X-Nico

28 unusual facts about Tucson, Arizona


Angolan War of Independence

The USA granted the company Aero Associates, from Tucson, Arizona, the permission to sell seven Douglas B-26 Invader bombers to Portugal in early 1965, despite Portugal's concerns about their support for the Marxists from Cuba and the USSR.

Arizona State Route 286

State Route 286 (SR 286) is a highway in southern Arizona that runs from its junction with State Route 86 west of Tucson to the US-Mexico border at Sasabe.

Arizona State Route 989

This route number was initially intended as part of a proposed highway network for the Tucson area (in this case, the Tangerine Highway) that was never implemented.

Aztec Middle College

Aztec Middle College is a program operated by the Tucson Unified School District, Pima Community College, and the city of Tucson, Arizona.

Battle of Kamdesh

The US soldiers killed in the battle were: Justin T. Gallegos (Tucson, Arizona), Christopher Griffin (Kincheloe, Michigan), Kevin C. Thomson (Reno, Nevada), Michael P. Scusa (Villas, New Jersey), Vernon W. Martin (Savannah, Georgia), Stephan L. Mace (Lovettsville, Virginia), Joshua J. Kirk (South Portland, Maine), and Joshua M. Hardt (Applegate, California).

Cochise Airlines

Cochise Airlines was founded in 1971 in Tucson, Arizona.

Edward Banker Willis

From San Diego, Willis marched with James H. Carleton's expedition across New Mexico Territory and was involved in the capture of Tucson, an old Spanish presidio defended by a handful of milita.

George H. Smith

Smith grew up mostly in Tucson, Arizona, and attended the University of Arizona for several years before leaving without a degree; he relocated to Los Angeles during 1971.

Glynn Ross

Glynn Ross (December 15, 1914 – July 21, 2005, Tucson, Arizona) was an American opera impresario.

High Tide in Tucson

The book is titled after the first essay, in which she realizes that a hermit crab she accidentally brought home while beachcombing still times its activity to the rise and fall of the tides, even in an aquarium in Tucson, Arizona where there are no oceans or tides for hundreds of miles.

Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades

Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades (HDH) is a band that was formed in 1997 in Tucson, Arizona.

Human Arts Ensemble

Human Arts Ensemble co-founder, saxophonist James Marshall, continues to pursue the vision of HAE to this day in Tucson, Arizona.

Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon

She also revealed the album cover, in which she is seen from behind in the desert of Tucson, Arizona.

Lena Pierpont

After Harry's arrest in Tucson, Arizona on January 25, 1934 and subsequent return to Lima, Ohio for trial, Lena secured the services of city solicitor Charles W. Long to defend her son.

Lizzie's Loot

Lizzie's Loot is a charity organization based out of Tucson, Arizona.

Machita Incident

When the scuffle was over, the police retreated to Tucson and Machita fled into the desert with 25 followers.

Melanotan II

A pilot Phase I clinical trial conducted on three males by the College of Medicine, Pharmacology Department, University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona published in 1996 reported that, "Melanotan II has tanning activity in humans given only 5 low doses every other day by subcutaneous injection."

Outbound Plane

The "Outbound Plane" music video was filmed on location at the aircraft boneyard of Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.

Patricia Dobler

She moved, as the spouse of a writer and professor, to Iowa City; Exeter, New Hampshire; Putney, Vermont; Anchorage, Alaska; Tucson, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and finally Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Petrocelli

Tony Petrocelli was an Italian-American Harvard-educated lawyer who grew up in South Boston and gave up the big money and frenetic pace of major-metropolitan life to practice in a sleepy city in the American Southwest called San Remo (filmed in Tucson, Arizona).

Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins

He eventually enjoys their company and the three take a road trip to Las Vegas and end up in Tucson, Arizona.

Richard Greenwell

He later travelled to Tucson, Arizona, where he was appointed research coordinator for the Office of Arid Land Studies at the University of Arizona.

Rufous-winged Sparrow

The Rufous-Winged Sparrow in Pima County: This species was discovered by Charles Emil Bendire in 1872, near old Fort Lowell, Tucson, where it was common.

Sanctuary movement

In 1980, Jim Corbett, Jim Dudley, John Fife and a handful of other residents of Tucson, Arizona began providing legal, financial and material aid to Central American refugees.

Southern Pacific class AC-9

Between 1939 and 1952, all the twelve AC-9 engines were in service between Tucumcari, New Mexico, El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona, where they mainly pulled freight trains and occasionally also passenger trains such as the Golden State Limited.

Truly Nolen

The company integrated the business originally owned by the current executive officer, Truly David Nolen, in Tucson, Arizona and the business of his father, Truly Wheatfield Nolen, owned prior to his death in 1966 in South Miami Beach, Florida.

Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash

The seller from Tucson, Arizona, had bought the game about a decade earlier from a Commodore enthusiast, along with other games, and had it in his closet for ten years.

Universal Avionics

Universal Avionics Systems Corporation is an international company headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.


All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

The title was later used by Tucson, Arizona industrial rock band Machines of Loving Grace, formed in 1989, and in its full form by British musician Martin Carr as the title of a 2004 album, as well as a 2011 television series by documentary maker Adam Curtis.

Andrew J. Weaher

He was one of 34 men received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in several engagements against the Apache Indians, specifically in the Black Mountains of Arizona, from August to October 1868.

Andrew Leo Bettwy

Bettwy did not particularly enjoy the practice of law, but he loved Arizona and knew its history and every inch of its territory, having traveled it many times over with his father.

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbirds are found along the western coast of North America, from southern Canada to northern Baja California, and inland to southern Arizona.

Arizona State Route 564

State Route 564, also known as SR 564, is a state highway in northern Arizona serving Navajo National Monument.

Arizona Summer League

All teams are based in the Yuma, Arizona, area playing all games at Desert Sun Stadium (home of the Scorpions) and utilizing the Ray Kroc Complex which used to house the San Diego Padres and Yakult Swallows spring training operations.

Athletic scholarship

In February 2012, a member of the Arizona House of Representatives proposed a bill named HB 2675 which would have required students attending a public university in the state of Arizona (Arizona State University, University of Arizona, or Northern Arizona University) to pay an additional $2,000 fee in order to attend one of the 3 universities.

Britt Boyse

She is currently living in Arizona, and is Executive Director of Casting Crown Productions, which was given the license to produce the Miss Arizona USA and Miss Arizona Teen USA pageants in 2006.

Brown-backed Solitaire

One singing bird was found in Miller Canyon, in the Huachuca Mountains of Southeastern Arizona, and documented by the youth birding Victor Emanuel Nature Tours' Camp Chiricahua in July 2009.

Celeste McCollough

She worked on the role of colour in flight simulation displays for the Air Force Human Resources Lab at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona (e.g., Howard, 1992; Howard, 1994; Howard, 1996).

Chris Wells

Beanie Wells (born 1988), also known as Chris Wells, Arizona Cardinals football player

Christopher Asher

Asher has coached professional athletes Derek Knight (top-5 USA ranked 110mHH), Sergio Santos (1st round MLB pick for the Arizona Diamondbacks), Reuben Droughns (NFL-Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants) and Trevor Ariza (NBA- New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, L.A. Lakers).

Cyrene

Kyrene School District, a K-8 school district in Maricopa County, Arizona

Demsky

Danielle Demski, a Arizona beauty queen who has competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants.

Fort McDowell

Fort McDowell, Arizona, (also known as Camp McDowell), a community that started as a US Army fort established in 1865 on the upper Salt River in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Freddy Lockhart

In 1986, his family then moved to Arizona where he spent his formative years being influenced by Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce and Bill Cosby.

Galisteo Basin

Various peoples, known and unknown, inhabited the area, including the Tano (Arizona Tewa), East Rio Grande Keresan, Pecos, and Tewa.

Garrya

Garrya wrightii – Wright's Silktassel; Arizona, New Mexico, Texas.

GBU-10 Paveway II

Raytheon production of the Paveway II is centered in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.

Hans-Walter Rix

He was Hubble Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton 1991-1994, then returned to the University of Arizona, and has been director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg since 1999.

Huachuca Mountains

Along the trails there are opportunities to see a number of rare butterflies of Arizona (see List of butterflies and moths of Arizona), as well as plants that are more commonly found in the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov

In August 2005, three months before his death, he tied for eighth place at the U.S. Open Chess Championship in Phoenix, Arizona against some of the best players in the country.

James J. McGovern

The five additional schools are: the Arizona School of Health Sciences (1999), the School of Health Management (2000), the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (2001), the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (2006), and the Postgraduate School of Osteopathic Clinic Research (2007).

John Irwin

John N. Irwin (1847–1905), American politician, governor of Idaho Territory, 1883–1884, and Arizona Territory, 1890–1892

John Joseph Tuchi

On September 19, 2013, President Obama nominated Tuchi to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, to the seat vacated by Judge Roslyn O. Silver, who took senior status on September 3, 2013.

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

Both these pueblos and missions were on the California side of the Colorado River near the mouth of the Gila River but were administered by the Arizona authorities.

Kelvin Jack

Kelvin Jack started his career playing in Trinidad and Tobago with hometown club Trincity United and Joe Public before earning a scholarship to join Yavapai College in Arizona.

KJLL

KWFM, a radio station (1330 AM) licensed to South Tucson, Arizona, United States, known as KJLL from 1999 through 2012

KPCE-LP

It was to be a Spanish-language station, rebroadcasting Tucson-area station K14HR (now KUDF-LP) from the Santa Rita Mountains near Green Valley, its community of license.

KWSS

KWSS-LP, a low-power radio station (106.7 FM) licensed to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

KXXT

In January 2011, after the attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords (see 2011 Tucson shooting ), KXXT National Talk Show Host Steve Sanchez of The Steve Sanchez Show offered 30 minutes of airtime to Westboro Baptist Church in exchange for the Church agreeing not to protest at the funeral of 9 year old Christina Green who was killed during the assassination attempt.

Markus Gygax

In 1973 he joined the surveillance wing flying the Hawker Hunter, and in 1978 underwent conversion to the F-5 at Williams AFB, Arizona.

Nathan Murphy

Oakes Murphy, Nathan Oakes Murphy (1849-1908), fourteenth Governor of Arizona Territory

Neil L. Andersen

On February 14, 2009, he broke ground for the construction of The Gila Valley Arizona Temple, located in the town of Central, Arizona.

Paula Aboud

On January 3, 2006 she was appointed to the Arizona State Senate by the Pima County Board of Supervisors, following the resignation of Gabrielle Giffords, who stepped down to run for the United States House of Representatives.

Phoenix Academy

Phoenix Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school in Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Prayers for the Assassin

Parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California have been claimed by the Aztlan Empire (formerly Mexico) and tension between the I.R. and A.E. have risen due to land claims.

Progressive Majority

Public officials elected with the help of Progressive Majority include California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Washington House of Representatives Majority Floor Leader Larry Springer, Washington state senator and 2007 Humane Society of the United States state legislator of the year Brian Weinstein, and Arizona state senator Paula Aboud, one of Arizona's few openly gay elected officials.

Pterospoda nigrescens

It occurs at moderate elevations in arid scrub and open woodland habitat, ranging from south-eastern Arizona and the Edwards Plateau of west-central Texas south to at least Durango, Mexico.

Rice, California

The subdivision and siding are still in use, but have since changed hands and currently belong to the Arizona and California Railroad, a short line serving southeastern California from Rice to Cadiz, California and southwestern Arizona at Parker.

San Elizario Spy Company

On January 25, 1862 two NCOs and seven privates from the Company were detached to help form Sherod Hunter's Company A, Arizona Rangers, that were sent to occupy Tucson, Arizona.

San Luis High School

Germán Altamírano, a two-time Arizona amateur champion and an undefeated boxer signed to Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions

Skrappys

As a music venue, Skrappy's saw the rise of many Tucson native bands such as The Bled, Versus the Mirror, Blues, The American Black Lung, Line of Fire, The Mean Reds, Beyond the Citadel of Coup de Grace and many others.

The House of the Scorpion

Nancy Farmer says that the main setting of the story is in the vicinity of the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

Tom Horne

Horne personally argued at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Arizona’s law that requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Vernon Parker

Parker was the Republican nominee in Arizona's 9th congressional district for the 2012 election, although he did not live in the district at the time.

Virgin spinedace

As of 1995, the Virgin spinedace were last officially observed by Bureau of Land Management personnel in 1991, where the remaining fish were caught and deposited at the Arizona State University Museum.