Tubac Presidio State Historic Park

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

Anza Day 2012 Photo Wrap-Up Gallery

Check out a few pictures from our 2012 Anza Day Event

May 2: Frontier Printing Press Demonstration

9 am - 1 pm. Professional printer and teacher James Pagels demonstrates the Washington Hand Press used to print Arizona’s first newspaper in 1859 and answers questions about hand press printing, type setting, and other aspects of this marvel of industrial engineering. Included with park admission $5 adult, $2 youth 7-13, children free.

May 9: Frontier Printing Press Demonstration

May 10: Living History: Medicine of the Spanish Colonial Period

10 am - 1 pm. When the Spanish soldiers and their families settled Tubac in 1752, there was no doctor or surgeon among them. It was the responsibility of the women to treat their family's physical complaints and wounds. Medicine was basic and dependent on herbs and plants known for their healing properties. This living history program features a display of medicinal herbs and plants, and knowledgeable commentary by an herbalist who will tell visitors how these plants were used by “curanderas” (healers) to treat illness and injuries. $5 adult, $2 youth 7-13, children free.

May 11: Nopal Harvest and Preparation Workshop

10:30 am. Laurie Melrood will lead a workshop about the eminently edible opuntia cactus known as ‘Indian Fig.’ Learn how to identify the ‘Ficus Indica’ cactus and techniques for harvest, preparation, preservation and food preparation from the fresh pads. Properly consumed prickly pear pads, stems and fruits have been shown to control cholesterol, heal skin and tissue, and positively influence blood sugar levels in persons with diabetes. We will prepare a tasty green salsa and enjoy homemade gluten free tostadas using the nopal pads. Take home a jar of fresh salsa and enjoy the tostadas with other foods. Fee $35. Reservations recommended, call 520-398-2252.

May 17: Living History: Foods of the Spanish Colonial Period

10 am - 1 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). Featuring a 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. $5 adult, $2 youth 7-13, children free.

May 17 – 19: International Kino Festival

The Tubac Presidio will participate in the 16th Annual Kino Festival honoring the life of Father Kino, a 17th-century Jesuit missionary and explorer. The festival is part of a regional celebration in communities throughout Sonora, Mexico and Arizona. Events are included with park admission $5 adult, $2 youth 7-13, children free.

May 17: “Kino: La Leyenda del Cura Negro”
2 pm. Special showing of the 1993 Spanish language film (with English subtitles) that tells the dramatic story of Padre Kino’s efforts to explore the New World and his challenges with the Catholic Church, the Spanish soldiers, the Indians and nature. Starring Enrique Rocha, Rodolfo de Anda and Manuel Ojeda.

May 18: “The Father Kino Story”
2 pm. Special showing of the 1977 fact-based film about the “padre on horseback” and his journeys through Mexico, Arizona and California. Co-starring Richard Egan, Ricardo Montalban, Cesar Romero and John Ireland.

May 19: Guitar Concert with Francisco Bribriesca
2 pm. Internationally acclaimed Mexican guitarist Francisco Bibriesca will perform at the Tubac Presidio. Bibriesca has been described as one of the most important classical music concert artists of his country.

See More Events below

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.

May 19: Frontier Printing Press Demonstration

11 am - 3 pm. Professional printer and teacher James Pagels demonstrates the Washington Hand Press used to print Arizona’s first newspaper in 1859 and answers questions about hand press printing, type setting, and other aspects of this marvel of industrial engineering. Included with park admission $5 adult, $2 youth 7-13, children free.

May 25: Living History: Medicine of the Spanish Colonial Period

May 29: Living History: Foods of the Spanish Colonial Period

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)