See if you can sort fact from fiction about the history of Tucson place names in our 2024 Street Smarts Quiz:
1) David Leighton, the Arizona Daily Star’s longtime “Street Smarts” columnist, wrote in 2014 about the origin of Prison Camp Road. Where is Prison Camp Road located?
A) It’s a small road off of South Wilmot Road that leads to the U.S. penitentiary that opened in 2014. It was built on the site of a prison camp originally built in 1943 to hold German POWs
B) In the early 1950s, the area that is now Udall Park on Tanque Verde Road was to be constructed as a large juvenile prison camp for non-violent offenders. The land was cleared and one main road was built called Prison Camp Road. But before any more construction could take place, Hope Jones, owner of what many called the Hope Jones Ranch or just Hope Ranch (namesake of Paseo Rancho Esperanza) on the north side of Tanque Verde Road, sued Pima County to stop the construction of this facility and ended it
C) It’s a small road off of Mount Lemmon Highway that leads to the old Prison Camp for prisoners who built the road up to the top of Mount Lemmon
A 1944 prison camp sketch.
2) Runway Drive, a street that was once an airplane runway near Prince Road and Interstate 10, is connected with what former airport?
A) The Gilpin Air Field, which later became The Freeway Airport
B) The Prince Air Field, later rechristened The Connor-Roberts Airport
C) The Gio Aerodrome, later Gio Airport
3) In 1965, Gene Reid co-founded Tucson’s Prairie Dog Town, the first exhibit in what became today’s Reid Park Zoo. Who did he co-found it with?
A) Christopher Trinidad
B) Emerson Hall
C) Malcom Beshear
4) John E. Harrison, the namesake of Harrison Road on the east side of town, was involved with the purchasing of the land rights to what was originally called the Tanque Verde Cactus Forest or the University Cactus Forest. What is this cactus forest called now?
A) Joseph Wood Krutch Garden (University of Arizona)
B) The Ffiona Howells Cactus Preserve (located where Civano is now.
C) Saguaro National Park East
5) What was the original name of Tucson’s Broadway?
A) Camp Street
B) Josh Street
C) Flores Street
Spectators watch a new shorter and wider Broadway underpass is dedicated on Oct. 4, 1963.
6) Is Osborne Avenue, south of downtown in Barrio Santa Rosa, spelled correctly?
A) Yes, it’s named for Nathaniel M. Osborne, so it should be Osborne Avenue
B) No, it’s named for William J. Osborn, so it should be Osborn Avenue
7) In 1896, Lulu May Nelson, an early Tucson developer, was the first to name a dirt road that is now called Speedway. What did she first call it?
A) Wilson Street
B) Castillo Boulevard
C) Nelson Drive
8) Atterbury Wash, which begins about where Lakeside Lake is and runs southeast into Vail, is named for whom?
A) Mickey Atterbury, Tucson city engineer from 1924-32
B) The Atterbury Cattle Ranch, which the wash ran through for almost 6 miles
C) Boudinot B. Atterbury, who owned the property in the 1950s
Answers: 1) C 2) A 3) B 4) C 5) A 6) B 7) A 8) C
Speedway, looking east from North Country Club Road, circa 1980.
