Tumacacori National Historical Park, Arizona

Tumacacori National Historical Park, formerly Tumacacori National Monument, preserves the site of the oldest Spanish mission in Arizona, dating back to 1691. But even before there was a mission here, there was an O'odham Indian village located just across the Santa Cruz River called Tumacacori. Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, a Jesuit missionary called the place Cajetan (or Cayetano in Spanish). Though we often associate "church" with "mission," Tumacacori did not have an actual church building until 1751.

At that time the community was moved to its present site on the east side of the Santa Cruz River and the name was changed to San Jose de Tumacacori. Visitors here will relive a bygone era which goes back to the time of the earliest contact of Europeans with the indigeneous peoples of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.

Although the Tumacacori Mission was established in 1691, the first church was not built until 1751. At that time the community was moved to its present site on this side of the Santa Cruz River to be near the newly established Tubac Presidio. The present church was built by the Franciscans between 1800 and 1822.

Father Liberos, a peninsular-born Spaniard, was sent back to Spain in 1828, after Mexico gained independence, and Tumacacori never again had a resident priest. Although the O'odham Indians continued to live here for twenty more years, a hard winter, continuing Apache attacks, and the Mexican-American War forced the mission's abandonment in 1848.