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Tent City Hero
Sporting a pitch helmet, linen suit and big white mutton-chop sideburns, Oliver E. Comstock pedaled his bicycle along Tucson’s dusty roads with a soup kettle hanging from the handlebars. He will never be as famous as Wyatt Earp, but he was a real hero to the residents of southern Arizona’s Tent City.
The Oasis at a Cultural Crossroads
For almost two centuries, Spanish missionaries, mountain men, ’49ers, Civil War soldiers and American settlers benefitted from — and often depended on — the plentiful crops and hospitality of the Pima and Maricopa people.
Tombstone’s Boothill Cemetery
The Boothill Cemetery, which was laid out in 1878 on a rocky hillside facing the Dragoon Mountains, earned the name for a reason. If a body was buried not wearing boots, it meant the person died of natural causes. If the body was buried wearing boots, it meant the person was killed.
Alianza Hispano-Americana
During the mid to late 19th century, Mexicans and Anglos were living side-by-side in many cities and towns throughout the Southwest. In Tucson, the first Anglos settled during the 1850s. They enjoyed a close association with their Hispanic neighbors, both socially and in business, and intermarriage was more common than not. During the 1870s, as the Anglo population rapidly increased, racial tensio[...]
