Tucson History
Way back from about 300AD to 1450, the Hohokam Indians lived here. "Hohokam" means "those who have vanished". And sure enough, the Hohokam have vanished. (Decendents of the Hohokam are the Pima and Tohono O'odham [formerly Papago] Indians, who still remain in southern Arizona today.) We used to belong to Spain...Tucson was not always part of Arizona or the United States. At first, it was under the control of Spain.It was during the Spanish control, in 1692, that Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, a jesuit missionary, came on the scene, traveling into a town called Chuk-sohn (that's us!) There are several spelling variations of this town, but it means "spring at the base of a black mountain".
Tucson is commonly misspelled at Tuscon,
The incorrectly spelled Tuscon would be pronounced
When spelling Tucson, remember we're much closer  In 1700, Father Kino enlisted Tohono O'odham Indians to build the Mission San Xavier del Bac, which still stands as a tourist attraction. Then in 1775, the Spanish built Presidio San Augustin de Tucson to protect Tucson from attacks from the Apache Indians. The Presidio still stands in the midst of our downtown. Then we belonged to Mexico...When Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, Tucson became Mexican territory, but only until 1853 when the United States bought land for railways through the Gadsden Purchase.The lower 1/4 of Arizona and a small snippet of New Mexico was purchased for 33 cents an acre, though many opposed the purchase and thought it foolish. Enter lots of gunfights over the next several years, including the historical shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone in 1881. Ten years later, in 1891, the University of Arizona held its first classes. It was on Valentine's Day in 1912 (not even 100 years ago!) that Arizona became the 48th state. Three years later, the "A" on A-Mountain (Sentinel Peak) was established. Hard to believe that "A" has been there nearly 100 years! And a few years later, in 1919, Tucson opened the first municipal airport in the United States. It moved to a larger location in 1927, and Charles Lindberg arrived in his Spirit of St. Louis to dedicate it. Next, World War II saw the inception of our Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. And now, Pima County is home to over 1 million people (as of 2006). Return from Tucson History to AroundTucson.com home page
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