On June 3, 1983, a fire quickly engulfed Madera Canyon's Santa Rita Lodge Restaurant, also destroying the kitchen and office. The historic restaurant, in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson, had long been a favorite retreat for Tucsonans seeking escape from the heat. Believed to date back to the 1920s, the lodge also included eight separate motel-like units and four cabins. Those accommodations were not damaged by the fire, which investigators determined was arson. Read more about the Santa Rita Lodge at the archives blog Tales from the Morgue at go.azstarnet.com/morguetales.
Tucson Time Capsule is a daily feature, a photographic record of Tucson as it was. If you have a memory of an event to share, please go to go.azstarnet.com/timecapsule, where you can find all of the time capsule photos. You can also add your own historical Tucson photos to the collection. Please observe copyright laws.
