It’s true. An Irishman founded Tucson

His name was Hugh O’Conner and he was born in Dublin, Ireland. By the time he reached what is now Tucson at age 42, he was a Lt. Colonel in the Spanish King’s army and had been authorized to establish a large Presidio north of the existing one in Tubac. The Spanish King, Carlos the Third, seems to have liked sending non-Spaniards out to the frontier. Father Kino, who some would argue founded Tucson some years earlier, was a German Jesuit. While he wasn’t part of the military he mapped the Southwest for the King. As a Jesuit, however, he was expelled from the New Spain empire in 1767. There are also those who point out that indigenous people had lived in this locale for thousands of years.

But back to red-haired Hugh O’ Conner who made this declaration about this new military fortress on August 20, 1775:

“I, Hugo O’ Conor, knight of the order of Calatrava, colonel of infantry in His Majesty’s armies and commandant inspector of the frontier posts of New Spain certify that…I selected and marked out…a place known as San Agustin del Tucson as the new site of the Presidio. It is situated at a distance of eighteen leagues from Tubac, fulfills the requirements of water, pasture and wood, and effectively closes the Apache frontier.”

The fact that the site already had a saint’s name, gives greater credence to those supporting Kino as founder. Nonetheless, sometime between then and now, August 20th was chosen as the “official” day and O’Conner became the “official founder”.

Initially this new Presidio had earthen berm walls, which the Apaches pretty much ignored and attacked the soldiers in massive numbers. So a large fortress with tall and thick stone walls was built. It very likely looked similar to this one in near San Antonio.

As many of you may know, the final remnants of the Tucson Presidio–and there wasn’t much left by then–was demolished in 1918. Then in 1999 voters approved the money to reconstruct part of this historic building. First an archeological dig was completed on an area which had been used as a parking lot. Then a new presidio was built. The Presidio Musem was finished in 2006. And some very beautiful murals were added to the interior walls to suggest how the space was used. To see more about the Presidio today go here.

Now about the cake at the top of this post. It is to represent the various countries involved with Tucson over the centuries. The bottom layer is enclosed with frosting inspired by the flag of Mexico which stands also for Spain. The center layer contains the white, green and orange of the Irish flag. An on top is a cake layer with red-white-and-blue frosting for the U.S.

And as for Hugh O’Connor, he was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed governor of the Yucatan where he died only 4 years after he founded Tucson.

Visit my author’s site to see books I’ve published.