Fifty years of memorabilia from Old Tucson will soon have a new home at Trail Dust Town on the city’s east side.
The Arizona Western Film Movieseum, announced Wednesday, Dec. 9, is slated to open next fall and will house memorabilia collected by the late Old Tucson founder Bob Shelton.
Old Tucson closed indefinitely due to the pandemic. It was the premiere authentic Western filming location before it burned in 1995. More than 400 movie and TV projects were made there. Produced by Rick Wiley / Arizona Daily Star
The Movieseum fulfills a longtime dream of Shelton’s who even in the weeks leading up to his death four years ago was drawing up plans for such a space, his widow, Carolyn Shelton said.
It will take over the building that has most recently served as the Museum of the Horse Soldier, said Matt Welch, executive director of the Movieseum. It also previously was a feed store and the original home of Tucson’s Gaslight Theatre.
Beyond the memorabilia, the museum — backed by the Sheltons’ Arizona Sonora Western Heritage Foundation — will focus on Southern Arizona’s film industry. Plans call for interactive experiences that will allow visitors to use movie magic to transport themselves into a scene or the streets of a Tombstone gunfight.
Negotiations for the museum have been underway since October 2019 — months before Old Tucson was shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A space like Trail Dust Town, 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road, with gunfights, stunt shows, rides, shops and eateries, made sense, Welch said.
“(Shelton) wanted a museum, and we’re going to give him a museum,” Carolyn Shelton said. “His idea for Old Tucson was to have a happy place for families, to see smiles on faces, and this is what we’re going to have here.”
People with Old Tucson photos and videos are asked to submit footage for a planned exhibit. Props, costumes and other items from movies filmed at Old Tucson are also being sought. For information on contributing items for exhibits, email awfmovieseum@aol.com.
A crowdfunding campaign is planned for after the holidays to help fund the exhibits. Renovations, like constructing a bathroom for the building, are also needed.
