Some SOFO History

More in-depth history  (originally compiled in 2021 - links may not be viable any longer)

This part of Tucson was considered the far northeast side and I'm not quite sure when that transitioned to "midtown". 

Because this area was not annexed into the city of Tucson until about 1959, it had a private fire house.  This was located at the corner of Blacklidge and Country Club and operated as the Catalina Fire Company from about 1947 to 1959 and those who wanted fire protection, paid $10 a month.  They were a very active fire station and helped with other fires as well as those they were contracted with. 

Ft. Lowell had been paved to Campbell for quite some time but paving didn't come to this area until approximately 1964 when curbs were put in and streets paved.

In 1964 a small family-owned "convenience" store still operated at the corner of Presidio and Palo Verde roads which would be an interior road in the residential community.  There was even a hitching post outside for the kids who rode horses to school.

There were a number of horse stables around this area in from the '30's and well into the 60's but started phasing out in the 70's on the south side of the Rillito.   A few still remain active and operating on the north side.

On Presidio Road near the church, a single mule was a staple on a large piece of vacant land right up until the housing boom in the 2000's.  It was at that point the land sold and the mule moved elsewhere.

For the most part, it seems homes started popping up in the area around the 1920's on large lots.  The 1930's, 40's and 50's brought a lot of residential building here with businesses mostly along the exterior streets of Country Club, Ft. Lowell, Alvernon and Grant.

An excerpt from the recollection of an early settler to the area states "There was a wagon road leading from our home to Tucson, six miles away.  There was only one house between our house and town.  We called it the half way house.  All we could see was catclaw bushes, sage brush, and chaparral.  The ground was crawling with rattle snakes, Gila monsters, lizards, and tarantulas and we had to keep our eyes on the road to keep the horses from running away."  This was approximately 1904 and this wagon road would have gone directly through this area.  (This is a rather fascinating site with loads of info:  http://leongoodman.tripod.com/erastus2u/toc.html )

What is known as the  "Binghampton" area borders on North Dodge and the LDS church that was established there started at Davidson school in 1910,  the church now at 3750 E. Ft. Lowell (within the North Dodge boundaries) construction was begun in 1927 and though renovated, still exists and is operating today.  (https://www.thechurchnews.com/archive/2011-01-08/tucsons-pioneer-legacy-they-came-and-existed-and-they-farmed-36528 )

The Davidson school, which is still operating today though in a different location, was originally the "Davidson Place" and the original Mormon family that settled the area, lived in it from approximately 1900 to 1904.  

The Davidson school is technically slightly out of boundaries at but has had enormous influence on the area and elementary children from this area still attend this school.

The following is copied from here:  https://web.archive.org/web/20150508214051/http://www.tusd1.org/contents/distinfo/history/history111.asp

"School District 1 inherited a school building in May 8, 1928 when Dan E. Johnson and W. J. Reed presented a petition to the School Board signed by 159 electors of District 18 asking that District 1 annex the district. Davidson school was the only school in the district.

The school was named for Alexander Davidson, who invested in real estate in the Davidson school area and who donated the land for the original school.

While it was being completed, Davidson district pupils attended classes in an adobe building on land that is now the property of Raul Castro, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador. This building is still standing.

The new building was constructed at the present site, 3915 E. Fort Lowell Road, in the Mormon community then known as Binghampton after Nephi Bingham who, having six children to educate, was the driving force behind the building of the school. In 1905, the first classes were held in the school, a 12 by 14-foot frame building situated on the southeast corner of the present site.

About 1912 a larger building was constructed consisting of three rooms and an auditorium. The smaller building was vacated and some materials from it were used in the new school.

The present school auditorium was built between 1914 and 1916 and served as a church for the Mormon people. It was made from adobes, stuccoed on the outside, and the roof as covered with red tiles.

In the early 1920's a building was constructed northeast of the auditorium to be used for manual training and physical education. High school aged children of this era were sent to the old high school (Roskruge) in Tucson and later to Tucson High School.

Dissension grew in the community over the Mormons using the school as a church. They had built the building with their own labor and felt entitled to its use. Others felt differently and some of the dissidents in the district sent their children to the Fort Lowell School, two miles to the east.

In 1928, differences were mended. The Mormons built their own church and the children returned from Fort Lowell. It was then that the district electors sought annexation by School District 1.

Two rooms were added by District 1 in 1930 at a cost of $23,832. Two more rooms and a library were built in 1942 by Foster & Son, Contractors, for $12,389 and in 1949, seven classrooms, a community room, administrative offices and a nurse's room were added by Joynt Construction Co. at a cost of $197,979. Six classrooms were built in 1956 by Contractor W. F. Conelly at a cost of $97,581. "

I have been told Davidson School was located at Ft. Lowell and Alvernon but has moved to 3950 E Paradise Falls Dr  - a little farther north.  If the original location was on the southwest corner, it would have fallen in what is now the North Dodge neighborhood.

A prominent and well-known and attended school in the Doolen-Fruitvale neighborhood is Doolen Middle School located at the Northeast corner of Grant and Country Club.  This was previously known as Catalina Junior High School.

Bidding for building Catalina JHS went on in the latter part of 1941 and the 12-room school was likely constructed in 1942.

The following is taken from this page:  https://web.archive.org/web/20150508212650/http://www.tusd1.org/contents/distinfo/history/history114.asp

"In 1957, it was decided to name future high schools after the surrounding mountains and the name "Catalina" was given to the new high school at 3645 E. Pima St.  The name of Catalina Junior High School was then changed to Doolen Junior High School.

Coach Bryan C. (Bud) Doolen, for whom the school was named, was born in Kinmundy, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois the days of Harold (Red) Grange and was a our-sport star at Illinois and Southern Illinois.

A successful coach in Illinois high schools, hecame to Miami, Arizona, in 1929 where his Bryan C. (Bud) Doolen teams achieved fame throughout the state. After his move to Tucson High School in 1935, he became well-known in basketball coaching circles and his "Badgers" were always good teams.

The Tucson High School basketball squads won state tournament championships in 1942, 1945, 1948 and 1949, securing a number of regular-season titles as well. At one time the Doolen-trained teams won 51 consecutive games.

Bud Doolen continued coaching at THS for 20 years. He died February 13, 1955, at the age of 57."

The most important structure for the Cabrini neighborhood is St. Frances Cabrini Church at 3201 E. Presidio Road.  This church was founded in 1961 and has been a very important part of the community since then.  Among many community-minded things it does, it is the home of an active St. Vincent de Paul Society which helps many of the more less fortunate around the area.  The Cabrini neighborhood chose its name from the Church.

Soon after the turn of the century, the population that settled around this area were Mormons who migrated here from surrounding areas in Arizona as well as Mexico and was agrarian with fruit orchards (hence Fruitvale) and many other crops.  They wanted to stay a fairly good distance from the Tucson city proper for fear of persecution.  Gradually, Tucson's population spread outward and people began building homes throughout the area.   In general, in a fairly short span of 40 years or so, this area went from critter saturated desert to a fairly densely populated residential area mostly consisting of single-family homes.  Growth continued with lots being divvied up and construction now mostly consisting of single-story multi-unit structures and is now almost wholly populated with rental units.   Almost exclusively, businesses are along the major corridor boundaries although there are apartment complexes mixed in among them.