Pete Kitchen Ranch

Last updated
Kitchen, Pete, Ranch
Pete Kitchen Ranch.jpg
Historic American Buildings Survey image of the Kitchen Ranch
USA Arizona location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city Nogales, Arizona
Coordinates 31°24′8″N110°57′16″W / 31.40222°N 110.95444°W / 31.40222; -110.95444
Area5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built1862 (1862)
NRHP reference No. 75000360 [1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 20, 1975

The Pete Kitchen Ranch was established on Potrero Creek near Nogales, Arizona Territory, about 1862, reputedly the first permanent American ranch in Arizona. The site, which had good access to water, had been inhabited in prehistory and had been visited by Juan Bautista de Anza in October 1774, who called it Las Lagunas, a name also used by Kitchen. By the 1870s, the ranch was producing substantial crops and livestock that yielded an income of $10,000 a year. "Pete Kitchen hams" were a major portion of the business. In 1883, Kitchen sold the ranch for a substantial amount of money after the arrival of the railroad cut into his market. He continued to maintain mining and cattle interests and retired to Tucson, losing his money to gambling and loans to friends. Kitchen died on August 5, 1895, at age 77. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Description

The main ranch house is an L-shaped stone structure with log lintels and a flat roof. The roof is surrounded by a 4-foot (1.2 m) parapet that functioned as a shelter for sentries watching for Apache raiding parties. There were two main rooms and a kitchen downstairs. A variety of additions were made, and several smaller structures once existed on the site. Dugout caves sheltered some workers. The site covers 5 acres (2.0 ha). During the time that the ranch was a frontier museum, several structures were reconstructed. [2]

The Pete Kitchen Ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 10, 1975. [1] The ranch building survives as part of a restaurant in Nogales. [3]

The actor Cameron Mitchell portrayed Pete Kitchen in the 1960 episode, "Pete Kitchen's Wedding Night" on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days , hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Kitchen battles Apache Indians even on his wedding day and night. Barbara Luna played his bride, Dona Rosa. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tortilla Flat, Arizona</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Arizona, United States

Tortilla Flat is a small unincorporated community in far eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the central part of the state, northeast of Apache Junction. It is the last surviving stagecoach stop along the Apache Trail. According to the Gross Management Department of Arizona's main U.S. Post Office in Phoenix, Tortilla Flat is presumed to be Arizona's smallest official "community" having a U.S. Post Office and voting precinct. The town has a population of 6. Tortilla Flat can be reached by vehicles on the Apache Trail, via Apache Junction.

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

Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi was founded by Jesuit missionary Fathers Kino and Salvatierra in 1691 as La Misión de San Gabriel de Guevavi, a district headquarters in what is now Arizona, near Tumacácori. Subsequent missionaries called it San Rafael and San Miguel, resulting in the common historical name of 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. The Mission was named for the Italian Saint Cajetan.

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

San Bernardino Ranch is a historic ranch house in the southern San Bernardino Valley near the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge in extreme southeast Cochise County, Arizona, United States. It is significant for its association with the beginning of cattle ranching in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. The ranchland and valley are part of the headwaters region of the Yaqui River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra Bonita Ranch</span> United States historic place

The Sierra Bonita Ranch, founded in 1872 by Henry C. Hooker, is one of the oldest cattle ranches in the United States and the ranch buildings have been designated a National Historic Landmark. It was the first permanent American cattle ranch in Arizona. Hooker bought neighboring ranches until his operation became the largest ranch in Arizona, totaling 800 square miles (2,100 km2), or about 30 by 27 miles. It is located in Sulphur Springs Valley about 27 miles (43 km) north of present-day Willcox, Arizona. The modern ranch is much smaller but is still operational and owned by Jesse Hooker Davis, the sixth generation to live and work on the ranch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faraway Ranch Historic District</span> Historic district in Arizona, United States

The Faraway Ranch Historic District is part of the Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona, and preserves an area associated with the final conflicts with the local Apache, one of the last frontier settlements, and in particular, its association with the people who promoted the establishment of the Chiricahua National Monument. Faraway Ranch is located in Bonita Canyon, which lies at an approximate altitude of 5160 feet and opens in a southwesterly direction into the Sulphur Springs Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Lowell (Tucson, Arizona)</span> United States historic place

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. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empire Ranch</span> United States historic place in Pima County, Arizona

Empire Ranch is a working cattle ranch in southeastern Pima County, Arizona, that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In its heyday, Empire Ranch was one of the largest in Arizona, with a range spanning over 180 square miles (470 km2), and its owner, Walter L. Vail, was an important figure in the establishment of southern Arizona's cattle industry. It is currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management with a grazing lease to a private operator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantano, Arizona</span> Ghost town in Arizona, United States

Pantano is a ghost town located in eastern Pima County, Arizona, between Benson and Vail. Access is via the Marsh Station Road interchange on I-10. It was established as a small railroad town with the arrival of the Southern Pacific in 1880, supplanting the earlier Ciénega station that was located to the west of Pantano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmie Mercer</span> Arizona lawman and pioneer (1871–1914)

James Arthur Mercer was a lawman and pioneer in Arizona Territory in the late 19th century and early 20th century. He was badly wounded by a suspected cattle rustler near the town of Pantano on December 2, 1914, and died about a week later in a Tucson hospital.

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

The Arizona Inn is a hotel in Tucson, Arizona. It was built in 1930–31 by Isabella Greenway, who became Arizona's first female representative to the U.S. Congress in 1932. The Spanish Colonial Revival main building was designed by Tucson architect Merritt Starkweather. The entire 14-acre (5.7 ha) complex comprises 25 structures, of which 21 contribute to the historic district. The buildings are pink stuccoed masonry structures with blue details, arranged in landscaped gardens with more pink stucco walls. The gardens were designed by landscape architect James Oliphant. Small structures surround the gardens, which are mainly landscaped with native Arizona plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calabasas, Arizona</span> Ghost town in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, US

Calabasas is a former populated place or ghost town, within the Census-designated place of Rio Rico, a suburb of Nogales in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Wilson, Marjorie (November 27, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Pete Kitchen Ranch". National Park Service. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 Allen, Paul L. (October 4, 2004). "Legend of pioneer Pete Kitchen a classic of 1850s". Tucson Citizen. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  4. Snoke, Elizabeth (1979). Pete Kitchen: Arizona Pioneer. Journal of the Southwest. pp. 235–256.
  5. "Pete Kitchen's Wedding Night on Death Valley Days". Internet Movie Database . Retrieved February 13, 2019.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Pete Kitchen Ranch at Wikimedia Commons