Tubac Presidio State Historic Park

Tubac Presidio State Historic Park is now operated by the Tubac Historical Society . The park is open 7 days a week from 9 am - 5 pm. Admission $4 adult, $2 youth (7–13), children free (0–6).

“Cavalcade of History” Art Exhibit, January & February

9 am - 5 pm, Daily. The Alan B. Davis Gallery exhibits 16 paintings from the Arizona Highways “Cavalcade of History” collection. The canvas giclées of paintings by renowned Western artist William Ahrendt depict scenes from Arizona’s colorful history. Admission $4 adult, $2 youth (7–13), children free.

Until Feb. 26, 2012: Encounters – A Native American Ethnic Costume Exhibit

Daily 9 am - 5 pm. In a special exhibit created for the Tubac Presidio museum, The Castañeda Museum of Ethnic Costume of Tucson presents ENCOUNTERS – a glimpse into the lives of the Yaqui, Seri, Tohono O'odham and Yuma Indians. Featuring apparel, artifacts, dolls and historic photographs of these four indigenous peoples the Spaniards encountered in the 1500's and who are our neighbors today. Exhibit included with park admission $4 adult, $2 youth (7–13), children free.

Frontier Printing Press Demonstrations

February 14, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
February 21, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Professional printer and teacher James Pagels demonstrates the 1858 Washington Press used to print Arizona’s first newspaper and answers questions about hand press printing, type setting, and other aspects of this marvel of industrial engineering. Included with park admission.

Feb. 14: Centennial Celebration at the Presidio

10am - 2pm. Celebrate the 100th anniversary of Arizona’s statehood at Arizona’s first state park! Open house with birthday cake and lemonade, live music, living history programs and frontier printing press demonstrations. Cannon firing and group birthday song at 11 am. Bring a picnic and enjoy your state park on this historic day. Free admission.

Feb. 17: Spanish Colonial Living History

Noon - 3 pm. Volunteers dressed in period clothing reenact the daily lives of Spanish soldiers and civilians who lived in Tubac during the Spanish Colonial period (1752-1776). Special display of the bounty of foods from the Old World, New World and surrounding desert used by Tubac cooks, plus cooking demos with samples. $4 adult, $2 youth 7-13, children free

Feb. 17 & 24: Walking Tour of Old Town Tubac

10:30 am. A guided tour of the “Old Town” section of Tubac with Alice Keene. Explore the original adobe buildings and discover the rich heritage of Arizona’s first European settlement. Learn about early Native American inhabitants, Spanish explorers, mining booms, Apache attacks, kidnappings, duels and other episodes in Tubac’s colorful past. Meet at the Park’s Visitor Center. Allow 1-1/2 hours for the tour and bring walking shoes, sunscreen and a hat. $5 fee includes admission to tour the Presidio Park. Tour limited to 20 people; reservations encouraged.

Feb. 19: A History of Beads: World Trade to the American West

2 pm. A hands-on presentation by Steve Ellis about the historical significance of beads with an emphasis on trade beads of the American West. Attendees will be able to examine beads traded during the 1700s and 1800s. A Green Valley resident, Ellis has studied and collected trade beads for over 25 years, and provides expertise and beads to collectors, museums and jeweler. $5, includes admission to tour the Park.

Feb. 24: Fiber Art Friday

10 am - 12:30 pm. Join fiber art enthusiasts at the Tubac Presidio on the last Friday of the month – January 27, February 24 and March 30. Bring your knitting, crochet, spinning or quilting project and gather for uninterrupted fiber art time. Hosted by members of the Southwest Fiber Arts Resource Group. Free with Park admission, $4.

Feb. 25: ARIZONA: A History, Revised Edition with Thomas Sheridan

2 pm. Author Thomas Sheridan will discuss and sign the new edition of his popular history of the Grand Canyon state. In time for Arizona’s centennial, Sheridan has revised and expanded his classic work to incorporate recent events and contemporary issues like land use, water rights, dramatic population increases, suburban sprawl, and the US–Mexico border. No other book on Arizona history is as integrative or comprehensive. $5, includes admission to tour the Park. Sheridan will be in the Visitor Center at 2pm to sign books and will give an illustrated presentation at 2:30 pm. The Visitor Center book signing is FREE; admission to the presentation is $5.

Aritst's rendition of Tubac and the Presidio in 1775. This painting shows a typical scene from Spanish Colonial times; the painting is on view in the Visitor Center.

The church and the military were the vanguards of Spanish frontier expansion throughout New Spain. The Jesuit, Eusebio Francisco Kino, established missions from 1687 to 1711 to christianize and control Native Americans in the area. He established nearby Tumacacori in 1691, and Tubac, then a small Piman village, became a mission farm and ranch. Spanish Colonists began to settle here during the 1730s, irrigating and farming the lands along the river and raising cattle, sheep and goats on the northern frontier of Spain's New World empire.

Luis of Saric, a Pima chief stirred by many grievances, led a bloody revolt late in 1751, destroying the small settlement at Tubac. Following a major battle, and subsequent surrender of the Pimans, the Presidio San Ignacio de Tubac was founded in June of 1752. The fifty cavalrymen garrisoned at this remote military post were to prevent further rebellion, protect colonists and the mission, and further explore the Southwest.

Juan Bautista de Anza II, second commander of the presidio, led two overland expeditions to the Pacific, resulting in the founding of San Francisco, in 1776. Several hundred colonists from the provinces of Sinaloa and Sonora, along with sixty from Tubac, made the trip. Over 1,000 head of cattle, horses and mules were also gathered to transport food supplies and tools, provide food on the journey and establish new herds once the colonists settled at their new home on the Pacific.

Following Anza's return to Tubac, military authorities moved the garrison from Tubac to Tucson in 1776, and the unprotected settlers abandoned their homes.

For a decade, Tubac languished from Apache depredation and without military protection. The situation finally resulted in the Viceroy's reactivating the presidio in 1787, this time with Pima Indian troops and Spanish officers. Mexico won her independence from Spain in 1821 and the new Republic of Mexico's flag flew over Tubac until 1848. In that year, a fierce Apache assault caused great loss of life and Tubac was again abandoned. This catastrophe, coupled with the drain of men leaving for the gold fields of California in 1849, turned Tubac into a virtual ghost town.

At the park, visitors can see the above ground remains of structures from the 1920s.

Tubac was part of the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, and was soon being resettled and developed by Eastern entrepreneurs as well as by former landowners. Charles D. Poston was instrumental in forming the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company, and used the abandoned Commandant's house as his headquarters. He performed marriages, granted divorces, baptized children and printed his own money to pay company employees. His company acquired a press in 1859 which printed Arizona's first newspaper.

Tubac's population steadily grew until, in 1860, it was the largest town in Arizona. The American Civil War, however, drained the region of troops, leaving it unprotected from Apaches, and Tubac was again deserted. Although the region was resettled after the war, silver strikes in the Tombstone area and the routing of the railroad through Tucson drew development interests away from Tubac, and the town never regained its earlier importance.

In 1974, archaeologists from the University of Arizona excavated portions of the presidio. In 1976, an underground archaeological display was finished and visitors can now view portions of the original foundation, walls, and plaza floor of the 1752 Commandant's quarters, as well as artifacts representing the various periods of Tubac's unique history.

Two later military installations existed at Tubac. Troop "L" of the 1st California Cavalry established a post in April 1864 and a US Army presence existed until at least October 1867, when reports list seven officers and 237 enlisted men.

One unique military experiment, the heliograph, was a device using mirrors and reflected sunlight. General Nelson A. Miles, in his campaign against the Apache in the 1880's reported that "they (the Apaches) had found troops in every valley, and when they saw heliographic signals flashing across every mountain range, Geronimo and others sent word to Natchez that he had better come in at once and surrender." Tubac was one of the permanent stations in the system including Forts Rucker, Crittenden, Henly and Bowie.

Educational Curriculum for School Field Trips

A Day in the 1885 Schoolhouse Program: For Grades 3 through 5
An opportunity for children to experience what a day of school would have been like over 100 years ago. The program immerses kids in the experience from the clothes they wear, the chalkboards they use, the homemade lunchpails, to the rules on the chalkboard they must follow. The authentic desks, complete with inkwells and the woodburning stove for heat make this an experience the children and teachers won't soon forget! The schoolhouse can accommodate 25 children at a time. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the park at (520) 398-2252.

Download A Day in the 1885 Schoolhouse Program ( 3.5 MB PDF)