"Tuma ..." a Tumacacori National Historical Park Travel Page by Basaic

In 1691, Father Eusebio Kino arrived at the Tohono O'odham village of Tumacacori on the east side of the Santa Cruz River. He renamed it Cajetan and started converting the O'odham to Christianity. Thus began the mission San Cayetano de Tumacacori. The actual church was not begun until 1751 and was completed in 1757. The present church was built between 1800 and 1822 by Franciscans. This area, originally called Primeria Alta, saw Spanish, English, Swiss, Austrian, German and Italian influence. In addition to the O'odham other cultures in the area included the Yaqui, Seri, Maricopa, Yuma, and Apache tribes.

Today the old site of Tumacacori is the Tumacacori National Historic Park. Tumacacori National Historic Park is located on Interstate 19 between Nogales, Arizona (on the Mexican Border) and Tucson.

Along the same part of Interstate 19 is the Tubac State Historic Park (see my page); San Xavier del Bac Mission (see my page); Madera Canyon; the Titan Missle Museum, the Mineral Discovery Center; Whipple Observatory; and others.