Calabasas, Arizona
Calabasas (Spanish for "
History
18th century
Originally settled by the Spanish in 1756 as
In 1777, the mission church, houses and the granary filled with maize, were sacked and set afire during a raid by part of a band of
19th century
Between 1807 and 1830 the settlement area was used as an estancia (farm) for nearby Mission San José de Tumacácori. In 1808, Spanish settlers and Christian Indians moved into the Calabazas area and restored the chapel. In response, the Apaches again attacked in 1830, setting fire to the buildings and carrying off sacred vessels and vestments in the process. This discouraged anyone from living there for more than two decades, but vaqueros from Tumacácori continued to run cattle in the vicinity.[3]
In 1837, the Mexican government built
Late in 1856, the Mission church, now ranch house, became the temporary home of Major
In January 1861, Apaches attacked Johnny Ward's ranch on Sonoita Creek near Calabasas, stealing cattle and abducting Ward's stepson, Féliz Martínez. Ward traveled upstream to Fort Buchanan and asked the commander
To make things worse, the Civil War began in April 1861, just as the Apache began their attacks. United States troops in the Santa Cruz Valley and every other post in Arizona were ordered east. To prevent it from being used by Confederate soldiers, Fort Buchanan was burned. Camp Lowell, near Tucson, was abandoned. Thinking they had defeated the Americans, the Apaches scavenged the abandoned forts and increased raiding in the Santa Cruz Valley. Almost every mine, ranch, and town had to be abandoned. The only places holding out against the Apaches were Tucson; Sylvester Mowry's silver mine, the Mowry Mine in the Patagonia Mountains,[6] and the Pete Kitchen Ranch on Potrero Creek upstream from Camp Moore.[4]
In September 1865, the
Mission Calabazas was completely abandoned to ruin by 1878, with only a roofless shell remaining.
The site today
There are two remaining sites with visible ruins or remains of this old settlement, the Mission site itself, which was subsequently at various times a farm, a rancho, a military fort Fort Mason, a custom house, post office and private residence before falling into ruin. It is now protected and part of the Tumacácori National Historical Park.[2] There is the site of the 1837–1856 Mexican Presidio de Calabasas, which appears to be vacant land. There is also the Calabasas Cemetery established by the soldiers of Fort Mason during the American Civil War and subsequently used by locals.[7]
There are also sites of the old Calabasas village,[1] Calabasas Store[8] (both now built over by modern development in Rio Rico) and the Santa Rita Hotel (once a fine hotel along the railroad line to Mexico), now a vacant piece of land near the old rail line and south of Sonita Creek, east of its confluence with the Santa Cruz River.[9][10][11]
See also
References
- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Calabasas
- ^ a b c San Cayetano de Calabazas from nps.gov accessed July 19, 2019
- ^ a b c d e f San Cayetano de Calabazas from southwestmissions.org accessed July 20, 2019
- ^ a b c d United States Military Posts on the Mexican Border (1856 to Present) from archaeologysouthwest.org accessed July 21, 2019
- ^ Forbes, Robert Humphrey. "Penningtons, Pioneers of Early Arizona" (PDF). Retrieved February 21, 2015.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mowry Mine
- ^ Calabasas Cemetery from findagrave.com accessed July 19, 2019
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Calabasas Store (historical)
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Calabasas Hotel (historical)
- ^ Calabasas, Arizona: Hotel Santa Rita from historical.ha.com accessed July 19, 2019.
- ^ MS709 Santa Rita Hotel, Calabasas (A.T.) Papers, 1881–1888, 1964 from arizonahistoricalsociety.org accessed July 19, 2019.
External links
- Calabasas from ghosttowns.com. Includes photo of the ruins in Calabasas in 1934.
- San Cayetano de Calabazas Archived July 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine from dhvhoa.org; photos of the site and surroundings. It notes San Cayetano de Calabazas was added to Tumacácori National Historic Park in 1990 and can be visited only via a National Park Service Guided Tour during the Winter months. An information booket is available at the Tumacácori Park Visitors Center.