August 19
Without firing a shot, Navajos on this date in 1875 seized the Agency at Fort Defiance in protest over inaction by the Commissioner to remove their agent, W.F.M. Arny, whom they had twice petitioned to...
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On this date in 1775, the site of the Presidio de San Augustin de Tucson was selected and laid out by Lt. Colonel Don Hugo O'Conor of the Royal Spanish Army. This photograph shows a diorama...
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On this date in 1959, Tucson's biggest employer was Hughes Aircraft with 5, 200 employees. This photograph of the Hughes Aircraft Plant and workers is undated.
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On this date in 1821, the Plan of Iguala proclaimed Mexico's independence from Spain. Tucson passed from Spanish to Mexican rule. This image shows a watercolor by Russell Bartlett called "Tucson,...
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On this date in 1886, Lt. Charles B. Gatewood, accompanied only by two Apache scouts, entered an Apache camp in the Sierra Madre Mountains south of the Mexican border and persuaded Geronimo to...
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On this day in 1893, a Phoenix court reporter invented and applied for the patent on a center space bar for typewriters which would be operated by the thumb. This photograph shows Mary Hughston seated...
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The airship Graf Zeppelin sailed over Tucson on its around-the-world journey on this date in 1929. Citizens watched from their rooftops as the bells of St. Augustine Cathedral were rung.
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Francisco "Pancho" Villa and his army were mustered out on this date in 1920. The men surrendered their arms and ammunition, and were given three months pay and transportation to their homes. This...
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On this date in 1912, a new state law required that every owner of a motor vehicle pay $5 per year for a license. License number 1 was issued to Dr. Hiram Fenner of Tucson. This undated photograph is...
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Jacob Hamblin, Mormon missionary, scout and explorer who was in charge of the colonization along the Little Colorado River and served as a guide to Major John Wesley Powell, died on this date in 1886....
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On this date in 1917, Arizona Red Cross Chapters were told to prepare for war efforts. This undated photograph shows a typical Red Cross Health Center in Southern Arizona in the early part of the 20th...
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The Tucson City Council on this date in 1907 passed an ordinance forbidding tuberculosis patients or other health seekers from erecting tents within city limits. As a result, a city of tents springs up...
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On this date in 1927, a contract was awarded for the construction of the U.S. Veterans' Hospital in Tucson. This photo shows a courtyard in the completed structure circa 1930.
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The first case of bubonic plague ever found in Arizona was found in Yuma on this date in 1929. This undated photo shows a street in downtown Yuma.
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On this date in 1899, Henry Fountain Ashurst, youngest member of the Territorial Legislature of Arizona and Speaker of the House, introduced House Bill 41 which created the Northern Arizona Normal...
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Health officers closed all public places in Globe on this date in 1918 when smallpox broke out. This undated photo shows a street scene in downtown Globe.
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A dentist's ad in the Arizona Gazette on this date in 1896 offered extractions for 50 cents, silver fillings for $1.50, gold fillings for $2 and plates from $7 to $10 with a Saturday Special of 25...
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On this date in 1902, the Arizona Daily Star reported that Tucson was known far and wide as a health resort and as a center for agriculture, cattle ranching and mining. This photo shows Tucson circa...
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On this date in 1918, the Tucson Board of Health issued an order that no one should appear in public without wearing a mask in order to combat the spread of influenza. Five thousand masks were given...
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All of Tucson turned out on this day in 1920 for a day of volunteer labor at Pastime Park where the federal government was erecting a tent city sanatorium for soldiers with tuberculosis. This undated...
View ArticleJuly 11
Louis J. F. Jaeger arrived with eleven other men to establish a ferry at Yuma Crossing on the Colorado River on this date in 1850s. This undated photograph shows a seated Louis J.F. Jaeger accompanied...
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St. Joseph's Hospital opened on Tucson's east side on this date in 1961. This photograph is identified as the newly built St. Joseph's Hospital on August 3, 1960.
View ArticleJuly 15
On this date in 1862, advance troops of the U.S. Army's California Column were ambushed in Apache Pass by a group of Chiricahua Apaches led by Cochise (Cheis) and Mangas Coloradas (Dasoda-hae). The...
View ArticleJuly 18
On this date in 1922, a huge 36-inch lens was installed at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. This view of Steward Observatory is believed to have been photographed circa 1930-1940.
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On this date in 1932, Governor Hunt asked Congress for $45,000,000 in federal aid under a federal relief bill to help build more highways and employ more unemployed workers. This photograph is...
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The Mormon Battalion was mustered out on this date in 1847 after blazing the first wagon road through southern Arizona. The Mormon Battalion, the only religiously-based unit in United States military...
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On this date in 1901, Burton Mossman was named Captain of the Arizona Rangers and was authorized to raise a company of ten or twelve men to hunt cattle rustlers and other criminals. This photograph of...
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On this date in 1893, the City of Nogales was incorporated. This photograph, showing the International Hotel and Odd Fellows' Hall, a Second Hand Store/Tienda de Segundo Mano and a moored hot air...
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The City of Globe was extensively damaged by flood on this date in 1896. The Silver King Saloon with its entire stock of liquors and cigars was wrecked by flood waters as were many private homes. Mines...
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The Mormon settlement of Tempe was founded on this date in 1882 after the purchase of eighty acres of land for $3,000 from Charles T. Hayden, pioneer merchant, miller and ferryman. This view of a...
View ArticleJuly 26
Mariano Samaniego, southern Arizona freighter, cattleman and operator of the stage line from Tucson to Oro Blanco, who became a citizen of the United States under the terms of the Gadsden Purchase, was...
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"It's no place for a cowboy--it's too far east. There's not much coffee and too much tea," declared Ed Echols on this date in 1924 upon his return from a rodeo in London, England. This undated...
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On this date in 1899, Tucson businessmen subscribed $1,100 toward the cost of a wagon road to Globe. The shortest road then in use required 48 hours to make the trip between the two towns. This undated...
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Commodore Perry Owens, the famous longhaired, straight-shooting sheriff from Holbrook was born on this date in 1852. This photograph is identified as a portrait of Owens taken circa 1885 in...
View ArticleJuly 30
Governor Thomas E. Campbell on this date in 1921 canceled the State Fair to save Arizona taxpayers $90,000. This photograph is identified as an aerial view of the fair in Phoenix taken from a hot air...
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On this date in 1930, Mansfeld Junior High School in Tucson was completed. This photograph shows Mansfeld Junior High circa 1930.
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On this date in 1933 it was reported that Tucson's mayor and city council killed an ordinance which would have changed the zoning on the northeast corner of Speedway and Campbell from a residential to...
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On this date in 1944 the University of Arizona regained possession of Old Main as the U.S. Navy's training program prepared to evacuate 26 classrooms. This undated photograph is identified as a group...
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On this date in 1925, the U.S. Border Patrol, organized July 1, 1924, reported capture of 1,310 illegal entrants into Arizona in one year. Forty men covered a 320-mile beat from the New Mexico line to...
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In a landslide vote, Arizona became the 21st state to sanction the repeal of national prohibition on this date 1933. This undated photograph is identified as group engaged in destroying whiskey in...
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On this date in 1909, a party of six men with Dean Byron Cummings, archaeologist from the University of Arizona, became the first known non-indigenous people to explore Betatakin Ruins, an Anasazi...
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On this date in 1867, the United States Army established Fort Crittenden between Sonoita and Patagonia to protect settlers from Apaches. The fort was officially abandoned in 1873, in part because of...
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On this day in 1885, the San Agustín church had been standing for nearly 20 years facing west on Tucson's Church Plaza. When the new and larger St. Augustine cathedral was constructed in 1896, the old...
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Both the Florence to Globe stage and the Prescott to Ash Fork stage were held up on the same night in 1883. The shotgun messenger on the Florence to Globe stage was killed. This photograph showing a...
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On this date in 1940, Tucson was blacked out by a storm that flooded the power plant. A hand-set, hand-printed Arizona Daily Star edition carries news of the deluge. This photograph shows newspaper...
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On this date in 1928, flood waters from mountains of Mexico swirled down on Nogales, Arizona, and wiped out 30 houses and one bridge. This photograph is identified as Nogales circa 1915.
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On this date in 1936, Tucson discovered that its new underpass on Stone Avenue became a lake after a heavy rain. The City Council named it Lake Elmira, after Elmira Doakes, a Safford School student who...
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On this date in 1918, the University of Arizona campus was operating under its World War I declaration as a military establishment, and prostitution and gambling were outlawed within a ten mile zone....
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On this date in 1908, the last man to be hanged in Tucson, murderer Edwin W. Hawkins, chose to remain on the gallows for twenty-five minutes awaiting an expected message from his wife or mother.
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On this date in 1969, workers at downtown Tucson's El Presidio Garage site began assembly of a crane described as the "biggest of its type in Arizona." The crane was approximately 105 feet high with a...
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