Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Monument
Location:	Coolidge, Arizona, USA
Nearest city:	Coolidge, Arizona / Phoenix, Arizona / Tucson, Arizona
Coordinates:	32°59′39″N 111°32′17″W / 32.99417°N 111.53806°W / 32.99417; -111.53806Coordinates: 32°59′39″N 111°32′17″W / 32.99417°N 111.53806°W / 32.99417; -111.53806
Area:	472.5 acres (191.2 ha)
Visitation:	97,214 (2005)
Governing body:	National Park Service
Designated NMON:	August 3, 1918
Designated NRHP:	October 15, 1966

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, in Coolidge, Arizona, just northeast of the city of Casa Grande, preserves a group of Hohokam structures.

The national monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures surrounded by a compound wall constructed by the Hohokam, who farmed the Gila Valley in the early 1200s. "Casa Grande" is Spanish for "big house" (Siwan Wa'a Ki: in O'odham); these names refer to the largest structure on the site, which is what remains of a four story structure that may have been abandoned by the mid-1400s. The structure is made of caliche, and has managed to survive the extreme weather conditions for about seven centuries. Graffiti from 19th-century passers-by is scratched into its walls; though this is now illegal. Casa Grande now has a distinctive modern roof covering built in 1932.

Administrative history

Proclaimed Casa Grande Reservation by an order of President Benjamin Harrison on June 22, 1892 (Note this was long before the National Park Service). It was redesignated a national monument by Woodrow Wilson on August 3, 1918. As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, Casa Grande was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

Historic adobes

Between 1937 and 1940 the Civilian Conservation Corps built several adobe buildings to serve as housing and administrative offices for the National Monument. The adobe buildings, constructed using traditional methods, continue in use today and are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Because of careful conservation, the physical appearance of Casa Grande Ruins has hardly changed since the 1940s.^[1]

Olmsted shelter

In 1932, a ramada was built to shelter the ruins from weathering by Boston architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr..^[2] In the early twenty-first century, a pair of Great horned owls took up residence in the rafters of the Olmsted shelter.^[3]

References

• Noble, David Grant. Ancient Ruins of the Southwest. Northland Publishing, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1995. ISBN 0-87358-530-5.
• The National Parks: Index 2001-2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

• Casa Grande Ruins National Monument - National Park Service website
• Casa Grande Ruin, by Cosmos Mindeleff at Project Gutenberg
• The Repair Of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891, by Cosmos Mindeleff at Project Gutenberg
• American Southwest, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary

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