50 Fun Facts About Tucson

In which year was the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón, which founded Tucson, authorized?

Irish-born Spanish officer Hugo O'Conor picked the site on August 20, 1775; the present downtown Pima County Courthouse stands near the spot.

The name Tucson comes from the O'odham phrase Cuk Ṣon. How is it commonly translated into English?

Cuk means "(be) black" and Ṣon refers to the base of something, describing the dark basalt hill just west of downtown.

A giant whitewashed 'A' for the University of Arizona sits on which hill west of downtown?

Students built the 160-foot-tall basalt "A" in 1916 after a football win over Pomona College, giving the hill its everyday name, "A" Mountain.

Tucson is commonly known by which nickname?

It traces back to an 1880 telegram calling Tucson the "ancient and honorable pueblo," which newspapers shortened over time.

Tucson served as capital of the Arizona Territory during which years?

Prescott held the capital before and after Tucson's decade; Phoenix took over for good in 1889.

Tucson became part of the United States on June 8, 1854, through which land deal with Mexico?

The deal bought the land south of the Gila River; the U.S. Army did not formally take control of the town until March 1856.

Tucson is the seat of which Arizona county?

The county is named for the Pima people, also known as the Akimel O'odham, and had just over a million residents at the 2020 census.

The University of Arizona, the first university in the Arizona Territory, was founded in which year?

Tucson had actually hoped to win the territory's mental hospital, which came with a $100,000 allocation instead of the university's $25,000.

Arizona became the Wildcats after a 1914 football game against which California opponent?

The Los Angeles Times wrote that the Arizona men "showed the fight of wildcats" against the then-California champions.

The Wildcats' motto "Bear Down" comes from the last words of which student athlete, who died in 1926?

Salmon was student body president, starting quarterback and baseball catcher; the state legislature made "Bear Down" the university's exclusive property in 1939.

The University of Arizona's giant-telescope mirror lab is tucked beneath which campus structure?

The lab spin-casts lightweight honeycomb mirrors in a rotating furnace, including the 8.4-meter mirror for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Saguaro National Park is split into two units on opposite sides of Tucson. What is the eastern unit called?

The eastern unit is far larger and climbs to 8,666 feet at Mica Mountain, while the western unit tops out at 4,687-foot Wasson Peak.

Which president created Saguaro National Monument in 1933 under the Antiquities Act?

The original monument covered only the Rincon Mountains; the Tucson Mountains unit was added in 1961.

Saguaro National Monument was elevated to full national park status in which year?

The park's namesake cactus can live 200 years, reach 60 feet and weigh 4,800 pounds when fully hydrated.

Mission San Xavier del Bac, about 10 miles south of downtown Tucson, is known by what nickname?

The present church went up between 1783 and 1797, making it the oldest European structure in Arizona.

Which Jesuit missionary founded Mission San Xavier del Bac in 1692?

The Italian-born Kino founded a chain of missions across the Pimería Alta and first visited the Tucson valley the same year.

Roughly how many aircraft are stored at the 309th AMARG "Boneyard" at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base?

The dry climate and alkaline soil make Tucson ideal for parking planes, and it is the sole boneyard for excess U.S. military aircraft.

Which aviator flew the Spirit of St. Louis to Tucson in 1927 to dedicate Davis-Monthan airfield?

At the time it was the largest municipal airport in the United States; Doolittle became the field's first military customer that October.

The missile museum in Sahuarita, south of Tucson, preserves the only intact example of which ICBM?

Site 571-7 went operational in 1963 and was deactivated in 1984; every other silo of its type in the country was demolished.

Kitt Peak National Observatory, west of Tucson, sits on land leased from which Native nation?

The land is held under a perpetual agreement signed when the site was chosen in 1958; the peak hosts more than twenty optical telescopes.

Biosphere 2, the giant sealed glass research facility north of Tucson, is located in which community?

It remains the largest closed ecological system ever built, covering 3.14 acres at about 4,000 feet elevation.

How many people were sealed inside Biosphere 2 for its original two-year mission from 1991 to 1993?

Oxygen inside fell from 20.9 percent to 14.5 percent after 16 months, forcing managers to pump more in.

The very first Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, in 1955, was held in what kind of venue?

It soon moved to a Quonset hut at the fairgrounds and now fills 181,000 square feet of the Tucson Convention Center.

El Tour de Tucson, held every November since 1983, is a mass-participation event for which activity?

Founder Richard DeBernardis drew about 185 riders the first year; recent editions attract 7,000 to 10,000.

Most Tucson schools give two 'rodeo days' off during Fiesta de los Vaqueros in place of which holiday?

The February fiesta also stages what is billed as the world's largest non-mechanized parade.

Sun Link, Tucson's 3.9-mile modern streetcar line, began service in which year?

The line links the health sciences center, the university, Fourth Avenue, downtown and the Mercado District west of Interstate 10.

In which year did UNESCO name Tucson the first "City of Gastronomy" in the United States?

The designation recognizes some 4,000 years of continuous farming in the valley, celebrated at Mission Garden below "A" Mountain.

A Sonoran hot dog, a Tucson street-food staple, is wrapped in what before it hits the grill?

It comes on a bolillo-style bun with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, mayo, mustard and jalapeño salsa; over 200 Tucson spots sold them by 2009.

Monica Flin of which Tucson restaurant is credited with accidentally inventing the chimichanga?

She reportedly started to swear with a word beginning "chi-" but, with children nearby, switched to "chimichanga," Spanish for thingamajig.

Which Tucson restaurant won a 2018 James Beard America's Classics award for its Sonoran hot dogs?

The style itself is credited to Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, in the late 1980s.

A 1934 fire at Tucson's Hotel Congress led to the capture of which bank robber's gang?

Firemen who retrieved the gang's luggage recognized them; the hotel's Club Congress, opened in 1985, is a legendary music venue.

Old Tucson Studios, the Western movie set turned theme park, was largely destroyed by fire in which year?

Built in 1939 for the film Arizona, it lost the Little House on the Prairie wardrobe in the blaze and reopened in January 1997.

What job did Linda Ronstadt's brother Peter hold in Tucson from 1981 to 1991?

The Ronstadts were a pioneering Arizona ranching family of Mexican descent whose history is archived at the University of Arizona library.

The Santa Catalina Mountains' high point is named for a woman who climbed it in 1881. What was she?

The Catalina Highway up the peak is designated the Sky Island Parkway, part of the National Scenic Byway system.

Ski Valley, the southernmost ski destination in the continental US, sits on which peak north of Tucson?

The summit is more than 6,700 feet above the city, and in summer the ski lift runs as a sky ride.

Tucson's monsoon season officially begins on which date each year?

The first storms actually arrive around July 3 on average, and a "Stupid Motorist Law" fines drivers who bypass flooded-road barricades.

Tucson's all-time record high temperature, set on June 27, 1990, was how hot?

The record low is 6 °F from January 1913, and the city averages 158 days a year with highs of 90 °F or more.

What was Tucson's population at the 2020 census?

That makes it Arizona's second-most populous city; the metro area holds about 1.08 million people.

In the standard English pronunciation of "Tucson," which letter is silent?

The stress falls on the first syllable and the "u" is long, which is why the name is so often misspelled "Tuscon."

The Rillito, running along Tucson's northern edge, drains into which larger waterway?

Once a tree-lined perennial stream, it dried up as groundwater pumping grew and now flows only during floods and snowmelt.

The dam and nine stone bridges in Sabino Canyon were built during the Great Depression by which agency?

The road was meant to climb all the way to the top of the Catalinas but stalled after 4.5 miles because of the terrain.

Which of these is one of Tucson's official sister cities?

The list also includes Roscommon in Ireland, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Sulaymaniyah in Iraq and four Mexican cities.

When the railroad reached Tucson in 1880, the mayor telegrammed the US president and which other world figure?

His phrase "ancient and honorable pueblo" was shortened by newspapers into the city's enduring nickname.

What nickname did Tucson, home to some 150 lens and telescope firms, get from a 1992 Business Week cover story?

Much of the industry grew out of the University of Arizona's ability to cast enormous telescope mirrors.

Which suspect in Morgan Earp's murder did Wyatt kill at the Tucson train station in 1882?

Earp then deputized friends and killed three more Cowboys in a vendetta ride before leaving the territory.

Which force briefly captured Tucson during the Mexican-American War under Philip St. George Cooke?

Cooke's wagon road through the town became a key route to California during the 1849 Gold Rush, though Tucson stayed Mexican until 1854.

Which April 1862 Civil War engagement near Tucson did the Confederates win tactically before withdrawing?

Union troops entered Tucson on May 20, 1862, and the town became part of the new Union Territory of Arizona.

How many different flags have flown over Tucson since Spanish rule, counting Arizona statehood in 1912?

They are the Spanish, Mexican, United States, Confederate and State of Arizona flags.

Which Tucson road did Life magazine call 'the ugliest street in America' in the early 1970s?

The magazine was quoting Tucson's own mayor, James Corbett, whose name lives on at Hi Corbett Field in Reid Park.

Rillito Downs claims to have hosted the world's first organised races of which kind?

Racing still takes place there on weekends in January and February, though the track is threatened by development.