Fort Lowell (Tucson, Arizona)

Last updated
Fort Lowell
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson-Fort Lowell Hospital-1878.JPG
Ruins of the hospital at Old Fort Lowell, Tucson
Coordinates 32°15′36″N110°52′26″W / 32.26000°N 110.87389°W / 32.26000; -110.87389
Type Army fortification
Site information
Controlled byFlag of Arizona.svg  Arizona
Condition tourist attraction
Site history
Built1873
Built byFlag of the United States (1867-1877).svg  United States
In use1873–1891
Materials adobe, mesquite, earth
Battles/wars Apache Wars
Garrison information
Occupants Flag of the United States (1891-1896).svg United States Army

Fort Lowell was a United States Army post active from 1873 to 1891 on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. Fort Lowell was the successor to Camp Lowell, an earlier Army installation. [1] The Army chose a location just south of the confluence of the Tanque Verde and Pantano creeks, at the point where they form the Rillito River, due to the year-round supply of water during that period. The Hohokam natives had chosen the site centuries earlier, presumably for the same reason. To this day, shards of Hohokam pottery can still be found in the area. The Army claimed a military reservation that encompassed approximately eighty square miles and extended east toward the Rincon Mountains. [2]

Contents

History

The Post of Tucson was established May 20, 1862, after the California Column drove Confederate forces from the area. The post was abandoned in July 1864 and reestablished in July 1865. On August 29, 1866, the post was renamed Camp Lowell in honor of General Charles Russell Lowell, who died from wounds sustained during the Battle of Cedar Creek. Initially located on the east side of Sixth Avenue, between Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets, the post was moved for sanitary reasons to a location about 7 miles (11 km) east of town on March 31, 1873. The post's name was changed to Fort Lowell on April 5, 1879. [3]

Old West Era

The fort played a pivotal role during the Apache Wars, providing additional protection for the Tucson area. Far too large and well-manned to be attacked directly, Fort Lowell provided supplies and manpower for outlying military installations. During its eighteen years of operation, the fort averaged thirteen officers and 239 enlisted men. Among the units present during this period were the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Cavalry Regiments, as well as the 1st, 8th, and 12th Infantry Regiments. [1]

The orientation of the post was set according to magnetic north. It featured a large parade grounds, officers' quarters, quartermaster and commissary storehouses, corrals, quarters for enlisted men as well as for married non-commissioned officers. The most prominent building on post was the hospital, the adobe remnants of which still stand under a protective structure. A lane lined with cottonwood trees, aptly named Cottonwood Lane, graced the area in front of the officers' houses.

Among the more well known officers to have served at Fort Lowell were the young Walter Reed, the Army physician famous for his yellow fever research, and Charles Bendire, the amateur ornithologist after whom Bendire's thrasher is named.

El Fuerte

After the Army decommissioned the post in 1891, the civilian occupied military reservation land was sold and private farms were reestablished along the Rillito River. Mexican families from Sonora soon moved north to take advantage of the "free" repurposed fort housing and framing jobs. In the early 20th century the small village continued to grow west of the ruins of the old fort. This occupation has become known as the El Fuerte Period. [4]

The small community of adobe houses would continue grow in the first two decades of the 20th century to include the El Callejón Fort Lowell School, and two churches, San Pedro Chapel and the Fort Lowell Union Church. These three civic building created the nexus of the village center and formed an informal plaza.

Fort Lowell Art Colony

In the 1930s Nan, Pete and Charles Bolsius rebuilt the crumbling adobe ruin of the Post Traders Store making it their home and studio. Through the 1940s a number of other artists moved into the Fort Lowell area establishing a burgeoning artist colony. Significant artists and intellectuals built homes and lived in the area including: René Cheruy and Germaine Cheruy, Win Ellis, modernist painter Jack Maul, sculptor and designer Giorgio Belloli, Charles Bode, architectural designer Veronica Hughart, anthropologists Edward H. Spicer and Rosamond Spicer, photographer Hazel Larson Archer and weaver Ruth Brown. The artist colony attracted writers and poets including beat generation Alan Harrington and Jack Kerouac whose visit is documented in his iconic book On the Road.

Notable artists and writers (20th Century)

Fort Lowell and the Boy Scouts of Tucson

"The Boy Scouts had a long connection to Fort Lowell," explained columnist David Leighton, in the Arizona Daily Star newspaper on Feb. 5, 2017:

The first known visit to the old fort ruins by the Boy Scouts of Tucson, which had been established the year before, occurred in April 1912. The scouts marched out to the abandoned fort under the direction of a member of the University of Arizona's military cadet program. During the week-long encampment the boys did a lot of drilling like soldiers but also were given some free time to search for Native American relics.

A couple years later, the Fort Lowell Boy Scouts troop, which was formed from boys in the neighborhood that had grown up around the old Ft. Lowell ruins, called El Fuerte and a farming community, populated by Mormons, farther west that came to be named Binghamton. The two troops played a baseball game that year and are believed to have used the area fairly regularly for campouts, target practice etc. until about 1921, when Camp Lawton opened on Mount Lemmon. Within a few years, the Boy Scouts of Tucson became part of the Catalina Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

As the years passed, the old fort traded hands a few times, at one point being under the control of the Arizona State Museum of the University of Arizona.

In 1945, with the assistance of prominent local rancher Carlos Ronstadt, the Boy Scouts bid and obtained 40 acres of the old ruins while preventing the land from falling into the hands of developers, who were rumored to have plans of constructing a subdivision where the ruins existed.

A water system was put in place by the Boy Scouts and volunteers and three structures were acquired and donated to the site. One of the structures was used as the Ft. Lowell Training Center and another structure as the Ranger Station. In 1953, the scouts obtained the funds to have a roof built over the remains of the post hospital that still exists today, constructed a rail fence around the hospital ruins which was later replaced by a chain link fence and put up a flagpole just to the south of the remains.

While many successful scout events took place there, by 1957 it was realized that the Boy Scouts didn't have enough money to maintain the site and sold it to Pima County that year. [5]

Fort Lowell Park

Fort Lowell Park
Tucson-Fort Lowell Park Museum.JPG
Fort Lowell Park Museum
Location2900 North Craycroft Road, Tucson, Arizona
Area20 acres (8.1 ha)
Built1878
NRHP reference No. 78003358
Added to NRHP1978 [6]

The fort lay in ruins for many years and many of its adobe structures went into disrepair. Some of the portions of the fort were sold to the families in Tucson. Among the families which acquired in 1928, large portions where the fort was situated was the Adkins family. The Adkins family established a steel tank manufacturing business on the site. In 2006, Jim Campbell, a local developer, purchased the property (known as the Adkins Parcel) and then traded the property to the City of Tucson. The City and County had been attempting to purchase the Adkins Parcel for over 30 years. In 2009, the city in association with Pima County created a Master Plan for the creation and development of what was to become the Fort Lowell Park. [7] The park features ball fields, tennis and racquetball courts, a large public swimming pool, and the Fort Lowell Museum dedicated to Fort Lowell's days as an active military installation. Fort Lowell also includes a large pond.

The Adkins Parcel that Tucson purchased from Jim Campbell lies immediately west of Craycroft Road where the last of the original officers' quarters stand. Plans indicated that they would be open to the public as a museum. However, high levels of lead paint were found and the buildings were not opened. On the north end of the former Adkins parcel stands a pile of large stones that, according to local lore, formed a wall of the guardhouse in which Geronimo was kept prior to his removal from Arizona.

The Fort Lowell Museum is located in the reconstructed Commanding Officer's quarters and is run by the Tucson Presidio Trust which also runs the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón. Exhibits focus on military life on the Arizona frontier. The Fort Lowell Historic District is the neighborhood located on or near Fort Lowell. It is set aside as a historic district.

Fort Lowell is the historical setting of the 1957–1958 syndicated Western television series, Boots and Saddles , starring John Pickard, Patrick McVey, and Gardner McKay.

A reconstructed Fort Lowell was featured in the 1972 film Ulzana's Raid , starring Burt Lancaster. However, the reconstructed fort was actually built in an area just southwest of the Santa Rita Mountains, near Nogales, Arizona.

National Register of Historic Places

Fort Lowell Park and the ruins within the property were listed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 13, 1978. Other properties, which belong to the park or which in the past belonged to Fort Lowell, are individually listed in National Register of Historic Places and include

City of Tucson Fort Lowell Historic Preservation Zone

Inclusive and more expansive of the buildings listed National Register of Historic Places, the City of Tucson established the Fort Lowell Historic Zone as a zoning overlay in 1981 to preserve the cultural and historical integrity of the Fort Lowell area. The zoning overlay provides protections for historically significant buildings, ruins, and landscapes, preventing inappropriate alterations and encouraging preservation efforts. The Fort Lowell Historic Zone Advisory Board, composed of local stakeholders and preservationists, oversees the area, reviewing changes to properties within the zone to maintain historical accuracy. The zone includes numerous other building and cultural assets including vernacular Sonoran adobe architecture and homes designed by Charles Bolsius, and Veronica Hughart. Some of the houses and buildings include:

Historic Buildings Not Included in the National Register or City Historic Zone

Several important historic buildings within the Fort Lowell area were not included in either the National Register of Historic Places or the City of Tucson Fort Lowell Historic Zone due to the timing of the original designations, which occurred decades ago. Since those designations, additional structures have been identified as having historical, architectural, or cultural significance, but they remain outside the official protections because the review processes at the time did not encompass more recent historical developments.

The omission of these buildings highlights the evolving nature of historic preservation and underscores the need for ongoing efforts to update and expand protective designations as new historic contexts emerge. While these buildings are not currently protected by the same regulations as those within the official zones, many continue to play a key role in maintaining the neighborhood’s historical ambiance and cultural significance.

Structures and plaques located in Fort Lowell Park.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tucson, Arizona</span> City in Arizona, United States

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, and is home to the University of Arizona. It is the second-largest city in Arizona behind Phoenix, with a population of 542,629 in the 2020 United States census, while the population of the entire Tucson metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is 1,043,433. The Tucson MSA forms part of the larger Tucson-Nogales combined statistical area. Both Tucson and Phoenix anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city is 108 miles (174 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 mi (100 km) north of the United States–Mexico border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casa Grande Ruins National Monument</span> Ancient place in Coolidge, Arizona

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, in Coolidge, Arizona, located northeast of Casa Grande, Arizona, preserves a group of Hohokam structures dating to the Classic Period (1150–1450 CE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Bowie</span> 19th-century US Army outpost in Arizona

Fort Bowie was a 19th-century outpost of the United States Army located in southeastern Arizona near the present day town of Willcox, Arizona. The remaining buildings and site are now protected as Fort Bowie National Historic Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tubac Presidio State Historic Park</span> Park in Santa Cruz County, Arizona

Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, located in Tubac, Arizona, US, preserves the ruins of the Presidio San Ignacio de Tubac and various other buildings, thereby presenting a timeline of European settlement in this Southern Arizona town. The park contains a museum, a number of historic sites, an underground archeology exhibit displaying the excavated foundations of the Tubac Presidio, and a picnic area. Various cultural events are held on-site throughout the year, including Anza Days (October), Los Tubaqueños living history presentations, archeological tours, and nature walks. Until recently, the park was administered by Arizona State Parks but is the first park in the Arizona state park system. As a result of budget cutbacks, the Tubac Presidio was scheduled to be closed in 2010, but was rescued by local residents and the Tubac Historical Society. It is now operated by The Friends of the Presidio and staffed with dedicated volunteers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi</span> Historic mission ruins in Arizona

La Misión de San Gabriel de Guevavi was founded by Jesuit missionary priests Eusebio Kino and Juan María de Salvatierra in 1691. Subsequent missionaries called it San Rafael and San Miguel, resulting in the common historical name of Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas</span> Historic mission ruins in Arizona

Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas, also known as Calabasas, is a Spanish Mission in the Sonoran Desert, located near present-day Tumacacori, Arizona, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Bolsius</span> Dutch American painter (1907–1983)

Charles William Bolsius was a Dutch-born American painter. He was born in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, the youngest in an upper-middle-class bourgeoisie family. His father ran the regional Gas Works and Bolsius formally studied art in The Hague before emigrating to the United States and moving to New Mexico in the early 1930s. He quickly assimilated into the art communities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe showing with the significant artist of the period. Bolsius had artistically matured within Dutch - German Expressionism. His woodblock handprints, using subject matter from the American West, capitalized on flat, bold, stark patterns and rough-hewn effects that were hallmarks of the expressionist woodblock tradition. His heavy light-filled moody paintings with cloudy brooding skies combined expressionistic influences with expansive western landscapes and the optimism of American impressionism. His work was critically recognized and exhibited at major museums and galleries throughout New Mexico and Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Pima County, Arizona</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Pima County, Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado River State Historic Park</span> Part of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area

Colorado River State Historic Park, formerly Yuma Crossing State Historic Park and Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, and now one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. It is an Arizona state park in the city of Yuma, Arizona, US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Pedro Chapel</span> United States historic place

San Pedro Chapel, located in the Fort Lowell area of Tucson, Arizona, is a historic and iconic architectural site with deep roots in the local community, dating back to the early 20th century. The adobe chapel was established by Mexican and Sicilian immigrants who settled in the area after the abandonment of Fort Lowell by the U.S. military. The center of a small settlement known as "El Fuerte," this area grew into village with rich cultural traditions. The chapel served as a cornerstone of community life and together with the Fort Lowell School House, the 1917 adobe Fort Lowell Union Church, and nearby small adobe houses made up the informal plaza and center of the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Apache Historic Park</span> Historic place in Gila County, Arizona

Fort Apache Historic Park is a tribal historic park of the White Mountain Apache, located at the former site of Fort Apache on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The park interprets the rich and troubled history of relations between the Apache and other Native American tribes at the fort, which was converted into a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school after its military use ended. The park, which covers 288 acres (117 ha) of the former fort and school, as well as a nearby military cemetery, form the National Historic Landmark Fort Apache and Theodore Roosevelt School historic district.

Madame Germaine Rouget Cheruy (1896–1980) was a French costume designer, artist and intellectual who moved to the United States in 1924. She launched and taught art programs in private schools in Connecticut including the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. In 1939 she moved to Tucson, Arizona, and in the early 1940s purchased a home with her husband Rene Cheury in the artist colony of old Fort Lowell. She lived happily with her husband in Arizona. She was recognized and best known for wash drawing, etching, woodblocks, painting, costume design, weaving, fiber arts and arts education.

Annie Verona "Veronica" Barry Hughart (1907–1977) was artist, architectural designer and journalist who lived in Tucson, Arizona and was an active part of the Old Fort Lowell art colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Las Saetas</span> United States historic place

Las Saetas is one of the great examples of Pueblo Revival architecture in the American Southwest. Rebuilt in 1935 from the ruins of the 1873 Post Traders Store the design-build project was led by Dutch-born artist Charles Bolsius, with Nan and Pete Bolsius. The project included hand-carved doors, exposed beams, carved corbels, adobe fireplaces, hand-hammered tin, and a heightened sense of romanticism. The property and its transformation over a 150-year-span reflect the changing culture and economic milieu of Southern Arizona and the American West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Bolsius House</span> United States historic place

Charles Bolsius House, also called "Casa Bienvenidos", is a significant example of the architectural work of artist and designer Charles Bolsius and an important example of Territorial Revival design in the American Southwest. It is located in the City of Tucson, Arizona within the Old Fort Lowell Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Cuartel Viejo</span> United States historic place

El Cuartel Viejo is a significant and important example of Pueblo Revival architecture in the American Southwest. Rebuilt starting in 1942 from the ruins of the 1870s Fort Lowell Quartermaster and Commissary Storehouse the design-build project was led by Dutch-born artist Charles Bolsius, with brother and sister-in-law Nan and Pete Bolsius. The project, a series of five residences, included distinctive hand-carved Bolsius doors, exposed beams, carved corbels, adobe fireplaces, hand-hammered tin, and a heightened sense of romanticism. The property like Las Saetas to the west and its transformation over a 150-year-span reflect the changing culture and economic milieu of Southern Arizona and the American West.

LeaChar House is an architectural landmark, exemplifying late 20th century Arizona Territorial Revival architecture style and serving as the final masterpiece of the architectural designer and artist, Charles Bolsius. Situated on the eastern outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, within the historically significant Tanque Verde, Arizona village area, off "Tanque Verde Loop" the LeaChar House occupies a tranquil setting amidst verdant mesquite trees part of a bosque along the banks of Tanque Verde Creek. This natural environment evokes the charm and rural landscapes surrounding Fort Lowell, where Bolsius resided prior to the urban expansion of Tucson in the mid-20th century.

El Callejón is a narrow dirt road in the heart of the Old Fort Lowell neighborhood and historic district in Tucson, Arizona, United States. This narrow lane was part of the post Fort "El Fuerte" village that was established in the 1890s and continued through the 1940s. The little road holds significant cultural, environmental, and ecological history, intertwined with the region's heritage and the families who called this place home in the 20th century. Private footpaths lead to an Acequia, an irrigation canal, called the Corbett Irrigation Ditch, which dates back to 1850s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Xavier House</span> Building in Tucson, Arizona

Juan Xavier House, is a two-room adobe building located along El Callejón, on the edge of a mesquite bosque within the Fort Lowell Historic Preservation Zone in Tucson, Arizona. Built in the early to mid-20th century, the house exemplifies late traditional Sonoran farmhouse or ranch architecture, a vernacular style prevalent in Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona. The house is closely associated with its namesake, Juan Xavier, a noted member of the Tohono O'odham tribal council and a figure involved in Tucson's cultural and artistic communities.

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.oflna.org/fort_lowell_museum/ftlowell.htm Archived 2009-03-06 at the Wayback Machine Fort Lowell, retrieved June 28, 2009
  2. ↑ The Fort Archived 2009-03-30 at the Wayback Machine , retrieved June 28, 2009
  3. ↑ Schilling 1960, p. 137.
  4. ↑ http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/ftlowell/elfuerte.html Archived 2009-05-31 at the Wayback Machine El Fuerte, retrieved June 28, 2009
  5. ↑ Star, David Leighton Arizona Daily (5 February 2017). "Street Smarts: Boy Scouts had a long connection to Fort Lowell". Arizona Daily Star.
  6. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Cultural and Historic Resource Acquisitions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.