arizona. The American Civil War, however,
drained the region of troops, leaving it unprotected from Apaches,
and Tubac was again deserted. Although the region was resettled
after the war, silver strikes in the Tombstone area and the routing
of the railroad through Tucson drew development interests away from
Tubac, and the town never regained its earlier importance.
In 1974, archaeologists from the University of
Arizona excavated portions of the presidio. In 1976, an underground
archaeological display was finished and visitors can now view
portions of the original foundation, walls, and plaza floor of the
1752 Commandant's quarters, as well as artifacts representing the
various periods of Tubac's unique history.
Park Facilities
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Old School House and Otero Community Hall on
National Register of Historic Places
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Museum, underground archaeology display and
picnic area
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Picnic area and Otero Hall may be reserved
for group functions
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Anza Trailhead
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