History All Around Us

Do you have ideas for future topics or speakers?  Please send requests to info@santacruzvalleyhistory.org

2024-2025 Season Recap

On YouTube ~~~ September 2024 ~ Buffalo Soldiers by Mary Kasulaitis

•      From 1917 to 1920, the 10th Cavalry, also known as Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed in Arivaca, Arizona, as well as many other border towns, to protect the residents from the effects of the Mexican Revolution, happening just across the line in Sonora. Since the Revolution had started in 1910 and did not end until 1920, the entire U.S. had felt the impact of the civil war in our neighbor to the South. This is part of that story. 

• Click Here to Watch on YouTube

Past ~~~ October 2024 ~ Stories from Sahuarita by Oscar Gomez

•      Oscar Gomez, former Sahuarita School District student and teacher, will share the experiences of the Gomez, Lopez and Estrada families as they journeyed from Lee Moor Ranch #1in Fabens, Texas, to the cotton fields of Arizona’s Lee Moor Ranch #2 and eventually to the farms of Sahuarita in the late 1940’s. Over 50 years of  treasured family photographs and stories will be merged with a historic display of aerial photos and maps to provide a glimpse of Santa Cruz Valley evolution through the eyes of  the families who lived it. 

Past~~~November 2024 ~ United Community Health Center (UCHC) History by Dr. Amy Rosenberg

•       Many Green Valley, Sahuarita and Continental residents are familiar with the United Community Health Center (UCHC), but few know the story behind the organization that provides medical, dental and mental health care to patients scattered throughout the Southern Santa Cruz Valley.  How did the Rural Health Office, an offshoot of the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine become the organization we know today?  From humble beginnings in a trailer on the side of White House Canyon Road, Valley residents are now served by clinics in Amado, Arivaca, Green Valley, Sahuarita, Three Points and Vail.

     The Santa Cruz Valley Historical Society would like to invite you to join us as we explore this story.  You will learn how local communities, a rural initiative from the University of Arizona, medical staff dedicated to a mission to provide health care to communities in need and determined community engagement came together to become UCHC. 

     Dr. Donald Smith M.D., Lori Juris, the original CEO, and Claudette Pippin COO, will present the discussion.  Dr. Amy Rosenberg M.D. will introduce the speakers.

Past~~~February 2025 ~ German Prisoners of War in Arizona by Steve Hoza

•      Please come join us for a PowerPoint presentation by historian Steve Hoza on the history of German prisoner of war camps in Arizona during World War Two. Mr. Hoza has interviewed hundreds of  former prisoners, guards, camp personnel and Arizona residents that worked with the POWs. There will be artifacts from the camps to see as well. A Phoenix native, Mr. Hoza has written extensively on the history of World War Two in Arizona and has appeared in numerous television documentaries. 

Past~~~March 2025 ~ Sahuarita Bombing & Gunnery Range, Oscar Gomez

•    In December of 1940, the War Department in Washington announced expansion plans for the Tucson Air Base with an investment totaling approximately $2,211,212.  As a part of this National Defense Program, focused on the Army Air Corps strategy of sending “heavy bombers of the Flying Fortress type to fields in the interior—hidden from the Pacific Coast by high mountain ranges,” the Sahuarita Gunnery and Bombing Ranges were established.

    Long-time Sahuarita residents have many memories associated with these sites that were in use through the early 1970s. Former students remember field trips to the gunnery range, the sounds of weapons firing and even the excitement of drones falling on their playground.

     In 1944, local farmers, in cooperation with the Pima County Agricultural Extension Service and the Prisoner of War Program, established Camp Continental on the James B. Bull Farm. This POW work camp, located along the Nogales Highway between Sahuarita and Continental, played a critical role in the Valley economy while many local farm workers were overseas, enlisted in the war efforts. Stories of this endeavor provide a critical war-time component of area history, as well as observations and interactions with the German captives who lived there.  

     Oscar Gomez, former Sahuarita School District student, teacher and Vietnam Veteran, will relate his personal memories interspersed with images and stories shared by his contemporaries.

Past~~~April 2025 ~ Before Their Time, Women in the Valley:  Betty Hazen & Frances Emmons, Amy Millet

•       In 1937, Frances Graves Emmons homesteaded on land in the Sahuarita area going up to Twin Buttes Mine. She was the daughter of Colonel Graves, who was stationed at Fort Huachuca, and chased Pancho Villa back to Mexico on campaigns during the late 1800s. A single woman in that time period, she had the gumption to tame the desert and build her own custom home there. She entertained the elite from Tucson by having luncheons at her “RoadRunner Ranch.” Marrying later in life, she enjoyed having a home in Tucson as well. She stayed active politically and received the Distinguished Citizen Award from the UofA in 1982. 

     Another single woman who pioneered the housing development in Sahuarita was Elizabeth “Betty” Hazen. She built custom homes in the Santo Tomas area for people who wanted to get out of Tucson and enjoy the quiet country life here in Sahuarita. In 1958, she bought 640 acres and bulldozed and grated Camino de Las Quintas herself. She had picked up the word Las Quintas (pronounced “Loss Keentus”) meaning “country estate” while traveling in South America. She envisioned her own town center with shops on the cross street, Calle de La Plaza.  She brought in metal workers and craftsmen from Nogales Mexico to assist her, and learned brick laying, plumbing, electrical work and everything in between; helping to build the homes herself. In fact she preferred to do things herself and worked 13 hour days out in the sun to get things done. Come hear these and many more stories of women that shaped our community in the early 1900’s.

Do you have ideas for future topics or speakers?  Please send requests to info@santacruzvalleyhistory.org