Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Infobox_protected_area | name = Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
iucn_category = V

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caption =
locator_x = 56
locator_y = 118
location = Coolidge, Arizona, USA
nearest_city = Coolidge, Arizona / Phoenix, Arizona / Tucson, Arizona
lat_degrees = 32
lat_minutes = 59
lat_seconds = 39
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 111
long_minutes = 32
long_seconds = 17
long_direction = W
area = 472.5 acres (1.91 km²)
established = March 2, 1889
visitation_num = 97,214
visitation_year = 2005
governing_body = National Park Service

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, in Coolidge, Arizona, just northeast of the city of Casa Grande, preserves a group of Hohokam structures.

The national monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures surrounded by a compound wall constructed by the Hohokam, who farmed the Gila Valley in the early 1200s. "Casa Grande" is Spanish for "big house" ("Siwan Wa'a Ki:" in O'odham); these names refers to the largest structure on the site, which is what remains of a four story structure that may have been abandoned by the mid-1400s. The structure is made of caliche, and has managed to survive the extreme weather conditions for about seven centuries. Graffiti from 19th-century passers-by is scratched into its walls; though this is now illegal. Casa Grande now has a distinctive modern roof covering built in 1932.

Administrative history

Proclaimed Casa Grande Reservation by an order of President Benjamin Harrison on June 22, 1892 (Note this was long before the National Park Service). It was redesignated a national monument by Woodrow Wilson on August 3, 1918. As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, Casa Grande was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

References

* Noble, David Grant. "Ancient Ruins of the Southwest". Northland Publishing, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1995. ISBN 0-87358-530-5.
* "The National Parks: Index 2001-2003". Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/cagr/ Casa Grande Ruins National Monument] - National Park Service website
*Gutenberg|no=17487|name=Casa Grande Ruin, by Cosmos Mindeleff
*Gutenberg|no=17488|name=The Repair Of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891, by Cosmos Mindeleff
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/amsw/ American Southwest, a National Park Service "Discover Our Shared Heritage" Travel Itinerary]

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