Spanish & Mexican Frontier
Community
Cultural
Natural
A number of presidio fortresses and missions occupied between the 1680s and 1854 are preserved in the Santa Cruz Valley with many open to the public.
• Father Eusebio Francisco Kino established the missions of Tumacácori and Guevavi in 1691, and the visita of Calabazas was constructed in the 1750s. All three are part of Tumacácori National Historical Park.
• The Tubac Presidio State Historic Park commemorates the presidio established in Tubac in 1752 and includes an innovative underground archaeology display.
• San Xavier del Bac was a Tohono O’odham village where Father Kino established a mission in 1700. Ongoing restoration of the church, constructed in the late 1700s, has exposed many paintings hidden beneath centuries of smoke and dirt. This active church—widely considered to be the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the U.S.—serves Tohono O’odham parishioners and is open to the public.
An expedition map of the Anza Trail tracking Juan Bautista de Anza’s travel route.
• The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail commemorates the 1775 Spanish expedition of approximately 240 settlers, soldiers and their families, along with 1,000+ heads of livestock from Sonora to establish a presidio and mission at San Francisco Bay, and also created an overland route connecting Sonora and Alta California, whose missions and presidios were previously isolated. The route traversed the Santa Cruz Valley, and its final staging area was the Tubac Presidio. The National Park Service works to develop the trail with interpretation and sections available to hikers, horseback riders, mountain bikers, and bird watchers.
Although the area along the Santa Cruz River from Nogales northward has been part of the United States since the Gadsden Purchase in the mid 1850s, Spanish and Mexican influences remain strong. Communities widely celebrate this Hispanic cultural heritage with annual events, such as the traditional Christmas Mass at Tumacácori National Historical Park. Sonoran-style cuisine which combines Spanish, Mexican, and local Native American influences, is a staple and contributor of the 2015 UNESCO designation of Tucson a Creative City of Gastronomy (the first in the U.S.).
Manuela Pañuelas was the only person who died on the Anza Expedition. Read her story.
Read more about the Spanish and Mexican Frontier here.
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