The Visitor Center complex at Tumac cori National Historical Park provides an interpretive frame for a historic mission ruin as seen through the eyes of legendary Frank Boss Pinkley, Superintendent of the Southwest National Monuments of the National Park Service The mission at Tumac cori was founded by Father Eusebio Kino in making it the oldest Spanish mission site in Arizona. The original adobe church was superceded by a larger Franciscan church in the early In Mission San Jos de Tumac cori became one of the earliest National Monuments, designated by President Theodore Roosevelt. In shortly after the creation of the Pinkley, who would eventually become the Superintendant of the twenty-seven Southwestern Monuments,1 was appointed custodian of the site.
In he recruited a group of NPS personnel to undertake a missions research expedition to Sonora, Mexico. The group, consisting of an engineer, a photographer, a naturalist, an archaeologist and two architects, studied Kino missions in Mexico in order to gather data for the design of a Visitor Center for Tumac cori. NPS architect Scofield Delong, who had participated in the trip to Sonora, designed an adobe building in Mission Revival style with Spanish Colonial Revival details.
His approach was consistent with NPS Rustic Architecture and New Deal park design, which encouraged the use of building materials and stylistic features from historic vernacular structures in order to harmonize with natural surroundings.2 The adobe building materials and design features drawn from Kino missions in Sonora were blended into a romantic whole, as was 1 Bleser, 2 Colby, 14. TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 2 characteristic of the revival styles of the period.3 The resulting landscape of parking lot, Visitor Center, garden and plaza were carefully choreographed to frame the mission ruins within a Sonoran revival interpretive context.
Construction was completed during the From initial archaeological excavations and ruins stabilization to the Sonoran research expedition and Visitor Center construction, Pinkley coordinated funding and labor from a wide spectrum of New Deal programs. The result of his work is a visitor experience that resonates both with the history of the mission and with the interpretive stance of the first third of the twentieth century. Description: Overview The sequence of spaces associated with the Visitor Center at Tumac cori Historic Park leads the visitor through the site, framing and interpreting the experience.
From the parking area through the Visitor Center hallway, to the garden, to the viewing room and then out into the plaza, and through the church to the burial ground and mortuary chapel, the visit is directed by design. Parking Lot and Visitor Center Entrance Historic photographs suggest that Pinkley s goal was to provide a guided experience from the moment of a visitor s arrival. Walls blocked a view of the church ruins from the road, and a 90 turn was required to enter the parking court through a double gate, which could be closed when needed. Once in the parking court, a second wall separated the parking from the ruins, continuing to block the view. The decoratively-arched entrance to the Visitor Center draws immediate attention.
Although highway safety renovations have impacted the original entrance to the parking area, the church remains invisible from the road and the parking. The parking lot has been transformed into a driving aisle with a single row of parking stalls along the interior wall and the front of the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center entrance continues to mark the visitor entrance. A section of the wall between the parking lot and the road still stands in a landscaped buffer strip containing picnic tables, benches, trash cans and a flag pole. This buffer serves as a barricade separating the road from the one-way access to the parking. The gate is no longer present.
Sidewalks run the length of the park s west boundary wall, defining a circulation route from the parking stalls to the Visitor Center entrance. This sidewalk is constructed of several different types of red pavers, suggesting that it has been altered or repaired over time. Several mature mesquite trees and informational signage frame the entrance to the Visitor Center. 3 Ibid. TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 3 Garden After entering the door to the Visitor Center, visitors are detoured into an open- air arcaded hallway and then into the garden before moving into the viewing room that provides the initial view of the mission church. Thus the garden serves as yet another interpretive frame in the sequence imagined by Pinkley.
The courtyard garden, enclosed by adobe walls, is approximately 117 long by 50 wide. The space is not quite rectangular, because a section of the Visitor Center indents one corner. A square central fountain set in a brick patio is surrounded by curvilinear brick walkways. Three adobe benches are set on the patio opposite the entrance and to the left and right of the fountain. The fountain, benches and outer walls of the Visitor Center are painted in vibrant colors of yellow, light blue and reddish brown. The visitor enters the garden through the Visitor Center. A brick path oriented north/south leads directly to the fountain and to the south wall beyond.
Before reaching the fountain, the path splits to the east and west and continues in two curvilinear paved walkways that are reunited along the west wall south of the fountain. These pathways form two interior planters to the east and west of the fountain patio. To the west, the path leads to the comfort station. To the east, the path descends three steps before turning back to rejoin the entrance walkway at the fountain. The garden boundaries are set by the walls and covered walkway of the Visitor Center to the North, the comfort station to the West, and a stepped adobe wall to the South and East. The central fountain features drainage channels at its four corners. These are intended to carry water to the adjacent vegetation beds.
It appears that northeast corner has sunk over time, and it now receives more water than originally intended. A large mesquite (prosopis velutina) located near the northeast corner of the patio provides an extensive shade canopy for the entire garden, sharing this planting area with two pomegranates (punica granatum) and an olive tree (olea europa). A large sour orange (citrus aurantium), an apricot (prunus armeniaca), and another mesquite tree are located west of the fountain. These also provide shade. Other trees include quince (cydonia oblonga), pear (pyrus communis), plum (prunus domestica), pomegranate, chokecherry (prunus serotin), olive and monk s pepper (vitex agnus-castus).
An abundant patch of columbine (aquilegia) is the recipient of fountain overflow under the mesquite to the northeast of the patio. Large myrtle shrubs (myrtus communis) border the entrance path. To the east, in the northeast corner before the path steps down, is a area of native plants, including agaves, aloe, and cactus. Species include aloe (aloe vera), barrel cactus (ferocactus), sotol (dasylirion wheeleri), Perry agave (agave perryi), and TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 4 Murphy agave (agave murpheyi).
At the point where the path to the east steps down, there is a large patch of violets in the planter along the eastern wall, a honeysuckle (lonicera sempervirens) on a trellis in the north east corner, a large monk s pepper tree, and a patch of hollyhock (althea rosea). Verbena and other flowers and herbs grow in the southwest section of this planter. A few rosebushes survive in a narrow planter along the south wall to the immediate east and west of the south bench. The west side of the garden is predominantly planted with culinary herbs and flowers. Species include: nasturtium, oregano, mint, thyme, bay laurel, lemon verbena, tarragon, rosemary, rue, lavender, Mormon tea and borage.
Most plants are labeled in English, Spanish and Latin although it is clear that some of the labels are no longer accurate. Pinkley advocated that this area be used to demonstrate mission period agriculture. Apparently his staff deemed him screwy in planning to create such a garden in such an enclosed space,4 and the Mediterranean character of the remnant vegetation confirms that his ideas on this aspect of the project were overrided. Church and Plaza From the garden the visitor reenters the Visitor Center through a second doorway in the covered arcade that runs along the south side of the building. Entering from the garden, the visitor faces an interior wall that requires a choice between walking left or right. To the left is a room with an informational film.
Turning right, the visitor faces yet another wall, and a 90 left turn is required to access the view room, a covered open-air space. The first glimpse of the mission church and surrounding plaza is framed by an arched opening. The view is so perfect and unexpected that at first glance it seems unreal. This dramatic interplay of context and resource serves to summarize Pinkley s interpretive design concept. . The church and plaza are set in a characteristic desert landscape of sparse grass punctuated by mesquites. An earthen-colored concrete sidewalk winds northward from the Visitor Center to direct the approach to the church. The concrete sidewalk, which was installed in follows an earlier pathway.
To the west is the lime-plastered adobe wall with a wedge-shaped adobe cap that separates the plaza from the parking lot. A row of randomly-spaced (possibly volunteer) mesquite trees run along the wall. Between the trees and the church to the east is a low, grass-covered mound that marks the foundations of deteriorated living quarters. To the east of the Visitor Center, there is a group of mature mesquite trees, two of which are noticeably larger than the others. An adobe wall similar to the west perimeter wall extends east but ends abruptly at an open area where traditional crafts such as tortilla-making are demonstrated. 4 Johnson, TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 5 The church ruin lies to the north of the Visitor Center, fronted by the plaza.
The church entrance faces south, and the nave of the church runs north/south. In front of the church are two rectangular basins built as cisterns for the mission. To the east of the church is the partially restored convento, with capped walls to prevent erosion. The axis of this structure runs east/west. To the east of the convento, sections of the original acequia, or irrigation canal system, can be seen for a short distance until the channel disappears underground, becoming visible on the surface only after a heavy rain. To the north of the convento and to the east of the church lie linear mounds, composed of remains of additional mission structures. To the north and east the Santa Rita Mountains are visible beyond a dense wall of mesquite and lower-growing shrubs.
To the west a steep slope covered with native vegetation blocks a view of the nearby interstate highway while preserving a view of the Tumac cori Mountains beyond. The church is entered through the southern door and exited through the sacristy at the northeast corner. Burial Ground and Storehouse The burial ground is located directly behind (north of) the church, which serves as the southern boundary of the space. To the west and north is an adobe wall featuring niches and historic graffiti. To the east the space is bounded by a freestanding wall (at the northern end) and a remaining wall of the mission storehouse.
After leaving the church through the sacristy, visitors enter the burial ground by making two left turns and passing through an opening in the wall linking the church to the storehouse. There are two other entrances to the burial ground. To the west is an arched doorway with double wooden doors leading to the parking lot, to the south a doorway to the church (now closed). These are the original entrances to the space. A cylindrical adobe mortuary chapel with a western entrance (aligned with the gate that now exits to the parking lot) stands near the southern end of the burial ground. It has no roof. It is surrounded by piles of cobble stones or rectangles of cobbles and by wooden or metal crosses to serve as grave markers.
The grave of baby Juanita Alegria is prominent, featuring a white wooden cross, paper flower display, and cement slab. Several volunteer mesquite trees have grown up in the center of the burial ground and in the northeastern corner. The earthen ground surface appears to have been covered with decomposed granite at some point. TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 6 History: Overview The mission at Tumac cori was founded by Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Kino in to serve the O odham in the area. It was one of the northernmost of the Spanish missions that reached north out of central Mexico. In King Carles III of Spain banished all the Jesuit missionaries from his territories, and they were replaced by Franciscans.
Around Franciscan Fray Narciso Guti rrez began to built a large church to replace the small adobe church of the Jesuits. Financial issues and the Mexican War of Independence, along with increasing attacks on the O odham by the Apaches left the church uncompleted, and in the mission was abandoned. Between that date and when Tumac cori was declared a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt, the mission buildings and the church were used for a variety of informal purposes and fell into decay.
When Pinkley became NPS caretaker of Tumac cori in he began stabilization and interpretation efforts that culminated in the building of the Visitor Center in Mission Period At the request of O odham villagers the Jesuit missionary Father Kino visited Tumac cori in and decided to establish a mission. In the summer of the modest Mission San Jos de Tumac cori was built.
Only ten years later, in King Charles III of Spain recalled the Jesuits from all of New Spain for political reasons, and Franciscan missionaries took their place in The Franciscans continued to use the small church built by the Jesuits until construction began on a larger church in the early At that time Fray Narciso Guti rrez hired a mason to design and construct a grand Franciscan church to be modeled after the mission church of San Xavier del Bac, located approximately thirty miles north. O odham and Mexican workers constructed the church over a twenty year period plagued by insufficient funding, attacks by the Apaches, and uncertain land rights.
Despite the efforts of the Franciscan missionaries to raise the requisite funds, the church was never completed according to the original design. In plan the church was to have been laid out in the shape of a cross with a barrel vaulted nave and transepts. A dome was planned to cover a bell tower designed to hold four bells. In the end the church was completed with a flat roof over the nave and a domed sanctuary. The bell tower was never finished. The transepts were eliminated from the design, and the mortuary chapel never received a roof. Drought hit the mission hard in the and and the mission suffered from continual raiding by the Apaches. Instability and war in Mexico led to a shortage of priests and stifled trade. After clergy no longer visited.
A change in the meandering course of the Santa Cruz River had drawn its water 5 Rensch, 6 National Park Service, TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 7 away from the nearby protective presidio at Tubac. The combination of a dry acequia, an especially harsh winter, and a new series of Apache raids led the military to abandon the presidio during This left the villagers at Tumac cori even more vulnerable to Apache attacks, and by the winter of that year the site itself was effectively abandoned. The mission was acquired by the United States of America under the Gadsden Purchase in and at that point all remaining ties to the Franciscans were severed. From then until the early the mission was occupied by itinerant groups of herders, soldiers, and squatters.
During periods of Apache attack, the burial grounds were used as a shelter for cattle and other goods. Vandalism, graffiti, and treasure hunting became a critical issue. Tumac cori National Forest, National Monument and National Historical Park In Tumac cori and a surrounding 10 acres were deeded by the Mendez family to the United States Forest Service, who established the site as Tumac cori National Monument.8 In the newly-created NPS took over the care of the monument, changing its status to Tumac cori National Historical Park. From that time forward, numerous reconstruction, stabilization, and interpretive efforts were carried out under the auspices of the NPS and a number of New Deal work programs.
Many of these projects were brought to fruition through the efforts of Frank Boss Pinkley, then Superintendent of the Southwestern National Monuments. Frank Boss Pinkley and the Southwestern Monuments In Pinkley moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in hopes of recovering from a mild case of tuberculosis. A year later, he was hired as caretaker and watchman for the Casa Grande National Monument. After the creation of the NPS in Pinkley became the acting custodian of Tumac cori in addition to his post at Casa Grande.9 Pinkley and his wife, who worked with him as a perpetual volunteer, were in charge of all aspects of the site, including repair of leaky roofs and water lines, giving tours, and doing paperwork.
It was Pinkley s ability to get money in a hostile budgetary climate that kept the mission standing. 10 As Pinkley developed a reputation as the Boss, he gained support and funding from various civic groups to finish major structural renovations. He supervised work, wrote reports, studied the history of Tumac cori, and interviewed individuals who possessed knowledge of the site.11 In Pinkley, accompanied by his wife and children, took a trip to visit the California missions 7 Bossler, 8 Ibid. 9 Bleser, 10 Moss, 30. 11 Bleser, TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 8 in order to compare their history with that of Tumac cori.12 Upon his return, he obtained funding from the NPS and local civic groups and frugally followed through with needed structural stabilization.
By Pinkley was in charge of fourteen southwestern national monuments, a responsibility that essentially doubled when in he became the first superintendent of the Southwestern National Monuments, with responsibility for twenty-seven parks.13 Pinkley was an influential advocate for Tumac cori National Historical Park, and it is certain that without his efforts and perseverance, Tumac cori would not be what it is today. Much of the park s preservation and visitor interpretation are the results of his work. New Deal Era and Visitor Center Architecture and Garden Aside from Pinkley s initial structural repairs and stabilization, the development of Tumac cori as a visitor attraction was largely completed between and during the years of the New Deal.
The Visitor Center, garden, entrance and barrier wall, the archaeological excavations, and the landscape work were all conceived, designed and built using funding and workers from an assortment of New Deal programs.14 In Pinkley organized a research trip to Sonora, Mexico. He believed the mission churches of Mexico could be used as prototypes for the design of the Visitor Center at Tumac cori.15 In order to design a facility that would complement the ruined church, Pinkley arranged for a group of NPS employees to travel to Sonora to study and document other mission churches established by Father Kino. The team analyzed structural systems and architectural styles in preparation for designing the Visitor Center at Tumac cori.
Pinkley instructed his team to integrate into the plan many of the elements they saw in their expedition.16 These included arcaded corridors, entrance decoration, and a juxtaposition of blank walls and painted ones.17 Planning was supervised by principal designer Scofield Delong who had accompanied the Sonoran mission team. Born in Nebraska, DeLong served as Chief Architect in the Western Division for the NPS until The San Francisco Branch of Plans and Design was focused on the development of western NPS sites. The office was composed of architects and landscape architects who were dedicated to preservation and protection of the landscape and developments for making park areas accessible and useful to the public. 19 12 Bleser, 13 Bleser, 14 Bleser, 15 Colby,1999: 3. 16 Colby, 7. 17 Ibid.
18 Pickens, 19 Barry, TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 9 Delong incorporated materials, motifs, and patterns similar to what the team had seen in Mexico. He utilized sun-dried adobe bricks and cornices of fired brick, commonplace in the architecture of northern Sonora. A shell motif, drawn from the Tumac cori mission church itself, is repeated over doorways and in wall niches throughout the Visitor Center.
This symbol was frequently found in the Sonoran study area, as, for example, in the entrance to the church at Coc spera.20 Decorative doors similar to those at San Ignacio and ceiling beams and carved corbels like those at Oquitoa were integrated into the design.21 The arches that serve as portals into the garden and plaza were copied from the church in Caborca.22 Groin vaulted ceilings were common in Sonoran architecture, and the Tumac cori Visitor Center adopted this feature. Window details and painted decoration also found their way into the design.
Through the work of the Sonoran expedition, it was determined that administrative buildings and living quarters were an integral part of the quadrangle surrounding a central plaza.23 The design at Tumac cori took advantage of this feature by placing the Visitor Center at what would have been the perimeter of the church quadrangle. The team also learned through their research that Jesuit and Franciscan architecture of the time period would have featured neatly plastered adobe walls covered in bright colors,24 and they considered this possibility.
However, engineer Howard Tovrea, another member of the Sonoran research trip team, recommended plain walls and a low roofline to avoid compromising the emphasis on the church ruins by the presence of a too large or overly decorative building.25 An enclosed garden was deemed essential to the character of the mission style building. The team had differing opinions about what types of vegetation should be included. Frank Pinkley thought that the garden should demonstrate native plants and crops that would have been used by the indigenous people such as corn, squash and beans. Principle landscape architect Thomas C.
Vint and the landscape men , however, proposed that the garden should include fruit trees, flowers and herbs that were both aesthetically pleasing and similar to those that would have been planted by the missionaries.26 These plants were chosen carefully, based on historic mission records. Vint and botanist Charles Peterson gathered lists of garden plants from historians and from translated Kino papers.27 In choosing to use mission-period plants, visitors could see and learn about what plants would have been grown and used when the mission was functioning. 20 Harrison, 2. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid. 23 Harrison, 3. 24 Ibid. 25 Colby, 10. 26 Colby, 12. 27 Harrison,1986: 3. TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO.
AZ-12 PAGE 10 There was however, some criticism that the diversity of the plants selected was not reflective of a typical Sonoran mission garden because the historic plant lists that it drew from were derived from a wide survey of mission gardens from different eras.28 Plans for the garden included a central fountain to serve as a focal point and place of rest, a geometric layout that recalled the formal design of paradise gardens . Persian/Moorish gardens were typically enclosed, accessed by some sort of indoor/outdoor walkway, and included a four-cornered fountain to resemble an oasis in the desert.
The style was brought to Spain with the Moorish conquest, and later traveled to Mexico with the Spaniards.29 The combination of the geometric fountain and patio surrounded by an informal curved loop walk and the mix of native and European plants are telling details that explain the thought process behind the entire Visitor Center as an interpretive device. The revival style of drawing elements from various sources and combining them into a romantic whole is characteristic of the aesthetic and values of the time period.30 Construction of the garden was begun in by engineer Howard Tovrea, landscape architect Charles Carter and sixteen CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) men who built the fountain and benches, paved the brick walkways and planted trees.
Together with Pinkley, Tumac cori park staff, and the design team from the Landscape Division, the Tucson Botanical Garden supervised the planting of the garden according to the planting plan.31 The general planting scheme of the garden has been maintained since its creation.
The native plants area was added in and up until at least the fountain was referred to as the pond and was stocked with native Santa Cruz River (and later, tropical) fish.32 A proposal prepared by the University of Arizona recommended the gradual removal of plant materials deemed inappropriate.33 CCC workers also carved the comfort station signs, the Visitor Center doors, and the furniture for the lobby.34 CWA (Civil Works Administration) workers, often local men, graded the entire plaza to divert water away from the mission church, and made thousands of adobe bricks to be used for repairs and stabilization of the church and mortuary, the walls surrounding the burial ground and enclosing the garden, and the walls separating the church plaza from the parking lot.35 Some archaeological work was also completed at Tumac cori when workers from FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) began excavations and 28 Bossler,2012: 94.
29 Colby, 4 30 Colby, 39. 31 Bossler, 94. 32 Bossler, 48. 33 Johnson et al., 34 Bleser, 8. 35 Bossler, 68. TUMAC CORI NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK HALS NO. AZ-12 PAGE 11 fieldwork in under the supervision of archaeologist Paul Beaubien.
Their scope of work included a partial excavation of the rooms across the plaza to uncover walls and special features.36 They produced maps, field notes, drawings, and photographs documenting where archaeological features were located, allowing NPS to plan for future landscaping and restoration as well as to learn more about the lost history of Tumac cori.37 The excavation work did not turn up many significant artifacts, and it discovered no buried treasure.38 The reconstruction of the burial grounds walls was a task completed in soon after Pinkley s appointment as the custodian of Tumac cori. The refinement of walkways to help navigate the site in included creating an opening in the south part of the eastern wall to allow easier access to the burial grounds.
The parking court or parking lot for the Visitor Center was a critical element for determining how visitors experienced the park. Prior to the construction of the boundary walls, cars could drive right up to the monument from the old Tucson- Nogales highway (now a freeway service road).
A new parking lot was designed and constructed in by CWA workers.39 This included a long adobe wall between the road and the parking area and a central wooden gate (no longer in existence).40 Conclusion Today s visitor experience of Tumac cori National Historical Park is framed by work competed during the New Deal from to Its interpretive sequence is a testament to Frank Boss Pinkley s vision, which not only preserved the historic mission but also recorded for the future visitors the fundamental values held by NPS in the and Pinkley s ability to locate and coordinate funding and labor from a wide range of New Deal programs made possible the embodiment of his plans for Tumac cori.
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