Historic Photos of Tucson

By Mike Speelman

Tucson is an American city quintessentially founded upon change. From its birth to the present, Tucson has consistently built and reshaped its appearance, ideals, and industry. Through changing fortunes, Tucson has continued to grow and prosper by overcoming adversity and maintaining the strong, independent culture of its citizens. Historic Photos of Tucson captures this journey through still photography selected from the finest archives. From its annexation from Mexico as part of the Gadsden Purchase in 1854 to the twenty-six-hour fire of April 1970, Historic Photos of Tucson follows life, government, education, and events throughout the city’s history. This volume captures unique and rare scenes through the lens of hundreds of historic photographs. Published in striking black and white, these images communicate historic events and everyday life of two centuries of people building a unique and prosperous city.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Aug 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9781618586940

Mike Speelman

Mike Speelman received a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of Arizona in 2001 and is a member of Phi Alpha Theta. After a brief encounter with grad school, he began doing freelance historical research in Tucson on projects both big and small. Mike has researched and written labels for exhibits at the Arizona Historical Society Downtown Museum. He contributed research to the Canoa Ranch Historical Designation, to the Tucson Origins Heritage Park reconstruction projects, to an upcoming American Experience program on Geronimo, and to the documentaries Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano and Inside Deep Throat. He has also done research on Tucson homes and local people. At the 2005 Arizona History Convention, he received the Friends of Arizona Archives award for a paper presented on African American pioneer Samuel Bostick. Mike lives in present-day Tucson.

Book preview

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

TUCSON

TEXT AND CAPTIONS BY MIKE SPEELMAN

A view of the Santa Cruz Valley from the Carnegie Desert Botanical Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill.

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

TUCSON

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Historic Photos of Tucson

Copyright © 2007 Turner Publishing Company

All rights reserved.

This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007929568

ISBN-13: 978-1-59652-370-8

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 13 14—0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE

LIFE ON THE SOUTHWESTERN FRONTIER (1870–1899)

FROM TERRITORY TO STATEHOOD (1900–1919)

BETWEEN THE WARS (1920–1939)

WORLD WAR II AND BEYOND (1940–1970)

NOTES ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The Alianza Hispano Americana float for an Armistice Day parade around 1925.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This volume, Historic Photos of Tucson, is the result of the cooperation and efforts of many individuals, organizations, and corporations. It is with great thanks that we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the following for their generous support:

Arizona Historical Society

Library of Congress

I wish to acknowledge the informed and patient assistance of the staff of the Research Library of the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson: Kate Reeve, Debbie Newman, Kim Frontz, Dave Tackenberg, Jill McCleary, and Chrystal Carpenter Burke, photo archivist supreme. I couldn’t have done it without them.

–Mike Speelman, Author

PREFACE

Tucson has thousands of historic photographs that reside in archives, both locally and nationally. This book began with the observation that, while those photographs are of great interest to many, they are not easily accessible. During a time when Tucson is looking ahead and evaluating its future course, many people are asking, How do we treat the past? These decisions affect every aspect of the city—architecture, public spaces, commerce, infrastructure—and these, in turn, affect the way that people live their lives. This book seeks to provide easy access to a valuable, objective look into the history of Tucson.

The power of photographs is that they are less subjective than words in their treatment of history. Although the photographer can make decisions regarding subject matter and how to capture and present it, photographs do not provide the breadth of interpretation that text does. For this reason, they offer an original, untainted perspective that allows the viewer to interpret and observe.

This project represents countless hours of review and research. The researchers and writer have reviewed thousands of photographs in numerous archives. We greatly appreciate the generous assistance of the individuals and organizations listed in the acknowledgments of this work, without whom this project could not have been completed.

The goal in publishing this work is to provide broader access to this set of extraordinary photographs that seek to inspire, provide perspective, and evoke insight that might assist people who are responsible for determining Tucson’s future. In addition, the book seeks to