This 1937 photo of a mission roadhouse once owned by Tucson developer Leopold Carrillo reveals little about its builder; much about the ravages of time. Note the pair of long johns at left center draped over the chicken wire fence, and the collection of discarded odds and ends strewn about the yard. Deteriorating adobe marks the side exterior wall while stucco crumbles from the front porch overhang. Neither tidiness nor maintenance were the current owner’s strong suits.
Born at Montezuma, Sonora, in 1836, Carrillo came to Arizona in 1859, just five years after ratification of the Gadsden Treaty. He settled in Tucson in 1864 where he established a freighting business in conjunction with a general merchandise store, and operated Punta de Agua Ranch at the mouth of Sabino Canyon. Later, he built a stable and dabbled successfully in downtown real estate. One of his buildings housed “a beautifully furnished” ice cream parlor, another contained a bowling alley.
Diversity aside, however, the crux of his wealth was earned in residential development. By 1881, Carrillo’s holdings included nearly 100 houses, and more were under construction. He was Tucson’s largest property owner and the town’s unrivaled landlord.
Among his tenants was John C. Fremont who, for reasons unclear, rented several homes from Carrillo between 1878 and 1881 while serving as Arizona’s mostly absent territorial governor. A Carrillo home in which the controversial general and presidential candidate may or may not have lived for a month or two in 1881, has been preserved as a shrine to his largely invisible governorship.
Carrillo is perhaps best remembered for the gardens that bore his name. Opened during the summer of 1886, Carrillo Gardens lavished greenery on a dozen acres of land just south of the city. Natural springs fed manmade lakes shaded by rows of trees and surrounded by colorful flower gardens. Row boating was a popular pastime, and more than a few romances had their genesis beneath the gardens’ dance pavilion. There was a restaurant and refreshment booths, a small zoo and pony rides for children and a shooting gallery where baubles could be won.
For many years Carrillo Gardens was a welcome respite from Tucson’s dust and heat.
When Leopold Carrillo died in December 1890, the Arizona Daily Star lamented the passing of “one of the oldest and most prominent citizens and property owners of Tucson. (He) was an honest man, quiet, gentlemanly in manner, and was held in universal esteem.”
In time, Carrillo Gardens gave way to an amusement park called Elysian Grove. It too went the way of many things in the West and much of the acreage was subdivided for residential development during the 1920s. In 1930, a grammar school, aptly named Carrillo, became the neighborhood’s focal point.
What became of the beleaguered house pictured here has been lost to history.
— W. Lane Rogers. Photo from the Library of Congress.