The best memories are made together with family, friends, and community. Decorated Christmas trees, lights, and other symbols of the season are everywhere we look during the holidays. So much so, that in 2017 we may start to take it all for granted. In December 1947, the 12 students attending the Rincon one-room school were practicing for their...
By the mid-1880s the days of long cattle drives over hundreds of miles to market were past. In southern Arizona, the Southern Pacific Railroad’s main line and reasonable shipping rates made them unnecessary. In 1889, the Southern Pacific Railroad raised shipping fees by 25%! Rancher’s protests were completely ignored by railroad officials. In...
Stories surround us, they connect and inspire. Many of Vail’s defining moments have taken place in and around the 1908 Old Vail Store & Post Office. This simple adobe was the hub of civic and business life for a roughly 20 square mile area from 1908 through 1992 when its doors closed. It is the sole remaining pre-statehood building in Vail. It...
The dedication of the Colossal Cave Road Project on Sept. 9th was truly a celebration! The Vail Preservation Society is proud to have worked with many residents, youth and teachers from six schools, artist Royce Davenport, and Pima County over the past six years to bring public art to the road project. Connecting Vail’s past to the future...
I have been well acquainted with the Cieniga {sic} from 1880 when the Southern Pacific Railroad reached there …there was no deep wash through the bottom as at present, but a succession of meadows thickly covered with sacaton and salt grass. A number of springs fed the main stream that ran down the valley. Edward Vail Nestled between two...
Colossal Cave Road is now something to celebrate thanks to Pima County, The Regional Transportation Authority and Southern Arizona Paving. The road’s redesign from Old Vail Middle School to Acacia Elementary have transformed Vail’s main street through its historic core and business district. Thoughtfully designed roads are more than a means to...
Walter Vail stepped out of a stagecoach onto the dusty streets of Tucson in 1876. Twenty-four years old, with a keen sense of purpose, Walter intended to become a successful businessman and rancher. Walter had left New Jersey soon after turning 21. His quest first led him to Virginia City, Nevada, where he worked as a Time Keeper in the silver...
300 days. Not quite a year, but the plain truth, is that at times, it will seem interminable. The end result will be wonderful, smoother traffic flow, improved safety and a transformed Vail town center. When the work is done there will be a center turn lane, walkways on both sides of Colossal Cave Road, landscaping, safer railroad crossings with...
by J.J. Lamb Pvt. Bernardino Estrada, WWII Courtesy the Mayer Family Originally known as Decoration Day to honor Civil War dead, by the late 1800s, many communities observed an annual Memorial Day. After WWI, the day honored veterans who had died in all U.S. wars. Congress officially declared...
Vail Connects Artist & Artisan Coop Vail Connects, Vail’s Main Street Program and The Vail Preservation Society are organizing an Artist and Artisan Cooperative. The goal is to unite artists and artisans, promote the arts and place making within the greater Vail area. The group will meet monthly on the third Thursday of the month except for...
