tucson presidio museum
Points of Interest
Take a virtual tour of the Tucson Presidio Museum
Main Entrance & Gift Shop
Welcome to the Presidio Museum! Our main entrance, gift shop, and front desk are all located in the 1870s Jacome House, an original Sonoran Row Home. Notice the saguaro-rib ceiling in the gift shop. This building was built before the railroad arrived in Tucson, so obtaining building supplies was difficult.
Our sift shop sells a large variety of books on the history and culture of Tucson and Southern Arizona, as well as Talavera and Majolica potters, regional foods, t-shirts, soap made from desert botanicals, and souvenirs. Make sure to pick up a gift or a memento of your visit!
Handicap-Accessible Entrance
An accessible ramp is located on Washington Street, around the corner from the main entrance. Those needing to use the ramp to enter the museum can send someone into the gift shop to request the gate be opened, or call the museum at 520-622-0594 to request.
Timeline Exhibit
Visitors can discover the Tucson area’s history from thousands of years ago when the Hohokam inhabited the area right up to the time the railroad arrived in Tucson. Th architecture of these two rooms is also interesting. Note the writing on the ceiling by the doorway to the gift shop. This ceiling was made with packing crates. The ceiling in the second room is covered in cloth to keep the dust and insects from falling from the original roof that was made of mud and straw.
Territorial Patio
Courtyards or patios like this one were an extension of the home during the pre-air-conditioning Territorial period (1854-1912). They served as a place for sleeping on hot nights and were the gathering place for the family.
If you look to the left, you’ll see a mural depiction of the builders of the original Presidio. Right next to the mural is an actual adobe wall, which is a remnant of the original kitchen wall. The original Presidio’s tall walls were also made of adobe, which is made of dirt straw, and water molded and sun-dried into bricks.
On the other side of the patio is Soledad’s Garden featuring plants that you may have found in the patio gardens of the Sonoran row houses of Tucson during the Territorial era.
It’s hard to miss the Black Mission Fig tree toward the back of the patio. It is believed to either have been planted here at the turn of the 20th century or perhaps sprouted from the seed of an earlier tree. In 2021, the Arizona Tree Council awarded the tree “Champion Tree” status because of its history, size and prominence.
Turning around from the fig tree, you’ll see a zaguan. During the Territorial Period, these were used to provide shade for saddling horses and rigging carriages. Walking through the zaguan, you will come to the Mexican Alley. Like the Territorial Courtyard, this space hosts Presidio Museum events and can also be rented for private parties and other events. Don’t miss the Virgin of Guadalupe statue on the left in the wall. Feel free to write a note to the virgin if you have an unfulfilled wish you’d like her help with.
Food Storage/Small Arboretum
On the way up the steps between the Territorial Courtyard and the Presidio Parade Grounds, the Presidio’s food storage area (almacén) is located on the right. Each Presidio had a food warehouse where goods were stockpiled. Inhabitants of the fort had to store all their own food without the use of refigerators. Dry goods and food were stored inside this cool warehouse.
Turning around from the door of the food storage, you’ll see three trees that represent the fruit trees brought to the area by the Spanish. More here about which types of trees are planted and what could be made from them.
Presidio Courtyard/Parade Grounds
Past the food storage area, is the Presidio Courtyard/Parade Grounds, which is made to look like the Presidio San Agustín during its height of occupation. Today, it is where most of our large events are held. The grain mill (molino) you see here is made of two millstones and would have been used by farmers who grew their wheat on the Santa Cruz River floodplain. Mules walked in circles around the mill to grind the grain between the two millstones into flour.
The large mural on the south side of the courtyard depicts the interior of the original Presidio, which was nearly 11 acres and 650 feet long on each side. Presidio San Agustín averaged 60 to 100 resident soldiers who would have drilled on parade grounds like this one.
Food in the Presidio was generally prepared outdoors. The large outdoor oven past the mural is called an horno. A fire would be lit inside to warm the walls of the horno. The coals of the fire are removed when the wall of the horno heat up, and bread loaves are placed inside to bake. Two or three batches can be baked during the day before the horno cools down. The griddle, or comal, adjunct to the horno is for cooking tortillas and other foods. A fire was built beneath to heat the surface for cooking.
The wooden ramada towards the northeast corner of the Presidio protects the remains an original pithouse once occupied by pre-Hohokam farmers. This pithouse is approximately 2,000 years old. Visitors can see the floor of the dwelling and even the ash from the fire used long ago. A re-created pithouse structure is located in the Early People’s Park to help understand what the structure would have looked like.
The 20-foot-high walls seen on the northeast corner of the parade grounds are connected with ramparts. The tall walls offered a clear field of fire the length of the wall.
The ramada connected to the north wall is where our blacksmith forge is located. During Living History Days and on certain demonstration days, our blacksmith is busy at this forge demonstrating how hooks, nails and any other supplies that Presidio residents and soldiers may have needed were made.
Soldiers’ Quarters
The entrance to the Soldiers’ Quarters is behind the comal in the Parade Grounds. On the left is a representation of the living quarters of a soldier with a family, while the space on the right reflects a barracks for bachelor soldiers. Notice the ceiling is made of saguaro ribs.
In the family quarters, the wife is making a Spanish hot chocolate drink using a special pitcher (chocolatero) and a wooden whisk (molinillo) to create the frothy concoction. The spinning wheel located in the room was often used to make thread for weaving and sewing.
The soldiers staying in the barracks hung their uniforms on pegs on the wall and also stored their weapons here. They also ate at a communal table. On one of the barracks beds is a cuera. It is made from seven layers of deerskin and was worn as protection from arrows.
Early People’s Park
This area of the museum represents a small portion of the lives of the indigenous people who lived in the Tucson area between 2100 BCE and 50 CE. Their descendants are part of our Tucson community today. The replica pithouse was built with materials and methods that the original builders of pithouses would have used. Feel free to enter the replica pithouse and imagine what it would have been like to live in one of these small structures.
The garden here contains plants that were irrigated along the banks of the Santa Cruz River and include the traditional Three Sisters – corn, beans, and squash – along with the Fourth Sister, amaranth.