Tumacacori's Yesterdays
Jackson E and Southwestern Monuments Association. 1951. Tumacacori's Yesterdays. Santa Fe, NM
On U. S. Highway 89, a scant 18 miles north of the Mexican border, lies one of America's most historic landmarks, the mission church of San Jose de Tumacacori (tooma-COCK-oree). At this picturesque spot in the fertile Santa Cruz Valley, Christianity was ushered into what is now southern Arizona. Over two and a half centuries ago, indomitable missionary priests brought a new religious concept into one of the most hostile Indian frontiers of this hemisphere. This concept took root, struggled for growth, and flowered after more than a hundred years in the paradox of an Indian-built edifice to the new God.