Tumacácori National Historical Park

Tumacácori National Historical Park
IUCN category III (natural monument or feature)
Mission San José de Tumacácori
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Location	Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States
Nearest city	Nogales, Arizona
Coordinates	31°34′05″N 111°03′02″W / 31.5681465°N 111.0506458°W / 31.5681465; -111.0506458[1]
Area	360 acres (150 ha)[2]
Established	August 6, 1990
Visitors	40,810 (in 2018)[3]
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	Tumacácori National Historical Park

Tumacácori National Historical Park is located in the upper Santa Cruz River Valley in Santa Cruz County, southern Arizona. The park consists of 360 acres (1.5 km²) in three separate units.^[4] The park protects the ruins of three Spanish mission communities, two of which are National Historic Landmark sites. It also contains the landmark 1937 Tumacácori Museum building, also a National Historic Landmark.

The first Spanish Colonial Jesuit missions in the locale were established in 1691 by Padre Eusebio Kino. Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori (at Tumacácori) and Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi, are the two oldest missions in southern Arizona. The Franciscan 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.^[5] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. In 1990 the national monument was redesignated a National Historical Park. 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 Expedition from New Spain to Alta California, the first Spanish overland expedition to claimed but un-colonized upper Las Californias territory. A 4.5 miles (7.2 km) segment of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail lies along the Santa Cruz River between Tumacácori National Historical Park and Tubac Presidio State Historic Park.

Mission San José de Tumacácori was established in 1691 by Jesuit padre Eusebio Kino 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.^[6] By 1848, the mission was abandoned and began falling into severe disrepair. In 1854 it became a part of the U.S. Arizona Territory, after the Gadsden Purchase.

Restoration and stabilization efforts began in 1908 when the site was declared Tumacácori National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1990 it became part of the new Tumacácori National Historical Park.^[6]

Tumacácori Museum
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Tumacácori Museum building
Location	Tumacácori National Monument (Tumacácori National Historical Park), Tumacacori, Arizona
Built	1937
Architect	Scofield DeLong, et al
Architectural style	Mission Revival style architecture, with Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	87001437
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 28, 1987[7]
Designated NHL	May 28, 1987[8]

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,^[9] and includes artwork created by artist Herbert A. Collins.^[10]

The museum building, a fine example of Mission Revival style architecture, with Spanish Colonial Revival details, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.^{[8][11][12][13]}

Movies with scenes filmed in the park include:

• Duel in the Sun directed by King Vidor (1946)
• Young Guns II directed by Geoff Murphy (1990)
• Boys on the Side directed by Herbert Ross (1995)

• Spanish missions in Arizona
• Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
• Hispanic Heritage Site

• "Tumacácori National Historical Park". National Park Service.
• "San Antonio de Oquitoa Mission". Mission Churches of the Sonoran Desert. University of Arizona. Archived from the original on June 30, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2005.
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. AZ-3, "San Jose de Tumacacori (Mission, Ruins), Tubac, Santa Cruz County, AZ", 15 photos, 45 measured drawings, 6 data pages
• "Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail". National Park Service.

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