Tacna is a
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) and
colonia in
Yuma County,
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, United States. The population was 555 at the
2000 census, and 602 as of
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
. It is part of the
Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
By 1859, the
Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...
stagecoach company had opened the
Antelope Peak Station
Antelope Peak Station, a later Butterfield Overland Mail station located 15.14 miles east of Mission Camp, at the foot of Antelope Peak. It replaced Filibusters Camp Station, 6 miles to the west. The Overland Mail Company replaced Filibuste ...
at the foot of
Antelope Hill.
[R. Gwinn Vivian]
"An archaeological survey of the lower Gila River, Arizona"
''The Kiva: Journal of the Arizona Archaeological Society'', vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 95–146, April 1965. A
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
named Tacna was created following the building of the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
in the 1870s, but did not last long.
The name Tacna subsequently only referred to a
railroad siding
In rail terminology, a siding is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighter r ...
serving as a watering station.
"Places"
''Yuma County AZGenWeb'', retrieved October 23, 2022. The town of Tacna was founded by Max B. Noah in the early 1920s, named after the railroad stop. At the time he sold the town in 1941, it contained a post office and a restaurant called Noah's Ark. After the town's sale, the post office was relocated four miles east, and the original railroad siding was renamed to Noah.
Geography
Tacna is located along Interstate 8
Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, ...
within the Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...
and just south of the Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...
.[''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 4th ed., 2001, p. 63, ] It is east of the Yuma Metropolitan Statical Area.
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the CDP has a total area of , all land.
Climate
Demographics
At the 2000 census there were 555 people, 194 households, and 149 families in the CDP. The population density was . There were 281 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 67% White, 1% Black or African American, 1% Native American, 1% Asian, 25% from other races, and 6% from two or more races. 51% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 34% of those under age 18 and 14% of those age 65 or over.
References
{{authority control
Census-designated places in Yuma County, Arizona
Census-designated places in Arizona