These materials are meant to accompany the book. The full story, analysis, and significance of these sources unfold within its pages. Newspaper articles are transcribed and presented under fair use to preserve the historical record and support scholarly and educational purposes.

CHAPTER 2

Location! Location! Location!

What Remains of Meyer Avenue

This aerial view of Meyer Avenue in 2025 contrasts with its earlier role as a continuous and critical downtown thoroughfare. Before urban renewal, Meyer Avenue connected multiple barrios north and south of downtown and served as a vital community corridor. Its now-fragmented path reflects the reshaping of the downtown landscape.

Urealized Development

This empty lot was once the site of a proposed multi-building development intended to reshape downtown. The drone footage underscores how such plans often stall, leaving a gap where only history can explain the presence of this parking lot.

NEWS ITEMS

Selected newspaper clippings referenced in this chapter.

“‘Old Pueblo’ No Idle Nickname: Community Has Been Occupied for Nearly 1,300 Years, Archaeological Digs Prove,” Star, January 10, 1969, 6.

Drawn by Union forces during the U.S. Civil War, the 1862 map was overlooked, and its significance went unrecognized. Their error in reporting the map’s origin is also concerning.“80-Year-Old Map First of Tucson,” Citizen, January 11, 1943, 9.

Advertisement opposing public housing by the Tucson Committee for Home Protection. Star, September 22, 1950, 23.

“22 Downtown Stores Vacant; Realtor Blames It on Parking,” Star, June 9, 1951, 9.

“‘Nucleus’ Of Downtown: Office Complex Planners Seek Zoning Change,” Star, August 17, 1961, 17.

“Wrecking Crews Chipping Away at Another of City’s Memories,” Citizen, August 13, 1958, 24.

RELATED ITEMS

John C. Lacy, “Original Land Titles in Tucson.” The Journal of Arizona History 56, no. 3 (Autumn 2015).

Marker on Meyer Avenue near Washington Street.

Laura Pulido, “Cultural Memory, White Innocence, and United States Territory: The 2022 Urban Geography Plenary Lecture,” Urban Geography 44, no. 6 (2023).

J. Homer Thiel, “In Search of El Presidio de Tucson,” Archaeology in Tucson Newsletter 12, no. 3 (Summer 1996)

← Back to Gateway

Visit Lydia Otero’s website

Planet Earth Press Homepage