Desert Palms Park (DPP) is a
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
in
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
. It is located in the east side of the city, between 8900-9100 east and 1300-1800 north. It is bordered by Speedway Boulevard to the South and Wrightstown Road to the North. The
Catalina Mountains can be seen to the north and the
Rincon Mountains
The Rincon Mountains ( O'odham: Cew Doʼag) are a significant mountain range east of Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, in the United States. The Rincon Mountains are one of five mountain ranges surrounding the Tucson valley. The other ranges includ ...
to the east.
History
A
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
named Otto Small, born in Poland in 1910, designed Desert Palms Park in 1959. His purpose was to build quality housing in an enjoyable environment. The first home was completed in 1961. He named several of the streets after many of the places in Colombia, South America where he lived for many years before coming to Tucson.
In 1962 and in 1963, Tucson's builders selected Desert Palms Park for the annual Parade of Homes. Sadly, Otto Small died in a
car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...
in 1964. Gaylen Klein assumed the responsibility of completing the huge project in 1968.
Features
DPP has a symmetrical plan. It is crossed in the center from north to south by a
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
-lined wash or
arroyo. Medians on each side are lined with nearly 80
date palm
''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet #Fruits, fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across North Africa, northern A ...
s. Along each side of the medians are two-way streets both called Avenida Ricardo Small for Otto's son. Cul-de-sacs and loops are entered from this
avenue
Avenue or Avenues may refer to:
Roads
* Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees)
* Avenue Road, Bangalore
* Avenue Road, Lon ...
. Many of these use the Spanish term "
calle" instead of "street". There is also a
cul-de-sac
A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet.
Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...
from Wrightstown Road that is included in the neighborhood. All utilities are underground along city
easement
An easement is a Nonpossessory interest in land, nonpossessory right to use or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B" ...
s behind the homes. All but one home are single level as was common in this SW desert area. There are 183 homes with approximately 750 residents. Back alleys allow for easy access to the utilities, all buried, including power-lines.
All the houses in DPP have a similar price but differently from most planned neighborhood. Each of them has a distinctive design. This variety invites people to walk around its streets to discover all the different features.
DPP sits on a gradual downward slope to the Tanque Verde wash. This provides most residents with a view of the Catalina Mountains. The nearest elementary school is within the neighborhood boundaries allowing children to walk to school without crossing a busy street.
The streets of Desert Palms Park were featured in David Leighton's popular series "Streets Smarts" in the Arizona Daily Star on Feb. 5, 2013.
Desert Palms Parks Association
DPPA was founded in 1961 and has eleven volunteer board members elected each year at an annual meeting. This one is the oldest continuously active neighborhood associations in Tucson.
See also
*
Neighborhoods
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...
*
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
External links
Official website of the City of Tucson
{{Coord, 32.2375135, -110.800158, display=title
Neighborhoods in Tucson, Arizona