There are so many abandoned places in Arizona! This is a list of the top three abandoned places in Arizona. Browse through all abandoned places in Arizona
Located in the county of Santa Cruz, Arizona is the Tumacacori National Historical Park that preserves the ruins of former Spanish mission communities Landmarks. Established between 1600 to 1750s which consists of a church and other supporting structures of the church were abandoned in the early 1800s to date when the mission was relocated to a new town.
Tumacacori complex, which is 3 distinct mission churches, were constructed in different years between 1691 and 1756 by Spanish Jesuit Padre Eusebio Kino. Mission San Jose de Tumacacori was the first to be established in 1691 followed by mission Los Santos Angeles de Guevavi, the last one to be built was established in the 1700s. in 1751, the mission was relocated to Santa Cruz River but the old ones were never abandoned until 1848. After only six years in despair, our government purchased the region from Mexico making Tumacacori monuments part of Arizona state territory.
In 1908, the Tumacacori complex (monuments) had another chance to live when President Theodore Roosevelt declared it Tumacacori monuments. 29 years later, the Tumacacori museum was built within Tumacacori National Historical Park to display and preserve the three historic monuments. In 1987, the museum was declared a national historic landmark. Tumacacori National Historical Park is made up of the Tumacacori monuments and the museum. The park manages all the tours and maintenance of the monuments.
All the three monuments that make up the Tumacacori complex, as well as the Tumacacori museum, were all combined to form Tumacacori National Historical Park. Tumacacori monuments were restored soon after they were declared monuments. Although they were built six centuries ago, the park’s management has done a good job of preserving and restoring the monuments as much as they can. Although now old, Tumacacori monuments still stand at Tumacacori National Historical Park with much of their archaic architectural designs maintained even after renovation.
Tumacacori National Historical Park is open to the public and offers tours all around the park. Of the three mission monuments, only mission San Jose de Tumacacori is given access to by the park for visits, the rest are closed to the public. You can still enjoy learning about Tumacacori monuments at the museum which is also open to the public.
Two Guns Town is a former settlement in North Eastern Arizona in Coconino County. Two Guns, which is now a ghost town, was established in the early 1920s and later abandoned in 1982 leaving its structures to decay in despair.
In 1922, a couple Earle and Louise Cundiff purchased land at Two Guns from Ed Randolph where they built a restaurant and gasoline pumps. They were later joined by Harry Miller who leased the property from Earle and Louise Cundiff. It was at this period that Two Guns became popular as Miller developed them by building a zoo, an Indian gift store, and adding another restaurant to the town. Miller continued to develop the property and soon started offering tours to visitors. This brought about more residents as Jim Giddings joined putting up a petrol station and a café. The town of Two Guns later saw major development when a bridge across Diablo was built. By the 1960s, Two Guns town was a self-sufficient town.
In 1926, the town started getting negative publicity when Miller and Earle Cundiff disagreed about the property that ended with Miller shooting Earle to death. Miller was arrested but later acquitted of the murder. Soon after he fled town never to be seen again. After Earle died and Miller left town, Two Guns tourism dropped drastically. Louise started her adventure tour at the property hoping to lure more people but it never worked out as she planned. He also built a Two Guns Texaco Service Station which burned down in 1971. This discouraged Louise who never reopened the service station. Travelers who constantly relied on the service station opted to use other gasoline stations elsewhere, slow and steady people forgot about the town. Over the years it got worse and currently, Two Guns is a ghost town.
Two Guns was completely deserted and left to rot. The ruins of its building, though in a dilapidated state, can still be seen over the fence as it is fenced to keep away trespassers. The zoo and burned-down station are still hanging on to life having been vandalized and defaced by graffiti. The town was up for sale at 3.7 million US dollars but its status is unclear whether it was sold or the owners changed their mind.
The town of Two Guns is not open to the public to prevent further vandalization of the deserted town. The owner fenced and put up gates at different sections of the vast property that are closed. The cave though is open to the public to visit.
Birdcage theater is an 1881 abandoned theater in Tombstone, Arizona. Aping San Francisco family shows, the owners Lottie and William Hutchinson built a multi-purpose theater in a small mining community of Tombstone. Years later, the once active theater was abandoned and is currently standing in despair.
Birdcage Theater is recorded in history to have had the longest poker game. Gambling which was the major activity in the Birdcage theater opened 24 hours a day. Gambling became so common in Tombstone town that literally everybody knew how to gamble. This brought revenue to the theater at an imaginable length.
Miners at one of the Grand Central mines in 1882 hit a water pipe causing flooding in the mines. William Hutchinson sold Birdcage theater to Hugh McCrum and John Stroufe. The new owners changed the acts and renamed the theater to Elite theater. Over the years, the Grand Central mine pumped water out of the mine. This was cut short when the pumping plant burned down flooding the whole mine. Soon after Grand Central mine laid-off workers who after losing employment left the town, the Birdcage theater had no choice but to close down in 1892 due to a lack of customers**.**
Since its closure in 1892, the birdcage theater has never opened. It still stands in the middle of the town in despair. The owners currently offer tours all year round in the theater for historic landmark enthusiasts and anyone else who would like to know the history of the building.