History · Tucson

Tucson has 135 places on the National Register, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #5 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it

Dated to 1775 (Wikidata), with 3% of its homes built before 1940 and 46 historic districts holding 5,570 contributing buildings. Most of Tucson was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, the census since 1850, and every listing on the Register.

1775founded

135on the National Register

3%homes built before 1940

11old photos & papers

36famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Tucson’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Tucson began

When was Tucson founded?

1775

Tucson dates its founding to 1775 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 400 in 18502020 census: 542,629251 years

How historic is Tucson?

B⁺

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1856.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Tucson’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tucson is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #5 of 140 in Arizona. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Tucson’s overall grade.

Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19403.3% of homes (±0.3) · typical AZ town 0.4% · U.S. 8.4%C⁻National Register135 listings, 5,570 historic buildings, 102 per 10,000 residents · typical AZ town 0.1 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 68%

NewerOlder

Arizona towns of 2,500+ (140)Ahead of 97%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Tucson ranks #182 on History.

Few Arizona towns list much on the Register (a typical Arizona town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Tucson’s 102 sits above most of its state (94% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 5,570 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.

Newer cities are common at Tucson’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1775.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Tucson’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark135 places on the National Register, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Menlo Park Historic District takes in 413 historic buildings.Lost villages6 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Tucson, and 82 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building6 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1919, drew every building in Tucson.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

135 listings protect 5,570 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

135

National Historic Landmarks

Desert Laboratory

historic buildings protected

5,570

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

Desert Laboratory

★ Landmark

Desert LaboratoryBuilding

★ Landmark

San Xavier del BacBuilt 1692

Old Adobe PatioAnglo-Territorial

Sosa-Carrillo-Fremont HouseZaguan Plan

El TiraditoMission · Built 1940

Old Main, University of ArizonaBuilding

Cordova HouseBuilding

Velasco HouseZaguan Style

All 135 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Tucson’s post office has been open since 1856. Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Tucson

1856–today

Tully

1880–1880

Esperanza

1884–1884

Langhorne

1908–1912

Fort Lowell

1911–1912

Wrightstown

1914–1921

Emery Park

1928–1952

18501940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Aloha Mobile Home ParkAmphitheaterArizonian Mobile Home ParkBeLaire Mobile Home ParkBermuda Gardens Trailer ParkBrentwood Mobile Home ParkCammie's Foothills Vista Mobile Home ParkCampbell Estates Mobile Home ParkCasa Dulce Mobile Home ParkCatalina Vista Mobile Home CommunityCielo Vista Mobile Home ParkCivanoColonial Mobile Homes ParkColumbia Mobile Home ParkContinental West Mobile Home ParkCottonwood Manor Mobile Home ParkCountry Club Mobile Home ParkCovered Wagon Mobile Home ParkCraycroftCrescent Manor Mobile Home CommunityCrossroads Mobile Home ParkDesert Breeze Mobile Home ParkDesert Classic Mobile Home ParkDesert Palms Mobile Home Park

Gone or out of use

Adoration Sanctuary HospitalhospitalCarl Hayden HospitalhospitalComstock Childrens HospitalhospitalCregier AirportairportDowntown Tucson AirportairportFort LowelllocaleFreeway AirportairportMulti Educational Learning CenterschoolPoorman RangemilitarySaint Lukes in the Desert Hospitalhospital

10cemeteries and burying grounds inside Tucson

All Faiths Memorial ParkCatalina United Methodist Church Memorial GardenChrist Church United Methodist Memorial GardenEast Lawn PalmsEvergreen Mortuary andHoly Hope Cemetery and MausoleumPima County Cemetery / Tucson PioneerPrayer Garden and ColumbariumSouth Lawn MemorialTucson Pioneer

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Tucson came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tucson.

Read it all →

The Tucson area was probably first visited by Paleo-Indians, who were known to have been in southern Arizona about 12,000 years ago. Recent archaeological excavations near the Santa Cruz River found a village site dating from 2100 BC. The floodplain of the Santa Cruz River was extensively farmed during the Early Agricultural Period, c. 1200 BC to AD 150. These people hunted, gathered wild plants and nuts, and ate corn, beans, and other crops grown using irrigation canals they constructed.

ChaptersPost-frontier life

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Tucson, 1692 to 1953

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

17th century
1692BuiltSan Xavier del Bac is built
18th century
1775
FoundingTucson is established
19th century
1856Post officeThe Tucson post office opens
1873BuiltFort Lowell Park is built
1880BuiltArmory Park Historic Residential District is built
1880Post officeThe Tully post office opens
1880Post officeThe Tully post office closes
1884Post officeThe Esperanza post office opens
1884Post officeThe Esperanza post office closes
20th century
1902In the archiveSan Xavier Mission
1910In the archiveA Group of University buildings. Tucson, Arizona
1925In the archiveFort Lowell Union Church, c. 1925
1931Born hereBarbara Eden is born here
1937In the archiveLabor Temple. Tucson, Arizona
1940BuiltEl Tiradito is built
1946Born hereLinda Ronstadt is born here
1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1953In the archiveFlag of

By decade

Tucson, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s8 items

1902San Xavier Mission

1903Carnegie Free Library

1909Panorama of Tucson, Arizona

1909Panorama of Tucson & vicinity, Arizona

1910A Group of University buildings. Tucson, Arizona

1913San Xavier Mission

1917Fort Lowell Union Church, 1917

1918Fort Lowell Union Church, 1919

1920s–1950s3 items

1925Fort Lowell Union Church, c. 1925

1937Labor Temple. Tucson, Arizona

1953Flag of

1960s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

On the map

Tucson on the map, 1948 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tucson. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1948Tucson sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Tucson.

Every building

Tucson, building by building, 1886–1919

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Tucson fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 1

1886Sheet 1 of 9

Edition

Sheets

+8 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewSan Xavier Mission, 1902

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Tucson’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Tucson, census by census

Grew from 400 people in 1850 to 542,629 in 2020, more than tenfold.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tucson’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

36 famous people were born in Tucson

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Linda RonstadtAmerican singer · b. 1946

Gabby GiffordsAmerican politician and gun control activist · b. 1970

Hailey BieberAmerican model and television personality · b. 1996

Barbara EdenAmerican actress and singer · b. 1931

Kyrsten SinemaAmerican politician · b. 1976

Inde NavarretteAmerican actress · b. 2001

Help out

Finish Tucson’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

5 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewSan Xavier Mission: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Catalina Foothills26 historic placesB⁻Casas Adobes1 historic placeC⁻Tanque Verde3 historic placesC Tucson Mountains1 historic placeC Flowing WellsIts storyD Drexel HeightsIts storyD SummitIts storyD⁻Rincon ValleyIts storyD⁻Vail4 historic placesC⁻KleindaleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Tucson’s history

What year was Tucson founded?

In 1775, according to Wikidata. Tucson’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1850 counted 400 people here.

How does Tucson rank for history?

Tucson is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #5 of 140 in Arizona. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Tucson?

135 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 69 buildings, among them the Desert Laboratory (a National Historic Landmark since 1965), 46 historic districts with 2,937 contributing buildings, 14 sites, 5 structures, and 1 object. 5,570 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Tucson?

3% of Tucson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1979.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (135), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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