Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona
Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1997
p. 302
The name Nogales predates the arrival of the Gadsen Purchase Boundry Survey party. In his report Lt. N. Michler speaks of visiting the commissioner in the "pretty little valley of Los Nogales," saying that the camp was near Los Nogales itself. On July 21, 1855 newspapers reported that the American and Mexican Boundry Commissions were encamped permanently in Los Nogales, eight miles from Calabasas on the road to Magdalena, Mexico. The official name for the camp was Monument. To eliminate any further doubt about this location, the Weekly Arizonan (April 21, 1859) may be quoted "Monument or Nogales Rancho." Nogales Ranch was in Nogales Pass thorugh which the railroad would later lay rails beside Nogales Wash. The ranch was a stage station and livestock center. On the Williamson-Robert map of 1868 it was called Dos Nogales and lies on the border adjoining the route from Tubac south into Mexico. On GLO 1869 the name is given as Nugales. In the late 1870s, plans were completed for the railroad to be built northward from Guaymas to the border and southward in the United States with the two to meet at Nogales Pass. A rush started as people tried to be part of what was expected to be a border boom town. At first Calabasas was so envisioned. Many went there but a few others went a little further south. Among them was Jacob Isaacson (b. Dec. 9, 1853, Gulding Russia; d. Dec 29, 1928), an itinerant peddler who for the preceding five years had moved around in Arizona. He constructed a small store and warehouse straddling the international boundry line. A small settlement of tents, rude shacks and adobe rose around his store. The budding settlement was called Isaactown. Two years after Isaacson arrived, he helped as the final silver spike for the railroad was driven home.
Meanwhile, an adjacent community known as Line City was developing on the international boundry and the railroad line. Mexicans called the location of Villa Riva. Apparently no one believed that Line City should be a permanent name, for the citizens were asked to select a name. As the railroad station was called Nogales, the citizens petitioned to ahve the post office name changed from Isaactown to Nogales. With the railroad work completed, a business lull fell on the small border community and Isaacson, a business man to his marrow, moved on to Mexico City. He died in Detroit.
Arizonans refer to the twin cities of Nogales as Los dos Nogales ("the two Nogales"). From its beginning as a box car road station and a community of one or two stores, tents and a few mud huts, Los dos Nogales have grown into large, prosperous attractive cities. Nogales, Arizona, is the county seat for Santa Cruz County. PO Est as Isaactown, May 31, 1882, Jacob Isaacson PM. name changed to NOgales June 4, 1883, James Breeden PM. "
Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona's names : X marks the place Falconer Pub. Co. : distributed by Treasure Chest Publications, c1983. P. 437
Websites
Arizona Department of Commerce Community Profiles- Nogales, Arizona
Nogales, Arizona Local Government Website
The Arizonan.com Nogales Arizona
Nogales International
Nogales City/Santa Cruz County Public Library
Pimeria Alta Historical Society
Books/Manuscripts
found in the ASU Library Catalog
Nogales,Arizona, 1880-1980 centennial anniversary / [prepared by the Nogales Centennial
Committee ; Alma Ready, editor].F819 .N63 N63 1980
An interview with Louis Escalada : cassette and transcript, March 16, 1982
/ by Kristina Minister ; sponsored by the First Interstate Bank of Arizona.
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/comm/nogales.pdf
http://www.cityofnogales.com
http://www.arizonan.com/Nogales/
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/
518 N. Grand Avenue Nogales, Arizona 85621
(520) 287-6571 x288
136 N Grand Ave NOGALES AZ 85621-3211
(520) 287-4621
MS CO OH ESC,LOU
An interview with Walter Holm : with a brief narration by Louise Holm: cassettes
and transcript, March 16, 1982 / by Kristina Minister; sponsored by the
First Interstate Bank of Arizona.
MS CO OH HOL,WAL
Typewritten transcript of oral history interview with Tillie Garten, 1981 August 18
/ conducted by Pamela Hronek.
MS CO OH GAR,TIL
Items on the Arizona and Southwest Index
Santa Cruz County: Nogales, Arizona on the Mexican Border
CE EPH DTO-NOGALES.10
Nogales, Arizona & Sonora: a Tale of Two Cities
CE EPH DTO-NOGALES.4.OV2
Nogales, Arizona: The Key to the Mining Interests of Sonora, Mexico,
C.1907
CE EPH DTO-NOGALES.16
Nogales Boundary Dispute Over Brickwood Cigar Case, 1909
CM MSM-375/OV2
