Arizona, Pima County, Tucson
![]()
Excavations beneath this lawn in 1998 located the west adobe wall of the Tucson Presidio and a portion of the presidio blacksmith shop. The tower at the southwest corner remains buried beneath the nearby city hall parking lot. Soldiers stood guard here, watching over the field on the Santa Cruz River floodplain below. The soldiers accompanied women as they washed clothes in an irrigation acequia (canal) and men as they tended crops and herds, located a short distance from the main gate. The Cosmopolitan Hotel (later the Orndorff Hotel) was located here from about 1870 to 1935.
(Forts, Castles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Excavations beneath this lawn in 1998 located the west adobe wall of the Tucson Presidio and a portion of the presidio blacksmith shop. The tower at the southwest corner remains buried beneath the nearby city hall parking lot. Soldiers stood guard here, watching over the field on the Santa Cruz River floodplain below. The soldiers accompanied women as they washed clothes in an irrigation acequia (canal) and men as they tended crops and herds, located a short distance from the main gate. The Cosmopolitan Hotel (later the Orndorff Hotel) was located here from about 1870 to 1935.(Forts, Castles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.