Your donations keep the Presidio Museum running strong! We look forward to moving forward at the Presidio Museum (and now the Fort Lowell Museum) with continued community partnerships, living history and expanded interpretive exhibits. Please help us raise $20,000 to meet budget goals!
Read on to learn what’s new!
Early People’s Park Opens January 28th
This new exhibit will tell a more complete story of the early people of the Tucson basin before and during the arrival of the Spanish. Thank you to Arizona Humanities and The Arizona Historical Society for their funding.
This mini-park outside of the Presidio wall features a replica Early Agricultural Period pit house. The structure enables visitors to better visualize the life of early desert dwellers and better understand the existing excavated pit house that is already on display in the museum. Children will be able to enter the structure. Additional interpretation of regional plants will enhance the mini-park.
THE BENEFITS OF THIS EXHIBIT INCLUDE:
- Providing interpretation of a fuller story of the timeline of Tucson
- Providing additional space for children’s activities and field trips
- Transforming an empty downtown parklet into an activated cultural space
- Development of partnership with the Tohono O’odham Nation Council Cultural Preservation Committee and Historic Preservation Office and Archaeology Southwest
Click here to make a donation!
Re-activating the Fort Lowell Museum
We are so pleased to be building our partnership with the City of Tucson who have asked the Presidio Trust to operate the Fort Lowell Museum located in Fort Lowell park. The Museum has already provided several pop-up events interpreting the history of the Fort. More to come this Spring!
THE BENEFITS OF THIS EXPANSION INCLUDE:
- Providing education and interpretation for this important local landmark
- Re-activating a local Museum asset which was standing empty
- Building critical mass as an organization to be more financially sustainable
- Building the jobs and career paths for Presidio Museum staff
New Café Space
Part of the Presidio Museum compound is a 1907 residential home we call “The Duplex”. We are so pleased to share that restoration of this building is now complete! Thank you to Rio Nuevo for the majority of the funding for this project, as well as to the Southwestern Foundation for Historic Preservation. By the end of 2022 this space will be home to a lovely new café, bar and corner store operated by our friends and neighbors at La Cocina, name to be announced soon!
THE BENEFITS OF THIS PROJECT INCLUDE:
- Improving the ambiance of the historic Presidio District
- Quality food service experience for Presidio visitors
- New infrastructure for venue rentals
- Increasing economic activity for downtown