Tucson, nicknamed the Old Pueblo, is Arizona’s oldest and most Mexican city.

Tucson is an Indian word meaning “place of dark springs” or “springs at the base of a black hill”. About 1900, Americans began to pronounce it “too-sahn”. Today Mexicans still pronounce it “took-sone”.

An Irishman, Don Hugo O’Connor, founded the Spanish city of Tucson. He was an Irish expatriate hired by the Spanish Empire to upgrade frontier defenses against Apache raids and Pima discontent. He visited Tucson in August, 1775, and seeing that it was a strategic location, ordered that it become the Spanish military presidio.

The first stagecoach travel came in the late 1850’s with the Jackass Mail and later the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach. Tucson was the main town between El Paso and San Diego. Stages arrived in Tucson 4 days a week – 2 heading east and 2 heading west.

John Dillinger, the most wanted bank robber in the 1930’s, used Tucson as a vacation spot between robberies.

The oldest Catholic church still in use is San Xavier del Bac near Tucson. It was constructed between 1783 and 1797.