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"Elevation 2,374 feet. On Santa Cruz River. County Seat, Pima county. On S.P.R.R. Hodge and Coues both agree that name comes from the Piman "Slyuk-son" meaning a dark or brown spring. Originally it was probably a Papago word. Papagoes say "styuk" for black, and "zone" or "son" for foot or base of a hill; or near a spring. There was a Papago village in early days as Sentinel Peak, which they called by this name, Styuk-zone. See aslo Papago village of Little Tucson or Tucsonsito. Name has been vriously spelled. Arricivita spelled it Tugson; General Cooke spelled it Teuson, 1846; Emory, 1`847, TUcson.
Franciscans in Arizona says; "Fr. Marcos visited Tucson, 1539. Kino, 1692; Garces saw it first, 1775. It was called Presidio of San Jose de Tucson." This work further says: "The Vista San Jose de Tucson is situated 6 leagues north of San xavier. A vista of Bac since 1763 it was still withou either church or priest in 1772."
Kino located a settlement on his map which he called Tucsonimo. Bolton says, however: "This was a village on the Gila above Casa Grande which was called 'Encarnacion' and said to have been some 26 leagues north of San Xavier." Coues quotes HOdge as follows: "Its (Tucson's) settlement by Spaniards is reputed to date from 1560, but there is little doubt that it became a Spanish settlement not earlier than 1776. Before that time it was a Rancheria probably of mixed Pima, Papago, and Sobaipuri peoples. From 1763 it was regularly visited as San Juan de Tucson by the Missionary of San Xavier del Bac. In 1776, Presidio of Tubac was transferred there and name 'San Augustin de Tucson' applied. Its alleged great antiquity as a Spanish settlement is a fable.
"We have the first definite knowledge of Tucson as a 'Rancheria de Visita' of Bac mission, 1763. Tucson was doubtless second settlement by Europeans in United States with Santa Fe first by a few years, and St. Augustine Florida, third. In 1848 population of Tucson was 760 persons, whites, Indians, and all." Tucson was occupied by US troops, 1856. August 16, 1856, a convention was held there to organize the Territory of Arizona as a political entity. Town was occupied by Confederate troops from Feb. to May 1862. Tucson became capital November 1, 1867, and held it until 1867.
Regarding the age of Tucson, Dr. Frank C. Lockwood writes: "Close study of Tucson's history indicates it was first viewed by European eyes in 1694. Shows first time on a mpa 1698 and was first estalished as a European town 1776." Records U.S. Land Office shwo that in 1872 town bought two sections of government land fo a town site paying $800 a section. Donald Page in Arizona Historical Review gives an interesting account of first military occupation of Tucson, Decmber 1846. J. Ross Browne visited Tucson , 1864, as a government official. His account of what he saw is worth reading.
First Post Office established December 4, 1856, Elias Brevort, PM. Was then in Dona Ana county, New Mexico, and first post office established in what is now Arizona. See Revanton. Office closed temporarily February 14, 1863 because of Civil War. Re-established July 13, 1865, with Mark Aldrich, PM. First Southern Pacific Railroad train reached Tucson March 17, 1880. A post office called Tucson in Ross county, Ohio 12 miles east of Chillicothe, was established May 10, 1896, Zacariah Hines, PM, No one could tell how the name had migrated."
Barnes, Will C. Arizona
Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1997.
p. 455
City Profile-Arizona Department of Commerce
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/commasst/comm/tucson.pdf
Local Government Website
http://www.ci.tucson.az.us
City Code
http://www.municode.com
The Arizonan
http://arizonan.com/Tucson/
Tucson Citizen - State's oldest continuously published newspaper - began Oct. 15, 1870.
Listing of Tucson City Newspapers (1870-Present) from the ASU
Library Catalog
AN2.T8 T8x
Arizona citizen : J. Wasson, 1870-1880.
Continued by
Weekly Arizona citizen : R.C. Brown, 1880-1881.
Continued by
Arizona weekly citizen : Citizen Print. and Pub. Co.,
1881.
Continued by
Arizona weekly citizen : Citizen Print. and Pub. Co., 1881-1882.
Continued by
Arizona weekly citizen : Citizen Print. and Pub. Co., 1882-1910.
Continued by
Daily Arizona citizen : R.C. Brown, 1879-1884.
Continued by
Arizona daily citizen. : Citizen Print. and Pub. Co., 1884-1901.
Continued by
The Tucson citizen. : Citizen Print. and Pub. Co., 1901-1928.
Continued by
Tucson daily citizen. : Citizen Pub. Co., 1929-1977.
Continued by
Tucson citizen. : Citizen Publishing Co., 1977-
read this publication online
Other papers
Arizona
Daily Star- Tucson Newspaper since 1879
read this publication online
The Arizona star: Chas. H. Tully, 1877.
Continued by
Arizona weekly star: Tully & Hughes, 1877-1878.
Continued by
The Arizona star: A.E. Fay, 1878-1879.
Continued by
Arizona weekly star: L.C. Hughes, 1879-1899.
Continued by
Arizona daily star. : L.C. Hughes, 1879-
Other Papers
Arizona weekly enterprise. : The Enterprise Co.,1881-1893.
Continued by
Arizona enterprise.: Enterprise Pub. Co., 1893-1894.
Arizona Historical Society/ Southern Division
949 E. Second Street, Tucson, Arizona 85719
Monday -Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Sunday, noon to 4 p.m
(520) 628-5774
http://w3.arizona.edu/~azhist/
Colossal Cave Mountain Park
16711 E. Colossal Cave Rd. Tucson AZ 85641
(520) 647-7275
http://www.colossalcave.com/
Arizona Historical Society Ft Lowell Museum
2900 N Craycroft Rd TUCSON AZ 85712-5233
(520) 885-3832
ARIZONA STATE MUSEUM.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721-0026
8:00-5:00 Monday through Friday
520-621-6281.
http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/
University of Arizona
http//www.arizona.edu
Pima Community College
http://www.pima.edu/
Books/Manuscripts on the ASU Library Catalog
Books Selections on Tucson History
The book of Tucson firsts / by Larry Cox
The city of Tucson; its foundtion and origin of its name / [by] M. P. Freeman. :
From cowtown to desert metropolis : ninety years of Arizona memories
Tucson : diary of a city, 1776-1949 / edited by John B. Whiting ; illustrated by Helen J. Goddard.