Anza Trail Cultural History Park Opens in Tucson: A Park Designed With Students

A park for everyone

The Anza Trail Cultural History Park in Tucson, Arizona, was formally unveiled at a public celebration on January 28, 2023. Designed with young people, for visitors of all ages and abilities, it is both a public park and an outdoor classroom for the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind.

The park lies on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, which follows the Santa Cruz River through the heart of Tucson. It is a place to learn the history and landscapes of the country the Anza expedition crossed nearly 250 years ago, on its way to present-day San Francisco, California.

What's there

• Entrance and plaza: a new welcoming arch and mural, and a plaza lined with native plants.
• An accessible path: a quarter mile long, lined with a wayfinding cable, and dotted with exhibits — including samples of the footprints and handprints of people, livestock and native animals that have passed through.
• Exhibits for every sense: sound machines and hands-on exhibits that use touch and other senses, with QR codes leading to a park website about the exhibits and art.
• Art: a series of installations chosen by the community.
• Shade and seats: a large ramada with picnic tables, and a variety of seating.
• Plants: more than 50 native trees and 350 plants.
• Safety and access: improvements that make the park safer and easier to get around.

Designed with students

The Anza Society International started the project, applying for help from the National Park Service's Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, with support from partners in Pima County, the school and the Anza Trail.

• Learning the history: the Anza Trail, Tumacácori National Historical Park and the Anza Society brought hands-on materials, programs and field trips for every grade from kindergarten through high school — period clothing, musical instruments, toys, tents and food — to help students connect with the children who traveled through the area long ago. Afterward, the students shared their ideas for the design.
• The process: Park Service staff led a multi-phase design process with students and the community.
• Graduate students from the University of Arizona School of Landscape Architecture contributed ideas on accessibility, comfort and plant choice.
• High school students from the Ironwood Tree Experience worked with the Barrio Hollywood Neighborhood Association to interview community members about what they wanted. Then, with the school's students and staff, they built 3-D models of new exhibits to present to project leaders and the community.
• New Root Design worked with the program and Pima County on construction drawings that turned the best ideas into reality.

Laura Bolyard, the program's community project coordinator, called it "an exciting project to work on." The work, Bolyard said, "wasn't so much about teaching these students about the historic expedition, it was about learning from the students at ASDB what elements of the stories were the most interesting to them, how we could make concepts more accessible" — and then working with the designers to share those ideas with every visitor.

The celebration

The program co-hosted the grand opening with the partners who helped research, design and build the park, from 12 to 3 p.m., with Ballet Folklorico, Gertie and the T.O. Boyz Band, and local food from the San Xavier Co-Op, a community farm run by members of the Tohono O'odham Nation. A presentation, speakers and a ribbon cutting followed at 1 p.m.

Supporters

Major donors included the National Park Foundation, the Anza Trail Foundation, the Union Pacific Foundation, Anza Society International, Pima County departments, the Parklands Foundation, M. Anderson Construction Corporation and the Southwestern Mission Research Center.

About the program

The Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program supports locally led conservation and outdoor recreation projects across the country. It helps communities develop or restore parks, conservation areas, rivers and wildlife habitat, and create outdoor recreation and programs, by involving them in each project's vision, planning and implementation.

Sources

Based on "Grand opening of the Anza Trail Cultural History Park will take place on January 28," National Park Service, dated January 26, 2023; a work of the United States government in the public domain.