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Photos: Life in Tucson in the early 1960s
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
See what Tucson residents saw and experienced in 1960-61.
Campbell Plaza
Thousands attended the formal opening of the new $2 million Campbell Plaza shopping Center at the northeast corner of North Campbell Avenue and East Glenn Street on April 7, 1960. Originally, the parking facilities was designed to handle 850 vehicles but it was overflowing for the event. The plaza is situated on 18 acres and has 18 tenants.
Tucson Citizen fileTucson Rodeo
A bullrider crawls away from a bull, probably as fast as he can during the 1961 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.
Bruce Hopkins / Tucson CitizenTucson Rodeo
A saddle bronc rider takes a header into the ground as the pick up man, background, rides up to catch the horse during the 1961 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.
Bruce Hopkins / Tucson CitizenTed DeGrazia
Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia in April, 1960, next to "Los Niños," which was chosen as the official Christmas card by UNICEF in 1960.
Tucson CitizenAerospace and Arizona Days parade
During the Aerospace and Arizona Days parade on February 3, 1961, a Boeing Bomarc anti-aircraft missile makes its way north on Stone Avenue in front of The Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Daily Citizen building. The downtown parade displayed units from Davis-Monthan Air Force base where the remainder of the celebration took place over the weekend.
Tucson Citizen file'Thunder of Drums' filming in Tucson — Charles Bronson
Thunder of Drums movie. April 8 1961.
Tucson CitizenDowntown Tucson
Downtown Tucson buildings on Pennington Street looking west from Scott Ave towards Stone Ave, ca. 1960. Pennington Drugs is at left.
Tucson CitizenDowntown Tucson
Downtown Tucson buildings taken 1960.
Tucson CitizenUniversity of Arizona astronomy
October 11, 1961 — Telescope automation comes to astronomy as Dr. Waler S. Fitch looks into a photometer that measures the brightness of stars and adjusts controls for the automatic punch unit that will put the information on cards. In the background is the University of Arizona's 36-inch telescope.
Tucson Citizen"Bockscar," the Boeing B-29
"Bockscar," the Boeing B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, shown in storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, in 1955. It was transferred to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in 1961.
Tucson CitizenErnie McCray
Ed Nymeyer, left, and Ernie McCray, former Arizona basketball star, in March, 1961 in Tucson.
Tucson CitizenDuke Ellington in Tucson
Jazz performer and composer Duke Ellington interviewed on Sept. 15, 1961 in Tucson.
Tony King / Tucson CitizenUniversity of Arizona Homecoming
The caption for this 1961 UA Homecoming parade photo in the Tucson Citizen was both sweet and sexist: "Four beaming coeds set the tone for the slogan put on the Pi Beta Phi float in the annual University of Arizona Homecoming Parade. The girls also, as a lesson in economics, carry symbols of items which Arizona produces, along with pretty girls."
Tucson CitizenHiway House Motor Hotel
Poolside and patio area at the Hiway House Motor Hotel at 1601 N Miracle Mile Strip in May 1961.
Tucson CitizenHorse racing at Rillito Park
Snow across the Santa Catalina Mountains as the horses run at Rillito Park in January, 1960.
Jack W. Sheaffer / Arizona DailyKennedy-Johnson presidential campaign in 1960
Sen. Lyndon Johnson's campaign plane at Tucson International Airport on Sept. 15, 1960, during a Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign event. His motorcade is assembled in foreground. Johnson flew first to Phoenix. He "hand-shook and child-hugged his way through a small crowd," according to the Tucson Citizen.
Tucson CitizenKennedy-Johnson presidential campaign in 1960
Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson speaking at the Pioneer Hotel in Tucson on Sept. 15, 1960 during a campaign stop for the Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign. He lauded Arizona Sen. Carl Hayden (Johnson is pointing to him the picture) and said he has "done more for Arizona than any five men." He also said former Arizona Sen. Ernest McFarland "taught me all I know." He went after the Republicans: "The future of the West has languished in a pigeonhole at the Republican Bureau of the Budget and the West will not forget."
Tucson CitizenKennedy-Johnson presidential campaign in 1960
Sen. John F. Kennedy stepped off his DC-3 campaign plane and was greeted by about 150 people and given a sombrero and "an undersized cowboy hat," according to the Tucson Citizen, at Tucson Municipal Airport in April 1960, during an appearance in Tucson, Ariz.
Tucson CitizenBuilding the road to Kitt Peak National Observatory
Building the road to Kitt Peak National Observatory in May, 1960: Workers slip explosives into holes to blast away rock.
Dan Tortorell / Tucson CitizenTucson Rodeo Parade
The Pomeroy Elementary School band marches along Congress St. in front of the Fox Theater during the 1961 Tucson Rodeo Parade.
Tucson CitizenSS Kresge Store
The new S.S. Kresge Store at the Oxford Plaza Shopping Center on East 22nd Street near South Wilmot Road was one of several new businesses in the area in October 1961.
Tucson CitizenThe Powers Affair
Tom Powers, left, and John Powers sit on a hued at the Arizona State Prison in Florence in 1960. They were convicted for the murders of three sheriff's deputies in 1918.
Tucson CitizenThe Copa
The Copa at South Craycroft and 29th Street in Tucson, pictured in November, 1961, featured 24 bowling lanes, liquor and free babysitting.
Arizona Daily StarSouthern Arizona Bank and Trust Co.
Southern Arizona Bank and Trust Co., Tucson's first "motor bank," according to the Tucson Citizen in Aug. 1961. (Possibly southside of Alameda, east of Church Ave.)
Tucson CitizenFallout shelter
Dr. and Mrs. A. Russell Aanes check their civil defense rations as they start a two-week stay in an above-ground fallout shelter at KGUN-TV studios in October, 1961. The couple said they were "looking forward to catching up on long-delayed reading, napping and being away from the telephone." The TV station had a remote camera and would periodically monitor the couple inside.
Tucson CitizenFallout shelter
John Stufflebean and family in their fallout shelter in Tucson in April, 1961.
Tucson CitizenHarlow Nursery
On December 8, 1961, workers from Harlow Nursery plant Joshua and fan palm trees in front of a business at 82 S Stone Ave. Photo by
Bruce Hopkins / Tucson CitizenTucson shopping in years past
Thousands of vehicles in the parking lot of the new Montgomery Ward store in El Con Shopping Center on its first day of business in February, 1961. Photo taken from the historic El Conquistador Hotel, which was demolished by 1968 to make way for mall expansion. Tucson Citizen
Tucson CitizenWinterhaven Festival of Lights
Time exposure of Luminaria Lane in the Winterhaven subdivision in Tucson in December, 1961. Residents along Greenlee Road and Stewart Avenue placed hundreds of traditional Mexican luminarias around their homes.
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