Mission San José de Tumacácori (2026)

The first Spanish Colonial Jesuit missions in the locale were established in 1691 by Padre Eusebio Kino. Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori (at Tumacácori) and Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi, are the two oldest missions in southern Arizona. The Franciscan church of Mission San José de Tumacácori, across the river from and replacing Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori, was built in the 1750s. The third mission was established in 1756, Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas. After the Pima rebellion of 1751, the mission was moved to the present site on the west side of the Santa Cruz River and renamed San José de Tumacácori.[6] By 1848, the mission was abandoned and began falling into severe disrepair. In 1854 it became a part of the U.S. Arizona Territory, after the Gadsden Purchase. Restoration and stabilization efforts began in 1908 when the site was declared Tumacácori National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1990 it became part of the new Tumacácori National Historical Park.[6] Tumacácori Mission pairs warm earth tones with a clear blue sky, giving a reading nook a quiet, sunlit feel.