1. Rio Rico Historical Society Rio Rico Historical Society Father Kino
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Father Kino
“Calabasas, the fifth oldest (non-continuously occupied) Spanish settlement in Arizona, was one of the earliest Spanish visita missions in Arizona, older than Tucson. Calabasas was the first port of entry into Mexico, before Nogales existed.”
~ Dwight Thibodeaux
Visit us online for more information:
RioRicoHistoricalSociety.org
P.O. Box 4352
Rio Rico, AZ 85648
(520)
Photos: Dwight Thibodeaux
Photos: Dwight Thibodeaux
© Copyright: Dwight Thibodeaux, 2015

2. Credit: Dwight Thibodeaux
“In 1775, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza stopped at the Calabasas Mission with Father Pedro Font who said Mass before continuing his expedition to San Francisco.”
~ Dwight Thibodeaux
A few facts about Rio Rico’s
Rich History
First visit by Father Kino
Named by Father Kino as “Calabazas”
Christened “San Cayetano de Calabazas”
1773 Visita mission established
Home to two Sonoran governors: Gandara & Pesqueira
st Stagecoach route through Calabazas
1859 Home to 1st family of American citizens (Penningtons) to permanently settle in AZ
1865 Fort Mason largest fort in Arizona
1866 First post office in Calabazas
1882 Finest hotel between Denver and San Francisco: Hotel Santa Rita
1882 New Mexico & Arizona Railroad station house completed at Calabasas
1886 Peck Canyon Massacre and Geronimo Campaign HQ of General Miles in Calabasas ended Indian War in Arizona
1936 Baca Float Ranch largest in Arizona
1948 Most prolific author of 20th century lived here: Georges Simenon from Belgium
1956 “The Bottom of the Bottle” filmed here
1969 Greatest real estate development in history with 18,000 lots and 30 homes sold in one year
1987 Rio Rico placed on highway maps
2019 Golden Anniversary of Rio Rico
Credit: Dwight Thibodeaux
Calabasas Mission, 1937, Frederick G. Nichols
Historic American Buildings Survey
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
About us
The purpose of the Rio Rico Historical Society is to identify and locate artifacts and historical information, protect, preserve, gather, publicize, promote, and educate the public about the history, historical documents, and artifacts of the Rio Rico area.
Some of our goals are to:
Provide historical tours
Celebrate Rio Rico’s 50th Anniversary in 2019
Create historical markers
Create a history museum
To change this brochure, replace our sample content with your own. Or, if you'd rather start from a clean slate, press the New Slide button on the Home tab to insert a new page. Now enter your text and pictures in the empty placeholders. If you need more placeholders for titles, subtitles or body text, copy any of the existing placeholders, then drag the new one into place.
And did you notice we made fold marks for you? They are really light, but if you don’t like them showing on your brochure, select and delete them before you print.
Photos: Dwight Thibodeaux
© Copyright: Dwight Thibodeaux, 2015