Best Heritage Preservation Tucson Near Me

4worldlovers: Travel back in time at the Tucson Presidio Historic Museum to learn about life as an early Tucsonan. Experience the area’s flagship walking tours where docents share facts about early Native Americans, Presidio residents, and Territorial Period settlers who lived in the Santa Cruz Valley.

See archaeological remains of a pit house. Walk along the original Presidio wall. Experience a 150-year-old classic Sonoran Row house. Watch historical re-enactments and demonstrations.

Looking for the best of Downtown Tucson’s historical attractions and events? We have them. Check our Calendar and join us at our upcoming activities.

4worldlovers: Vail Preservation Society (VPS) was founded in 2006 to preserve vanishing local history and save the community’s surviving built environment. The 1908 Old Vail Post Office has been at the center of those efforts, but it is not our sole purpose. Over the past 17 years VPS has grown into a community building organization that uses historic preservation and local history as the glue to bind our community together through a period of unprecedented growth and development.

Vail Arizona is located southeast of Tucson. Founded as a railroad siding in 1880, Vail has never formally incorporated yet it has a rich human history stretching back millennium to the Hohokam. The original townsite of Vail is between the railroad tracks at the intersection of Colossal Cave Road and historic Highway 80, but like many rural communities, people as far south as mile post 49 and as far north as the Rincon Valley identify with Vail. Like Chauncey Kelley said in the documentary, Voices of Vail, “Vail is more of a spirit than a spot.”

4worldlovers:
Experience our storytelling portals, topographic map, interactive diorama and Heritage Theater.

The Southern Arizona Heritage and Visitor Center is your starting point to discover all that southern Arizona, the Sonoran Desert and the Sky Islands have to offer.

Southern Arizona and the Sonoran Desert have lots to offer. Before you start your adventure, be sure to visit our Southern Arizona Heritage and Visitor Center. You can’t miss us – we’re located in downtown Tucson, Arizona inside the Pima County Historic Courthouse.

Our Visitor Center includes various exhibits, a Theater, gallery and other neat features designed to introduce you to new places and provide inspiration to guide your journey.

Find trip planning information on hotels, events, restaurants and things to do in Tucson, AZ. Request a Visitor Guide.

A memorial to the six lives lost and the 13 wounded in the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting in Tucson, offering a place of remembrance, reflection and inspiration.

Dedicated to providing public education and the preservation of minerals and meteorites while also serving the research needs of professionals, students and collectors.

Pima County is home to some of the best world-class attractions in Arizona.

4worldlovers: Savor recent developments in the understanding and practice of North America’s Traditional Foods and Foodways at the 16th season of Archaeology Café. From archaeological evidence of culinary practices to modern-day farming and food sovereignty, there will be something for every palate!

On August 4, 2023, Archaeology Southwest, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the San Carlos Apache Tribe advised the US Bureau of Land Management, via a jointly submitted Notice of Dispute, of its failures to complete the historic property identification and Tribal Consultation processes required to move forward with the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project.

4worldlovers: The El Con Water Tower is located near Randolph Way and Broadway. (Across from the El Con Mall.) This water tower was built in 1928 to serve the developing Colonia Solana neighborhood. When the water tower was first put up in is was just a standard steel water tower.

The Colonia Solana neighborhood wanted something less unsightly. The developer of the neighborhood hired Tucson architect Roy Place to design an enclosure. In 1932, an ornate structure of chicken wire and plaster was built to hide the tank.

In 1980, the El Con Water Tower was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1994, the water tower was restored at the cost of $70,000 according to the City of Tucson Office of Integrated Planning.

In March 2017 the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, opens a new window sponsored a tour of the interior of the water tower. Photos by local photographer A.T. Willett are posted to Facebook album An exclusive sneak peak inside the iconic El Con Water Tower today, opens a new window.

Stewart, Michele. “What’s with that?, opens a new window” Arizona Daily Star. January 25, 2002. Page F4.