Tumacácori National Historical Park is located in the upper Santa Cruz River Valley in Santa Cruz County, southern

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 ...

. The park consists of in three separate units. The park protects the ruins of three Spanish mission communities, two of which are

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

sites. It also contains the landmark 1937 Tumacácori Museum building, also a National Historic Landmark.

History

The first Spanish Colonial

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missions in the locale were established in 1691 by Padre

Eusebio Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Jesuits, SJ (, ; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was an Italian Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer born in the Prince-Bishopric of Tre ...

. Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori (at Tumacácori) and Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi, are the two oldest missions in southern Arizona. The

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

church of Mission San José de Tumacácori, across the river from and replacing Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori, was built in the 1750s. The third mission was established in 1756, Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas. The Mission San José de Tumacácori complex is open to the public. Nearby are the park's visitor center and the Tumacácori Museum in a historic Mission Revival style building. The Guevavi and Calabazas missions are not open to the general public, but can be visited on reserved tours led by park staff. The Tumacácori missions complex was originally protected as Tumacácori National Monument, in 1908 by President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on October 15, 1966. In 1990 the national monument was redesignated a

National Historical Park National Historic Site (NHS) and National Historical Park (NHP) are designations for officially recognized areas of nationally historic significance in the United States. They are usually owned and managed by the federal government. An NHS usually ...

. The Guevavi and Calabazas mission units were added to the Tumacácori missions complex unit, within the new Tumacácori National Historical Park. The site was on the route of the 1775–1776

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was a Novohispanic/Mexican expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as on ...

Expedition from

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

, the first Spanish overland expedition to claimed but un-colonized upper

Las Californias The Californias (), occasionally known as the Three Californias or the Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican states of Baja California an ...

territory. A segment of the

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail is a trail extending from Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, through the California desert and coastal areas in Southern California and the Central Coast region to San Francisco.

lies along the Santa Cruz River between Tumacácori National Historical Park and Tubac Presidio State Historic Park. Tumacacori Mission

Mission San José de Tumacácori

Mission San José de Tumacácori was established in 1691 by Jesuit padre

in a different nearby location. It was established one day before Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi, making it the oldest Jesuit mission site in southern Arizona. The first mission was named Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori, established at an existing native O'odham or Sobaipuri settlement on the east side of the Santa Cruz River. After the Pima rebellion of 1751, the mission was moved to the present site on the west side of the Santa Cruz River and renamed San José de Tumacácori. By 1848, the mission was abandoned and began falling into severe disrepair. In 1854 it became a part of the U.S.

Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona, commonly known as the Arizona Territory, was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the ...

, after the

Gadsden Purchase The Gadsden Purchase ( "La Mesilla sale") is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854. The purchase included lan ...

. Restoration and stabilization efforts began in 1908 when the site was declared Tumacácori National Monument by President

. In 1990 it became part of the new Tumacácori National Historical Park.

Tumacácori Museum

Tumacácori Museum was built in 1937 within what was then Tumacácori National Monument and is now Tumacácori National Historical Park. Designed by Scofield Delong, it contains interpretative displays relating to three historic missions preserved within the park, and includes artwork created by artist Herbert A. Collins. The museum building, a fine example of

Mission Revival style architecture The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

, with

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. Thes ...

details, was declared a

in 1987.

Cinema

Movies with scenes filmed in the park include: * '' Duel in the Sun'' directed by

King Vidor King Wallis Vidor ( ; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...

(1946) * ''

Young Guns II ''Young Guns II'' is a 1990 American Western action film and a sequel to '' Young Guns'' (1988). It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Christian Slater, and features William Petersen as Pat Garrett. It was writte ...

'' directed by

Geoff Murphy Geoffrey Peter Murphy (12 October 1938 – 3 December 2018) was a New Zealand filmmaker, producer, director, and screenwriter best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the second half of the 1970s. His ...

(1990) * '' Boys on the Side'' directed by

Herbert Ross Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing ...

(1995)

References

External links