A look at life in Tucson in the late 1950s
Tucson was still growing in the late 1950s.
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Jacome's Department Store
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A photo of Jacome's Dept. Store in October of 1958. It was at 100 North Stone on the northwest corner of Pennington Street and Stone Avenue.
UA Solar Energy Laboratory
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David Lord, one of the five-man staff of the UA Solar Energy Laboratory, makes notes from an instrument shelter while Mrs. Raymond Bliss, another staff member, climbs toward the roof of the 1,600 square foot building on July 18, 1959. The laboratory is directed toward the hope that some "solar" air conditioning system will be economical in five to 10 years.
Pueblo High football
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Pueblo High School football coach Lou Farber. Photo taken in 1958.
Campus walking
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University of Arizona students walk around campus mixing occasionally with traffic in front of the Social Sciences building in 1959.
Tanque Verde Tavern
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This unpublished photo from the Tucson Citizen archive, dated 1958, is a bit of a mystery. The negative package reads: "Tanque Verde Tavern, Tanque Verde Bar dining room." We can't figure out where this establishment was located, or if it exists today.
Chrome Alley
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Tucson Auto Dealers sold 81 new and used cars for more than $200,000 during their "You Auto Buy Now" promotion in May of 1958 on Pennington Street, which was renamed "Chrome Alley" for the event. The former Levy's store, now the city hall annex, is on left, with "A" Mountain in the background.
Cotton harvesting
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Four decades ago, the cotton harvest in Marana Az. went on night and day, but that field could well be under a housing development or shopping center these days.
Eleanor Roosevelt
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Eleanor Roosevelt at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in 1958.
'Rio Bravo' filming
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Filming of "Rio Bravo" at Old Tucson on May 24, 1958.
UA sports water boy
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Water boy back at camp.
Greyhound bus crash
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A crash involving a Greyhound bus and a cattle truck on Benson Highway left nine dead and 32 injured on Dec. 21, 1959.
D-M filght tracking
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An Air Force crew member tracks the location of B-47 on the flight line at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Nov, 1959.
Job control room
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The Job Control Room – the "brain center" of the 303rd Maintenance Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB in 1959, where all maintenance activities are scheduled, coordinated and monitored. They tracked accumulated flight hours and pulled planes from active status for routine maintenance.
Tucson Monastery
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A 1958 photo of the sanctuary of the Tucson Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 800 N. Country Club Road.
Joseph Bonanno, Sr.
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Joe Bonanno is escorted to his arraignment in the Post Office Building in Tucson by a city police detective in 1959.
The Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB
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Propellers from doomed B-36 bombers sit in front of the giant planes at the Davis-Monthan storage yard in 1958. The planes were being scrapped. Each yielded 43,000 pounds of aluminum.
Bank of Douglas
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The Bank of Douglas at Alameda and Stone taken in 1958.
Employment Security building
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Construction has been completed on the new Employment Security Commission Building at W. Congress Street. and N. Granada Avenue.
Pioneer Hotel
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A view of the Pioneer Hotel on Pennington Street looking west from Scott in 1958
Title Insurance Building
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The Title Insurance building at 45 W. Pennington in 1958. The building was first built in 1949.
Rodeo Parade band
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The Alice Vail Junior High School Band — judged the best in its category — parades along West Pennington street between Stone Avenue and Church Street.
Butterfield Overland route
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Just as it looked 100 years ago, except for the automobile fender at left, the Butterfield overland stagecoach arrived in the Old Pueblo yesterday with a load of mail and passengers to highlight the centennial celebration of the opening of the western mail route from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco.
Cooling down
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Staff Sgt. Hugh Sparkman, daughters Shirley and Diana, and wife Rosie churn up the cool waters of Saguaro Lake, which is one mile from D-M recreation camp in May of 1958.
Barry Goldwater
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U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater chats with 1st Lt. Wes Chambers, of the 152nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Arizona Air National Guard. The two flew out of the guard base at municipal Airport yesterday as Air Force Reserve Col. Goldwater took part of his annual two weeks' active duty. The senator took advantage of the Easter recess of Congress to do some flying here.
Rodeo Parade
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Rodeo boss Ed Echols (left) and parade boss Frank Putter lead this year's rodeo parade in an old Victoria on Feb. 19, 1959.
Tucson state office building
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Citizen Photo Dec. 11, 1958 The Tucson Office Building, a $600,000 structure to house state offices for Southern Arizona, was officially dedicated on Dec. 11, 1958. State Sen. H.S.(Hi) Corbett (R-Pima), right center, acted as master of ceremonies. Corbett was one of the sponsors of the appropriations bill making the building possible. Gov. Ernest W. McFarland spoke, remaining that this was his final public appearance before leaving office January 5. The building on West Congress Street, cannot be occupied until the Legislature meets January 12 and makes an emergency appropriation for maintenance.
Tucson Transit Corp. air conditioning
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The rear of this Tucson Rapid Transit bus sports a new addition - an air conditioning unit. It was the first of the TRT buses to be so equipped on June 12, 1959.
UA Dairy Research Center
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The fan-shaped corrals of the new University of Arizona research dairy center on Allen Road are shown here. Cows in the lower left corner are waiting to go into the milking parlor on Aug. 25, 1958.
Beer and laundry
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This building at 79 E. Toole Ave. was utilized as a brewery prior to 1915 when City Laundry moved in. The buildings were torn down in July 1958.
University of Arizona Homecoming
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Sigma Chi's float, "Te-Keel-Em," (a not-surprising play on on the word tequila) was the sweepstakes winner at the 1958 UA Homecoming parade. It makes its way around Arizona Stadium prior to the game in Nov. 1958.
University of Arizona Homecoming
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Gamma Phi Beta was honored at UA's 75th anniversary Diamond Jubilee in the 1959 Homecoming parade.
Ernest Hemingway in Tucson
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Writer Ernest Hemingway with longtime friend and notable painter, Waldo Peirce, in the Baghdad Room at the Tucson Inn in Tucson, Ariz., on March 20, 1959. Peirce met Hemingway in Paris in 1927. Peirce's sister Ada lived in Tucson. This photo was supposedly the last time the two met in person before Hemingway died.
Boot size matters
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Actor James Arness from the "Gunsmoke" television series, compares boot sizes with Texas Ranger Capt Clint Peoples while in Tucson on January 30, 1959.
Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign
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Senator John F. Kennedy at the Sunday Evening Forum, sponsored by the Catalina Methodist Church in Tucson on Feb. 24, 1958. Kennedy spoke before a crowd of nearly 2,700 gathered in the UA auditorium, according to newspaper reports.
Tucson police officer
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Tucson Police Officer Dick Kessler with his work gear in 1959.
Making signs
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Federal prisoners making signs, lumber at prison on October 25, 1958.
Cutting trees on Mt. Lemmon
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Two men sawing a tree on Mt. Lemmon. October 25, 1958.
Myerson's White House
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Myerson's White House store in downtown Tucson in February, 1958.
1958 Photography Show
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Young and old photographers surround an animal at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum during a photo field trip in February, 1958. The event was part of the sixth annual Tucson High School Photography Show, including a lecture by A.C. Shelton on use of Anscochrome 35mm color slide film that users could process in their home darkrooms. The other field trip went to Old Tucson. The girls of the Tucson Climate Club model club were available to pose for photos.
Saguaro National Monument
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Saguaro National Monument East unit loop drive in 1958.
Sahuarita Elementary School
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The new Sahuarita Elementary School cost $405,000 and was built by March 1959 with funds raised from a $425,000 bond passed by voters.
Santa Rita search
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Teacher Russ Cone and a bloodhound from California search for missing Boy Scouts in the Santa Rita Mountains in 1958.
Interstate 10 under construction
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Interstate 10 (formerly U.S. 80) under construction at Speedway Boulevard in October, 1958.
US Post Office
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New U.S. Post Office at 5612 E. Broadway in Tucson in April, 1958.
New control tower
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Members of the Tucson Airport Authority head for the new control tower and operations building at Tucson’s Municipal Airport for their annual meeting around January 13, 1958.
84 Truck Center
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A pair of out-of-state trucks are parked apparently for the evening at the 84 Truck Center at 3320 N. Casa Grande Highway in June, 1959.
84 Truck Center
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Road-weary truckers were able to take some time off in air conditioned comfort at the 84 Truck Center where accomdations were made for 20 men to stay in its second floor dormitory at 3320 N. Casa Grande Highway in June, 1959.
Tucson International Airport
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Tucson Municipal Airport air traffic controllers "scramble" Air National Guard fighter interceptor jets in March, 1959.
Tucson International Airport
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The U.S. Weather Bureau office in 1959, near the flight line at Tucson Municipal Airport provided weather information for pilots and weather reports for Tucson residents.
'The Hiker' memorial
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People look at a state memorial titled "The Hiker" erected in Armory Park in Tucson on Jan. 23, 1959 to honor Arizona's veterans from the Spanish-American War.
Parking garage
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Mrs. Leslie B. Sutherland unloads a station wagon full of her youngsters in a parking garage on December 13, 1958.
Brand new parking garage
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There's no margin for error as the ticket dispenser is completely automatic. Upon entering, the customer's automobile passes over a bar in the floor which trips the machine into handing out a ticket. Don Jones, manager of Harold Steinfeld's garage, stands beside the machine. December 9, 1958.
'Rio Bravo' filming
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Ricky Nelson messes around with his co-stars Dean Martin and John Wayne, on the set of 'Rio Bravo' filmed at Old Tucson. May 10, 1958.
Ricky Nelson in Tucson
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Ricky Nelson is presented with a special cake from two of his fans in 1958.
Ricky Nelson in Tucson
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Ricky Nelson looks on a crowd of fans off a balcony from his hotel room in 1958.
UA computing
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John R. Featherstone, in charge of the SPACE computer project at the University of Arizona, sits at the console of a $200,000 IBM Ramac computer that IBM gave to the university in April, 1958. The disc at left has a memory capacity of 35 million bits of information (or a whopping 35MB). There are four units in the computer weighing five tons.
East Broadway
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A photo of East Broadway Boulevard on July 21, 1958.
Lighthouse YMCA Pool
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The Lighthouse YMCA Pool at 5th Street and Dodge, Tucson, in June, 1957. The land for the Lighthouse YMCA was donated in 1952. The facility was completed in 1958. They moved to a new facility on Columbus south of Ft. Lowell in the mid-80s.
Zoom Records
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Burt Schneider and Ray Lindstrom, Catalina High School students in Tucson, show two of the 45 rpm records released by their record label, Zoom Records, in May, 1959. Zoom Records was the first rock 'n roll label in Southern Arizona.
