1540: Legend says that on this day, Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado stood on the banks of the parched Santa Crus riverbed and prayed for rain. It rained, and Coronado deemed that from that day forward the summer rains would come on the 24th day of June.
Hence, El Dia de San Juan is an annual festival that celebrates the day St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of water, was asked to help bring the rains to Tucson so the crops would be plentiful.
24, 1902: Charles D. Poston, the “Father of Arizona,” dies impoverished in Phoenix. He was an early miner and speculator.
Want to share an important event from Tucson's history? Email it to krumore@azstarnet.com.
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