Online Encyclopedia

TUCSON (possibly from Piman styuk-son...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 362 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

TUCSON (possibly from Piman styuk-son, " dark or brown spring," pronounced Tooson)  , a city and the county-seat of
See also:
Pima county, Arizona, U.S.A., on the
See also:
Santa Cruz
See also:
river, in the S.E.
See also:
part of the state, about 130 M . S.E. of Phoenix . Pop . (188o), 7007; (1890), 5150; (1900), 7531 (2352
See also:
foreign-born, chiefly from Mexico); (1910), 13,193 . It is served by the
See also:
Southern Pacific and the Twin Buttes
See also:
railways, the latter connecting with the mines of the Twin Buttes
See also:
district, about 27 M. south by east, and with the Randolph lines in Mexico . The city lies about 2360 ft. above the sea in a broad valley sheltered by mountains 5000-9000 ft. high . Its
See also:
climate, characteristic of southern Arizona, attracts many invalids and winter visitors . Tucson is the seat of the university of Arizona (1891; non-sectarian, coeducational), which is organized under the Morrill Acts; in 1909 it had 40 instructors and 201 students . At Tucson also are a
See also:
desert botanical laboratory (owning a tract of some r000 acres about 1 m. west of the city) established by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, St Joseph's Academy (
See also:
Roman Catholic); a Roman Catholic
See also:
cathedral; the Tucson
See also:
Mission (Presbyterian), a boarding school for Indians, the
See also:
San Xavier Mission for Indians (Roman Catholic) and a Carnegie library . In 1900 Tucson became the see of a Roman Catholic bishop . The surrounding country is arid and unproductive except where irrigated; but the
See also:
soil is very rich, and Tucson is the centre of one of the
See also:
oldest farming and ranching districts of the state . The Southern Pacific railway has division headquarters and repair shops here .

Tucson is first heard of in

See also:
history in 1699, conjecturally, as an
See also:
Indian rancheria or settlement; and in 1763 certainly as a visita, in that
See also:
year temporarily abandoned, of the Jesuit mission of San Xavier del Bac, founded between 1720 and 1732, 9 M. south of what is now Tucson; in 1776 it was made a presidio (San Augustin del Tugison), or military outpost, and although a' few Spaniards may possibly have lived there before, the foundation of Tucson as a
See also:
Spanish
See also:
town
See also:
dates from this time . It was never after abandoned during the Indian
See also:
wars . In 1848. it had 76o in-habitants . The abandonment by the Mexicans in 1848 of the mission towns of Tamacacori (a visita of Guevavi, a mission founded in the first third of the 18th century) and the presidio at Tubac (established before 1752) increased its importance . Tucson
See also:
lay within the territory acquired by the
See also:
United States by the Gadsden
See also:
Purchase in 1853; it was occupied by the United States in 1856 . Fort Lowell, 7 M. north-east of the city, was built as a
See also:
protection against the Apache Indians in 1873; it was abandoned in 189r . In the earlier days of Territorial history Tucson was the
See also:
political centre of Arizona . Here were held in August 1856 a convention that demanded a Territorial government from Congress, another in
See also:
April 186o that organized a provisional government independently of Congressional permission, and others in 1861 that attempted to cast in the lot of Arizona with the Confederate states . Tucson was occupied by the Confederates in
See also:
February 1862 and by the Union forces in May . It was the Territorial capital from 1867 to 1877 . Its prosperity fluctuated with the fortunes of the surrounding
See also:
mining country . Tucson was incorporated as a town in 1877, and chartered as a city in 1883 .

End of Article: TUCSON (possibly from Piman styuk-son, " dark or brown spring," pronounced Tooson)
[back]
JOSIAH TUCKER (1712-1799)
[next]
TUCUMAN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.